Doris O'Brien is a retired college Speech teacher and banker. She has published two books of humor (Up or Down With Women's Liberation and Humor Me a Little) and for many years contributed light verse to the Pepper 'n Salt column of the Wall Street Journal. She is an avid writer of letters to the editors.
Doris celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary in the same year she welcomed her first grandchild. She now lives in Pasadena with a great view of the San Gabriel mountains — and the annual Tournament of Roses Parade.
She can be reached by e-mail: witsendob at (@) gmail.com
Using Special Nails to Save Roofs — and Dollars; "People are waking up and looking at sheetrock in their house instead of the sky"
New roofs are coming to Africatown, a hamlet of crumbling shotgun houses amid ancient pecan trees northwest of Mobile Bay. The replacements, many of which will go to the neighborhood’s poor and aging homeowners, are being paid for by a first-of-its-kind state grant program that aims to lower homeowners' insurance rates and reinforce Alabama homes against future windstorms. Alabama officials, like state and local leaders around the country, expect disaster recovery costs to continue to grow as people live in vulnerable areas and climate change increases the frequency and intensity of natural disasters. more »
The Themes Behind Grantchester; The Younger Version of Jane Tennison of Prime Suspect
Stars James Norton and Robson Green are back as the crime-solving duo of vicar Sidney Chambers and his partner Detective Inspector Geordie Keating. When we left things at the end of Season 2, we were all left wondering what would happen between Sidney and Amanda, now that she has left her husband. Prime Suspect: Tennison is the six-part drama charts the rise of the novice policewoman as she assists in her first murder investigation, revealing her first steps towards becoming the complex and formidable character that viewers have come to know. more »
Compare Proposals to Replace The Affordable Care Act: The Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 vs. The American Health Care Act, as passed by the House May 4, 2017
Editor's Note: We're including a paragraph from The New York Times' coverage of the new bill: "Older people could be disproportionately hurt because they pay more for insurance in general. Both chambers' bills would allow insurers to charge older people five times as much as younger ones; the limit now is three times." The Kaiser FamilyFoundation (not connected to Kaiser Permanente) has compared the two recent plans offered up by the Republican leadership. more »
Older Population and Diversity Still Growing, Census Bureau Reports: Residents age 65 and over grew from 35.0 million in 2000, to 49.2 million in 2016
New detailed estimates show the nation's median age rose from 35.3 years on April 1, 2000, to 37.9 years on July 1, 2016. "The baby-boom generation is largely responsible for this trend," said Peter Borsella, a demographer in the Population Division. more »
