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Let’s end COVID! The conversation and the work continue

In December 2020 three friends – a retired physician, a business owner and a public health and safety educator – were concerned about the misinformation and lack of consistent, reliable information about the COVID-19 pandemic in Lycoming County. They decided to continue their discussions in a more consistent, organized manner. The three began by identifying people who could add to this discussion and help reach the community. The group they assembled included representation from the medical, pharmaceutical, public education, media, human services, education, business, faith, and ...

Skill games save small businesses

Running any small business is difficult, but for restaurant and bar owners, the last few years have been especially cruel. First they clawed their way through COVID, trying to stay open while meeting ever changing health safety guidelines. Many, sadly, didn’t make it out the other side of the pandemic. Then came the worker shortage that is still pummeling businesses today. And now, the triple threat is inflation. Talk to any restaurant owner and they can tell you how much more expensive everything they need to run their business has become in 2023. And, they keep their fingers ...

The rest of the story — how to read the medical literature

A recent Let’s end COVID! article (February 25th) talked about the process of medical research and how the results are communicated to the world at large via public and social media. Journalists who translate the mysterious pronouncements of medical researchers and other scientists provide a valuable public service by helping us non-scientists keep up with current developments. This is especially important in a public health crisis such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, where it is a matter of life and death. Scientific research is supposed to be objective, impartial. Of course, ...

The ice beneath Trump is cracking

PITTSBURGH — In 2016, then-Reps. Lou Barletta, R-Hazleton, and Tom Marino, R-Loyalsock Township, became the first sitting members of Congress to endorse then-candidate Donald Trump for president. Their colleagues in Washington gave them the side-eye. Barletta told me at the time that when that didn’t work, their colleagues tried to talk them out of it. It didn’t work. The two traveled throughout the state and sometimes in other states, earning the nickname “Thunder and Lightning” from Trump on the trail. It turned out they were onto something. They broke the streak that year ...

COVID-19 and stereotypes about age and natural causes

I recently read an article about a series of deaths involving older adults. With the exception of one, all the deceased were women mostly in their 80s and 90s, widowed, financially well off and living independently in upscale senior living complexes. All owned expensive jewelry, which disappeared at the time of death. Nearly two dozen women living in the Dallas area — eight in one facility — died within a period of two years. The deaths appeared suspicious, given their frequency and the similarities in how their safes and jewelry boxes were emptied and their valuable jewelry ...

Bringing environmental solutions to tackle our plastic waste crisis

At Encina, we process hard-to-recycle plastic waste and turn it into the building blocks for making new plastic-containing products, a process that can be repeated indefinitely. The current system for plastics recycling is simply not working. Our solution is better than any feasible path for reaching the double goals of reducing plastic waste pollution and enabling the continued use of plastics for critical uses. Our solution reduces reliance on new petroleum and brings jobs and tax revenue to the community. With proposed innovation, questions and opposing viewpoints often follow. ...