Columns

Have you had your flu vaccine yet? It is not too late.
You can be infected with the flu year-round, but the most prevalent time is from October to March. The Centers for Disease Control recommends that everyone age 6 months or older receive an influenza vaccine every year.

In the Nov. 24 Lancaster News, Rudy Schmidt responded to my Nov. 15 column about how Democratic policies help the middle class.
I appreciate the cordial nature of Mr. Schmidt’s comments. In his article he asked me to give the basis for my statements. I will try succinctly to do just that.
The Gini Coefficient, a measure of income distribution, has been increasing in the United States since 1980. (That means the middle class has been shrinking and the few very rich have been getting richer. Also, real wages have been decreasing.)

Friday’s Lancaster News article on law-enforcement costs for an incorporated Indian Land highlights a significant discrepancy in charges for similar services throughout the county.
Until this year, the sheriff’s office provided law enforcement services for the incorporated area of Heath Springs. When the cost for those services increased from $23,500 to $38,500 earlier this year, Heath Springs chose not to renew the contract.  Presumably, they still receive some level of coverage from the sheriff because they are still part of Lancaster County.

In his Sunday column, the editor expressed legitimate concerns about the deaths that have occurred in several recent mass shootings.
He mentioned the failure of the Air Force to forward information to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, that would have precluded Devin Patrick Kelley from acquiring the firearms that he used in the shooting at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas.