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Happy Birthday America

Letters to the editor

Robert Rodkey Julian This fledgling nation a mere 250 years ago has arisen to be the most powerful nation in the world, both militarily and economically. The United States of America is the economic engine that pulls the world’s economic train. The USA is the greatest country with the most freedoms of any land on the face of this planet. How can this be? Terry Prachett said, “If you don’t know where you came from, then you don’t know where you are, and if you don’t know where you are, then you don’t know where you are going.” The point being in relation to our ...

Is removal of Trump’s name from Kennedy Center a metaphor?

Columns

In what could be a metaphor for things to come, workers removed President Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center in Washington. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled the rebranding of the Kennedy Center as the “Trump Kennedy Center” violated the law, writing, “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.” Is America growing tired of Trump’s nonstop appearances? His disapproval ratings suggest overexposure could be a contributing factor. He goes on sometimes for more than an hour in his frequent Oval Office appearances and often repeats ...

Patient isn’t given adequate pain medicine after shoulder repair

Columns

DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m frustrated that my physicians aren’t giving me adequate pain relief. I had a shoulder repair with three severely torn tendons and a torn labrum, and the surgeon cut and moved my biceps tendon. I was given 20 mg of hydrocodone and APAP 5/325 mg for pain! Are the doctors legally prevented from giving me pain medication? — J.F. ANSWER: This makes me frustrated to hear. There aren’t legal barriers to giving a patient medication to reduce pain, but opiates such as hydrocodone should be given cautiously and with consideration for its potential for abuse. There are ...

Dear Annie: Drama at the gym

Columns

Dear Annie: I love the gym. It has really helped me gain confidence and strength. I have been going to the same gym in our small town for roughly 10 years. I know all the people there and enjoy my time there — until lately. There is a woman who just started going to the gym who is toxic. She really hurt a dear friend of mine, whose child was in the same class as her child, by spreading vicious rumors that she was having an affair with a tennis instructor. This was not true. She is the typical mean girl from middle school who we all choose to forget — the girl who never grew ...

Another self-inflicted wound

Letters to the editor

Tim Mannello Williamsport Donald J. Trump’s war with Iran has already hurt ordinary Americans. Now his administration is floating another idea that would deliver yet another self-inflicted wound on all of us: shutting down customs inspections at sanctuary city airports. That move would hit even harder, and regular people would feel the impact first. The economic hit would slam everyday life. Local economies would slow almost overnight. Medicine, electronics, auto parts and fresh food would sit in warehouses instead of reaching stores. Hospitals would wait for supplies that ...

How Pa. towns are protecting themselves from the noise, heat and utility costs of data centers

Columns

Pennsylvania has become a hot spot for data center proposals and public backlash about where to build them. I’m a law professor and executive director of Penn State’s Center for Energy Law and Policy. I’m also a native of Archbald, a borough of 7,500 residents in the Lackawanna Valley in northeastern Pennsylvania. My hometown has drawn national attention because of proposals for multiple data centers that would cover 14% of its area. Because of my professional and personal interest in data centers, I have been researching local responses to data center proposals across ...