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Gallus: What is a heat dome?

A heat dome occurs when a persistent region of high pressure traps heat over an area. The heat dome can stretch over several states and linger for days to weeks, leaving the people, crops and animals below to suffer through stagnant, hot air that can feel like an oven. Typically, heat domes are tied to the behavior of the jet stream, a band of fast winds high in the atmosphere that generally runs west to east. Normally, the jet stream has a wavelike pattern, meandering north and then south and then north again. When these meanders in the jet stream become bigger, they move slower and ...

Where is the Biden-bashing tell-all book?

It’s easy to miss some dramatic differences between the Trump years and the Biden years. Take, for example, the “tell-all books,” either written by journalists who are granted access to insiders or books written by the insiders themselves. By this time in the Trump term — the summer of 2019 — we were 18 months into “tell-all season.” But no Biden insiders are writing a “tell-all book.” We’re not counting memoirs by the family -- by Hunter Biden, or Hunter’s ex-wife, Kathleen, or the president’s sister, Valerie. We’re talking about hypernegative books. There ...

An American novel character: Titan pilot to break rules

Stockton Rush, 61, the late Titan submersible explorer, was an American character who stepped straight out of an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. I know whereof I speak. Rush was a Princeton man. So was “Scott” Fitzgerald, as seen in his autobiographical “This Side of Paradise.” The author’s subjects were often shiny surfaces, the very rich (“different from you and me”) and the ‘20s Jazz Age. To go to a Princeton reunion, as I did with a beau once upon a time, was to witness more than elite prosperity. The princes were characters in their own imaginations, celebrated ...

Sunshine Act abuse should not be tolerated

Citizens should know what issues their school boards, borough councils and other government agencies plan to deliberate and/or vote on at public meetings. Call this commonsense requirement what it is: the law in Pennsylvania. Since 2021 the Sunshine Act, or state open-meetings law, requires that a government agency make its meeting agenda available at least 24 hours in advance of a public meeting. The agency must post the agenda on its publicly accessible internet website, if it has one, as well as at the agency office and at the location of the meeting. In addition, copies of the ...

Kids say the darndest things

There was a television show that ran from 1952-1970, hosted by Art Linkletter entitled Kids Say the Darndest Things. The premise was this. Art would ask the children on the show a question, often concerning a deep life topic, and they would reply in a way only an innocent child could, with simplistic honesty, which resulted most times in humor. As a mother to four children, two of them twins, and nana to seven grandchildren, all ages five and under, I can attest to the fact that children most certainly have an interesting and humorous view on life. I thought it might be entertaining to ...

Recognizing Juneteenth’s importance

It is customary to publish an editorial about a holiday on the holiday itself. However, today’s observance of Juneteenth National Independence Day is a worthy exception, partly because of the newness of the observance and, partly, because millions of Americans still lack an understanding of the holiday’s significance. Hopefully, this weekend, many of those millions will come to appreciate what the holiday is all about and that, for many Americans, it is about more than having a day off from work or, otherwise, a break from other responsibilities or routines. For the benefit of ...