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It takes a village to protect libraries, literacy

When I was president of the Downtown Lock Haven Rotary, my signature project was to create a system of Little Red Libraries for the Lock Haven community. Literacy has been a huge part of my entire life. I was a kid who regularly visited the bookmobile and local library as well as the school library where I grew up. I was always reading a book any time I had a spare moment in my busy spiritual, academic and athletic life. The Downtown Lock Haven Rotary Club provided the money and then found a builder for the little libraries. Tom Brown and Sons accepted the assignment and built two of ...

Hey, America: Stop complaining

Whatever the outcome of the “deal, or no deal” scenario with Iran, the public attitude toward the war has been disturbing. Despite President Trump’s constant admonition that Iran must never have a nuclear weapon, a majority of those polled oppose the intervention. A side effect of the war has been complaints about higher gas prices. That grumbling caused me to do some reminiscing about a different America and different Americans. Over Memorial Day weekend we again heard about “The Greatest Generation,” but do we take the time to consider what made them great? While ...

Dear Annie: Missing the sisterhood beneath the scorekeeping

Dear Annie: My sister and I grew up sharing everything: clothes, secrets, bedrooms, even blame when one of us broke something in the house. For most of my life, she was my first phone call and my safest place to land. But in the last few years, something has changed. Every conversation with her has started to feel like a contest I never agreed to enter. Last month, my son came home thrilled because he made the travel lacrosse team after months of practicing in the driveway until dark. I was so proud of him that I mentioned it at Sunday dinner. Before I even finished my sentence, my ...

Know the difference between certain types of cholangitis

DEAR DR. ROACH: I read your recent column on primary sclerosing cholangitis. What is the difference between this condition and primary biliary cholangitis? Where can I find information on how to get on a waiting list for a liver transplant? — C.V. ANSWER: Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) are similar in some ways. They are both chronic and progressive liver diseases, whose initial symptoms can be vague (such as fatigue or skin itching) and can be found incidentally on laboratory testing. They are both largely thought to be autoimmune diseases ...

Drop the tariffs, Mr. President

Donald Trump is now an unpopular president. Some of this dissatisfaction is due to the war in Iran. Some of it springs from the unanticipated speed, chaos and perceived brutality of several of his administration’s actions over the past year and a half. But a significant part of his political problem has a straightforward economic explanation: Everything feels expensive, and his tariffs are a major reason why. If the president wants to help himself and his party ahead of this year’s midterm elections, the most effective thing he can do is eliminate the tariffs. The evidence in favor ...

America’s love affair with the road endures

For the briefest of moments, a line of vintage Rolls-Royce automobiles chugged along the curving Cumberland Road. They passed over the Cumberland Run a handful of times and wound themselves down the mountains, away from Pennsylvania and toward the city of steeples, Cumberland. The sight gives the bystander a moment to imagine what it looked like in the early days of American road tripping. These 1922 Rolls-Royce vehicles, which included the New Phantom and the Silver Ghost (some of the first cars designed expressly to be owner-driven rather than chauffeured), were not what many ...