Breaking News

Your next senator will finally face the Social Security decision point

Americans will soon choose a set of senators who will take office in January 2027 and serve through early 2033. In the final months of that term, Social Security’s retirement trust fund is expected to run dry and trigger benefits cuts of 22% — not just for the wealthy, not just for new retirees, but for everyone up to and including widows living on survivors’ checks. Somehow, this has yet to sink into the national consciousness. The precise timing is a projection. The cuts are not. They’re activated automatically following the law: Once the trust fund is empty, Social ...

Waiting room worries

Dear Annie: The doctor I have been seeing for over 20 years has decided to discontinue her practice in the town I live in and move to another town. I can’t get to that town, so I’ve asked friends to recommend their doctors. But I’m dreading having to set up an appointment with a completely unfamiliar doctor. How do I get over the anxiety of seeing a new doctor, new office, new staff and now a new medical portal I have to learn to navigate? I’m just anxious about starting all over again. — Anxious Dear Anxious: Twenty years of trust doesn’t transfer with your file, so the ...

Durty Dabbers

Carol McDermit Lock Haven The weekend of May 30-31, the People’s United Methodist Church of Farrandsville had the pleasure of serving breakfast to the Durty Dabber Cycle Club at the Castanea picnic grounds. This annual event is one of our church’s biggest fundraisers, and we are incredibly grateful to the club for once again allowing us the opportunity to serve them. A special thank you goes to Lisa Bolopue and Lana Sachetti for all of their hard work and dedication throughout the weekend. We would also like to extend our sincere appreciation to the local businesses that ...

Who are the Red Rabbits?

Arthur Keller Beavertown “Socialist ‘Red Rabbits’ are training for national uprising against cops,” was a June 6 New York Post headline. This certainly caught my attention and I hope yours. The Red Rabbits have mostly kept a low profile, but their activities are beginning to surface, and you need to know what is in the near future. The Red Rabbits (a deliberately innocuous name) Security Commission, a subgroup within the Democrat Socialists of America (DSA) focused on “community defense” efforts, is preparing for a “national uprising against federal agents and police ...

Permitting reform needed

Jon Berman Elmhurst We continue to read about rising electricity rates that are exacerbating the inflation that is making our lives more expensive and difficult. While some states have been proactive in addressing the problem, a national solution is needed. Our existing grid can be made more efficient, but in the end we will need to build new transmission lines and create stronger connections between each of the regional grids. A major problem is that it takes too long to build these lines due to outdated regulations. The cost of solar and battery storage has decreased so ...

Dear Annie: A season of distance, not goodbye

Dear Annie: I am an 86-year-old mother of three children, a grandmother of six and great-grandmother of eight. We have always had a great relationship with our children. Our youngest daughter, who has always been close to us, went through a stressful divorce. Her husband had an affair, and she divorced him. She always came home every few months, or we went to see her. In the past few years, she has only come home twice a year, only for a day or so at a time. I am no longer driving, so going to visit her is not an option. She calls almost every day. She says there is nothing wrong. But ...