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Dear Annie: When a wedding invite asks too much

Columns

Dear Annie: My husband and I are invited to my co-worker’s daughter’s midweek black-tie wedding at 3 p.m. My husband and I would need to leave work early to attend, and I feel it’s a burden to both take time off work and purchase or rent black-tie attire for a warm weather event in the summer. Is it acceptable to decline the invite and just send a nice gift? The couple getting married have been living together for a year, although I congratulate them for making vows to each other. I wish the couple was more understanding of the possible financial burden to their guests. Your ...

Closing Pennsylvania’s talent gap starts with affordable higher education

Columns

Pennsylvania has 61,000 jobs that require education beyond high school and not enough qualified workers to fill them. By 2032, the gap will grow to 218,000 jobs that lack workers with postsecondary-level credentials, according to a Pennsylvania Department of Education study. The gap has real-world consequences for our economy and communities. As the chancellor of Pennsylvania’s system of 10 state universities, I frequently hear from employers who struggle to find workers with the education they need. Hospitals need nurses, businesses need accountants and data analysts, school ...

Tiffany isn’t the only major antique lamp company

Columns

In the world of antiques, “Handel” is synonymous with lamps. The company, which began as the decorating firm Eydam and Handel in Meriden, Connecticut, in 1885 and changed its name to Handel & Company in 1898, started making leaded glass lamps in 1904 as a less expensive alternative to ...

Earth Month

Letters to the editor

Gary Jump Itasca, IL April is Earth Month — a time to savor the wonderful planet that gives us bright blue skies, breathtaking mountains, wide-open plains, serene river valleys and lakes, captivating forests and an endless variety of plants and animals. Earth Month is also time for considering what more should be done to protect it. Climate scientists agree: human activity has caused rapid warming of Earth. Warming occurred before, but over thousands of years. Current global warming started less than 200 years ago, when we began burning coal, oil, and natural gas, polluting the ...

Nipple soreness from phone could be due to odd placement

Columns

DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m a 75-year-old man. I keep my cellphone in my left shirt pocket every day. Recently, my left nipple has become very sore. I asked my general physician about it, and he wasn’t concerned. I’m concerned that the electromagnetic field from the phone may be an issue. Is there any research on this, and should I have this checked more carefully? — T.W. ANSWER: Your physician was correct. Cellphones cannot produce frequencies with enough energy to damage tissues. It’s much more likely that the mechanical rubbing of the phone on your chest is causing the soreness. ...

It’s time to take unserious presidential budgets seriously

Columns

The president’s fiscal 2027 budget is out, and I have two reactions. The first will sound familiar: Like so many budgets before it, this is not a serious effort to put America’s government on a sustainable path. The second is more important: It would be a mistake to dismiss it as just another unserious document. That is exactly how we got here. Start with what the new budget does and does not do. It’s not a comprehensive fiscal plan. It covers only about one-third of federal spending, focusing heavily on discretionary choices and largely ignoring the autopilot spending that ...