Opinion

What does the evidence say about universal pre-kindergarten?

February 26, 2022

With the “Build Back Better” legislation stalled in the Senate, President Joe Biden is considering smaller bills that include important parts of the plan, such as one proposal to spend $110 billion to make pre-kindergarten available to all 3- and 4-year-olds. Helping children to overcome limitations based on their family finances or backgrounds is an appealing idea. Recent evidence, however, raises serious questions about whether more preschool improves kids’ lives over the long term.

Increasing fiber in your diet may increase gas

February 25, 2022

Dear Doctors: My husband and I recently got our family onto a healthier diet – no processed foods and lots more vegetables, beans and legumes. It’s not easy, and we’re struggling to stay on track. On top of that, we all have gas. Why does that happen? What can we do?

February 24, 2022

The Electoral Count Act of 1887 is 809 words in 10 long and confusing sentences describing how Congress is meant to certify the election of a U.S. president.

Across the years and gaps, love can endure

February 24, 2022

The birthday card made me laugh. A man and a woman of a certain age (old) are talking.

Old-school options can come in handy

February 24, 2022

In the spring of 2020, as the pandemic took root and we suddenly had to rethink a lot of stuff, it became obvious that running out to the store for something as frivolous as bedding plants – marigolds, vinca, zinnias – wasn’t a good idea.

Midterm races will test Trump’s clout within party

February 22, 2022

What will it take for Donald Trump to wear out his welcome with a significant portion of the Republican party? It’s a question that political analysts have asked ever since Trump emerged as a GOP force and began committing the kinds of unforced errors that might sink a normal politician. Trashing war hero John McCain didn’t do it.

February 22, 2022

Journalism is so fundamental to the workings of a democracy that the founders made freedom of the press first in the Bill of Rights. But this industry, so vital to an educated citizenry, is being financially undermined by two monoliths that have taken the content generated by newspapers, TV, radio and others and used it to reap massive profits while refusing to provide any compensation.

The time for the ‘big show’ has passed

February 18, 2022

Dear Abby: My niece met a guy. Two months later they got engaged. A week after that, she married him. Now, a year later, she wants to have a wedding. Is this proper? Does she just want a big show and gifts? People are laughing about it, and it is not what I was raised to do. Am I wrong in thinking this is an embarrassment to our family?

No, ingesting marijuana will not prevent COVID-19

February 18, 2022

Dear Doctors: Please help us explain to our kids that using marijuana doesn’t keep you from getting COVID-19. We’re particularly focused on our two older sons, who are quoting a study that says it supposedly does, and who are in college in a state that just legalized recreational cannabis.

February 17, 2022

Anti-science extremism is now spreading like a virus on the political right. Legislation in some red states seeks to roll back vaccination requirements not just for the coronavirus but for any other disease – potentially even preventing schools from enforcing long-existing requirements that students be vaccinated against polio, measles and the like. It sounds extreme, but in fact it’s the logical outcome of the irrational conservative backlash against coronavirus vaccination mandates.