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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 ...

Penn College’s success stories are a blessing

We are happy that students at the Pennsylvania College of Technology found their skills are in high demand for prospective careers at a recent career fair. “The strong turnout at the Career Fair reflects both the strength of our employer partnerships and the value of an applied technology education at Penn College,” Shelley L. Moore, senior director for the college’s Center for Career Design, said, according to last Thursday’s edition of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette. Both students and employers praised the event, citing the energy and enthusiasm prevalent amidst the ...

Saving tortoises doesn’t mean just moving them

A rescued gopher tortoise arrived at the Nokuse Nature Preserve in Florida’s Panhandle while my sister Erica and I were there. It didn’t know how lucky it was. Across Florida, builders are required to obtain permits from the state to capture and relocate gopher tortoises found on development sites. It’s a system meant to save them — but does it? Without federal protection for the species across its range, conservationists might be only moving the problem, not solving it. Gopher tortoises’ only federal protections exist in small parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and western ...

Miyares’ race for Virginia AG just got more compelling

The one thing that has been consistent in covering Virginia’s off-year statewide elections since as far back as the year Republicans George Allen and Jim Gilmore ran for governor and attorney general, respectively, in 1993 is that the races really don’t start moving until September. And when they do, they move fast. Allen began that summer trailing badly in his race against Democrat Mary Sue Terry. Early polling showed her earning 56 percent support of Virginia’s voters to Allen’s 27 percent. By September of that year, Allen had cut Terry’s lead from 18 percentage points ...