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A message for men over 50

The diagnosis was not a surprise — well, yes it was, because like many men with a health issue we try to deny it, or delay treatment when everyone knows that “early detection” is critical to a cure. My PSA (prostate-specific antigen) had been slowly creeping upward for the last two years. When it reached 9.0 along with a Gleason score of 9, my doctor said it was time to do something about it. This meant a prostate biopsy. It came back positive for a cancerous tumor pressing against my rectal wall. Two options were explained to me — a complete removal of the gland, or radiation ...

Harry and Meghan. Who are these people?

It was a day of deep thinking and heroic typing, my brain so fried I could hardly call out for pizza. Then the news and social media feeds exploded with reports that Harry and Meghan plan to leave California and move back to England. What was that to me? I don’t care that the royals moved away or believe in royal anything except perhaps Royal Crown Cola. Most media, not me, insist on referring to Harry and his sitcom actress wife, Meghan Markle, as “Duke and Duchess of Sussex.” Their two children carry the official royal titles of prince and princess. And to think their ...

Praising God for another trip around the sun

As my high school and college classmates and I have gotten older, I have noticed that when birthday shoutouts go out on Facebook, many say they thank God for “another trip around the sun.” This wasn’t a saying that I grew up hearing, but it definitely has special meaning now in the middle years of middle age. When I posted my birthday selfie on Facebook in August, thanking friends for their “warm and loving” well wishes, I got comments saying how beautiful and amazing I looked, which made me giggle a bit since I was rocking my Ohio State gear and hyping the upcoming college ...

Were the bombs of August 1945 ‘demonic?’

Did demons create the first atomic bombs? Every August, debate renews over both the wisdom and the morality of dropping the two American atomic bombs, 81 years ago, on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima (Aug. 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (Aug. 9, 1945). August 2026 was no exception. As ever, many critics have faulted the United States for the bombings: two gruesome blasts — aimed at dual-use military and industrial targets in both cities — that may have caused some 100,000-120,000 immediate deaths among combatants and civilians. And not all these critics are on the Left. Two years ago, ...

Lesson learned in New Philly

A New Philadelphia municipal court’s creative sentence for a 21-year-old’s 17 wildlife crimes is fitting, yes; but also an important reminder to all of us about the boundaries we seem to forget when social media is at our fingertips. According to a Yahoo News report, Carter J. Hickey pleaded guilty to charges involving taking wildlife out of season, hunting without permission, illegally possessing animals, using a vehicle to spotlight and kill wildlife and failure to follow game-check rules. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigation spanned 17 states. That investigation ...

Mayor McDowell, where are the deliverables?

Youngstown Mayor Derrick McDowell likes the language of business. Strategy. Transparency. Action. Results. And, perhaps most importantly, deliverables. It is a good word. In fact, it may be the perfect word for evaluating the McDowell administration. Because a deliverable isn’t a vision. It isn’t a listening session. It isn’t a slogan, a social-media post, a committee, a meeting or another promise that something better is coming. A deliverable is something that was promised — and then delivered. Mayor McDowell took office Jan 1. His campaign website laid out an ...