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Strengthen election security

In January, the state Senate passed, and I supported, legislation that would present three state constitutional amendments to voters, including a requirement for Pennsylvania voters to present identification at a polling place before they receive a ballot. Approved identification would consist of photo and non-photo IDs alike. Senate Bill 1, which included these proposed constitutional amendments, must be approved by the House and Senate in two consecutive legislative sessions and then approved by voters through a ballot referendum. The bill made it through the first step by receiving ...

Nursing home residents know it matters

The world, including the U.S., Pennsylvania, and Lycoming County, is still in a pandemic. COVID-19 is not endemic yet. Pandemics are known to cause widespread disruption, illness, and hardship, as we have experienced since 2020. Endemic means a disease is spreading in a community at the normal or expected level. A pandemic begins to shift to an endemic once the disease becomes more stable and manageable. Have you ever visited a long-term care facility? If so, you most likely understand the environment and the enormity of what staff do every day, every hour, and every minute to keep our ...

The far-reaching, devastating impact of Amazon ending AmazonSmile

WILLIAMSPORT — Eighty-five years ago, Carl Stotz had an epiphany of sorts while he was passing a lazy summer day playing catch with his two nephews and tripped over a lilac bush while chasing a wild pitch. While nursing his wounds he had a flash of brilliance that would forever change the lives of children, families, communities, and small businesses around the world. Decades later, he recalled to author Lance Van Auken for his book Play Ball! The Story of Little League Baseball what he told his nephews: “How would you boys like to play on a baseball team? How would you like to ...

Remembering the Nazis’ overriding plan — and the history of Jewish persecution

Someone once told me that when you reach a certain age, nothing is shocking. How untrue that is. I was shocked to listen to a broadcast on WBRE on International Holocaust Remembrance Day which referred to “millions of people” killed during World War II. This was followed by a blurry picture of a nondescript group of people wearing what appeared to be long black trench coats. After that, there was a Jehovah’s Witness opinion piece referring to the thousands of Jehovah’s Witnesses among the “millions of Nazism’s victims.” Neither the WBRE broadcast nor the op-ed said ...

What’s tricky about the latest round of COVID-19 variants?

No matter where we come from or what we look like, all humans share the same 99.6% of our DNA. That means that all the beautiful, biologically-driven diversity among people comes from a tiny fraction of our genetic material. In half of the population —biologic human males — the single Y-chromosome is inherited directly and unchanged from father to son. Because that chromosome never recombines in the process of reproduction, men can theoretically trace their paternal lines and geographic origins back to ancient times. Occasional mistakes do occur, however, when the Y-chromosome is ...

Don’t rule out entitlement reform

If you follow policy debates long enough, arguments you never thought you’d hear can become key components of the two parties’ policy platforms. That’s certainly the case when it comes to some Republicans and their new “never touch Social Security and Medicare” position. Recently, newly elected GOP Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio tweeted that former President Donald Trump was 100% correct to demand that “Under no circumstances should Republicans vote to cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security.” Vance’s tweet was issued amid the debt-ceiling fight, but this position ...