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My sister’s confidence boosted my self-assurance

I would not make the trip by myself, but I also would not pass up the opportunity. I texted my sister Erica, who lives on the West Coast, “How do you feel about Montana?” Let me back up. When I started writing about conservationists protecting our American landscapes, I knew travel was part of the package. I enjoyed walk-and-talk interviews in the woods, but Montana was different. This was no three-hour excursion but a weeklong scouting trip in America’s Serengeti. It included camping in the middle of nowhere without cell reception and setting up a tent on a platform so bison ...

Louvre heist encapsulates a culture that will not defend itself

I write from a quiet, mountainous part of Central Europe. The scenery is idyllic, and the fall air is crisp. But much as the case has been in my other recent trips to the European continent, the sights I see and the conversations I hear are all underscored by a similar haunting concern: Will there even be a Europe, in any cognizable sense of the term, a century from now? All across the continent, fertility rates have plummeted, and the Christianity that defined the civilization for two millennia is viewed as a quaint relic of a bygone era. The combination of modern European Union ...

Prepare your vehicle before the first snow falls

As the temperatures dip and the first flakes appear on the horizon, Pennsylvania motorists face an annual test of preparation and patience. Winter driving is not simply a matter of skill — it’s a matter of readiness. Every year, PennDOT reminds drivers that the best defense against snow and ice begins before a single wheel turns. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission have again outlined their preparations to keep the Commonwealth’s roads safe. Thousands of workers and vehicles stand ready to respond when winter weather hits, ...

Scars of great peanut hysteria finally fading

The journal Pediatrics published a study on Monday showing that peanut allergies in the United States have dropped by more than 40 percent in recent years. Scientists believe that’s largely thanks to changes in federal guidelines a decade ago that encouraged parents to introduce foods containing peanuts to babies in their first year of life. This trend is worth celebrating on public health grounds. It also represents a triumph of science over hysteria — a cautionary tale about the harm that public health advocacy can cause when experts fall prey to groupthink. America’s ...

Pa. stepping up animal protections

Over the years, television has provided an accurate perspective of the problem — “affliction” sometimes might be the better descriptive word — of hoarding. We’re referring to people who have, in essence, ruined their lives, homes and also, perhaps, relationships because of having collected and having remained hellbent on continuing to collect virtual “mountains” of household and other items “too good” to throw away, sell or give away. In many of the sad and otherwise troubling situations upon which television has focused, homes had become such a repository for the ...

More empathy needed in effort to escape domestic violence

The fights next door are loud. Sometimes they happen often; other times there are weeks or months between them. No matter the frequency, the pattern remains the same: An argument. A scream. A thump. Tears. The neighbors hear it all, but don’t help. Instead, they raise their eyebrows, shake their heads in judgment, and wonder, Why doesn’t she just leave? While that question might seem logical, in the context of a domestic violence situation it’s misplaced, unfair and heaps undeserved shame on an already victimized person. It’s time to stop asking that question, and start ...