Opinion

On Memorial Day, 1945, the war in Europe had ended but the fighting in the Pacific continued, Lt. Gen. Lucian Truscott voiced remarks at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery at Nettuno, Italy. Turning his back on the assembled VIP’s he faced the rows upon rows of headstones and apologized to the 20,000 fallen Americans who had been laid to rest far from home. He was quoted as saying, “All over the world our soldiers sleep beneath the crosses. It is a challenge to us – all allied nations – to ensure that they do not and have not died in vain.”

I like to consider myself an advocate for the environment: someone who believes that climate change is a dangerous and advancing threat. I fret that our government doesn’t do more to encourage sustainability and alternative energy.

Dear Doctors: I switched to a new doctor, and she wants me to get a bunch of blood tests. One is a blood test called an A1C. She says it’s for diabetes, but I already know I’m not diabetic. I don’t need insulin, and sugar doesn’t bother me. Are all of these tests really necessary?

Dear Doctors: My older brother worked construction his whole life, and now he has bad arthritis in his left hip. He was in enough pain that he finally saw his doctor about it. Instead of a hip replacement, they want to do hip resurfacing. What is that? Will it be as effective as a hip replacement?

Between 1980 and 1996, natural science publications in Russian fell from 10.8 to 2.1 percent. German dropped from 2.5 to 1.2 percent. But English rose from 74.6 to 90.7 percent. This surge in English publications did not come from American authors or other native speakers of English. This increase came from “non-native Anglophones”—scientists who learned English as a second language.

Want more nurses and teachers? Start with civic education. Late last month, the Kansas Board of Regents (BOR) released recommendations to the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) calling for highschool students to take four math courses prior to graduation, instead of the current three.