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Music can help Alzheimer’s patients

Editor’s Note: This column was originally published Nov. 16, 2019. Alzheimer’s disease, especially in its later stages, can put a wall between the sufferer and the outside world. As cognitive abilities deteriorate, the sufferer usually becomes increasingly confused and agitated. They may lose (or seem to lose) memories, become disoriented and lost, misidentify people, lash out or throw tantrums, or withdraw completely. In extreme cases, they may seem entirely shut off from the world. One treatment for Alzheimer’s that has gained more and more attention in recent years is music ...

Insuring access to treatment for mental health disorders

Can you remember a time when you knew you needed help with a medical problem or some issue had your mental side all messed up but you didn’t have the money to pay out of pocket for it, you didn’t have health insurance, and even if you did, most likely your insurance wasn’t going to cover it? Have you looked around at the people who populate your life and noticed how they look, how they have changed in the past two years or so? Aging. Stress. Fear. Paranoia. Contention. Where is the joy? The laughter? The truly living life? Some periodicals say that the country is ...

U.S. needs energy reliability and affordability, not outages

Americans have been hoping for economic recovery and a return to normalcy. Instead, they’re experiencing ongoing pandemic concerns and the ravages of wildfires and hurricanes. And adding to their woes, they’re now increasingly worried that the electricity grid on which they depend could fail when they need it most. Blackouts in the West this summer, frequent power conservation notices, and a week-long blackout in Texas this past February (that cost hundreds of lives) have left Americans increasingly concerned about grid reliability. According to new polling, 72 percent of Americans ...

In a situation … what do you do?

I made a business call. The young man who took my phone call was very willing to help me to get the information that I was looking for. But it took only a moment for me to think something might be terribly wrong. The speaker’s words were slurred, sometimes to the point that I couldn’t make out what he was saying. And when he had to put my call on hold, he breathed into the phone as if he were having trouble with the task. We all have read or heard that Covid-19-induced work-from-home has seen a rise in the misuse of alcohol and drugs. At one point I was on hold for so long I was ...

The value of Warriors: Help available for nation’s heroes

You are not alone, Warriors. Those of us who have never served in the armed forces that protect our country and our allies perceive our Warriors to be strong, tough, invincible. They know their duties and tend to those duties with dedication, determination, true grit. The job has to be done so they step up and do it without hesitation or reservation. They defend their country, their people, and the Constitution that provides all of us inalienable rights. Our Warriors watch history unfold in far-away places, assuring safety and protection to those who are not warriors, those unwilling ...

Congress must stop China from seizing U.S. electric vehicle market

President Biden is making a big push for electric vehicles (EVs). He’s hoping to not only convert the entire federal vehicle fleet to American-made EVs but also create 1 million new U.S. auto jobs. And as part of this effort, he recently set a goal of 50 percent EV sales in the U.S. by 2030. This is commendable. But unless the president and Congress act to fix federal policy, the next few years could actually see China-made EVs overtake America’s young electric vehicle industry. Here’s the problem. In 2008, Congress created a $7,500 tax credit for every EV that Americans ...