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No more empty seats at holiday tables

Where I live, the seasons change fast. We’ve barely put away our jack-o’-lanterns in Kansas City when a cold wind blows in from the prairie, bringing down leaves — and soon after that, ice storms and snow. But no matter how cold it gets, we always look forward to seeing family and friends over the holidays. We all want our homes to be filled with joy, comfort and the people we love the most. But many of us will miss someone at the holiday table, because our country’s overdose crisis now touches almost every family and community. Overdoses took over 108,000 lives this ...

PA hunters still being left at gate

The Pennsylvania Game Commission changed the most popular deer hunting weekend in 2019, moving the 60-plus year Monday after Thanksgiving opening day to the Saturday prior. As Thanksgiving is the most traveled family holiday of the year, you can understand how that created problems for hunters with family conflicts. Additionally, hundreds of thousands of hunters travel considerable distances to go to camps and hotels, and this rushed timeframe of losing two days breeds further contempt for the Saturday start. Businesses en route to hunters’ final destinations were no longer ...

Keeping children well for holidays

Like many children’s care facilities nationwide, Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital and our pediatric outpatient clinics have been at or near capacity since September. Two key issues are at play. The first is fewer pediatric inpatient beds in other hospitals. The second is the unprecedented early and lasting surge in viral illness in our children, particularly due to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a 15% to 20% reduction in pediatric hospital beds nationwide. Because Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s ...

When your kid asks for a phone

This time of year, children are making their list so Santa can check it twice. And chances are, there’s some sort of device on the list. Whether it be the latest smartphone, smartwatch or tablet — technology has become such an integral part of our lives, and children are asking for these devices younger and younger. Parents seem to be listening. Approximately 70% of people say they plan to purchase a tech-related gift for their child this holiday season, according to a recent survey by Recon Analytics. However, for many parents, the decision of when to give a child their ...

Conservatives misled on climate

When I was the business editor for the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong in the early 1990s, I generated a large body of material that might be now called early “climate denialism.” I still believe what I wrote in those days: that most government “solutions” to global environmental problems would likely prove far more damaging than the environmental threats themselves. I wrote in opposition to “Cap & Trade” — initially a Republican idea associated with David Stockman’s supply-siders, although it later became a key plank in the Democratic Party — arguing ...

Spotlight shining light on PA news

Huge stories will shape Pennsylvania’s future next year. With a new administration in the governor’s office and a shift in power in the state legislature, major policy decisions that affect all of our lives could lie ahead. But no matter the issue or party or politician in office, Spotlight PA will never stop demanding the truth and accountability. So as you consider the causes and organizations to support this year, I ask you to invest in quality journalism that demands the truth, holds leaders accountable and gets results. And there’s no better time to do it than today, ...