Once the grim tally of deaths from COVID-19 is finalized — sometime later this year, we hope — there is little doubt it will be clear that nursing homes are the coronavirus’ favored killing grounds. To most public health leaders, that already is obvious. In some states, most of the epidemic’… Read more

While we Americans were paying tribute to our fallen heroes during Memorial Day weekend, observant Muslims here and abroad were marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Even in Afghanistan, there was a pause in hostilities between government and Taliban forces. Read more

About 11,000 people were forced to leave their Central Michigan homes a few days ago, when two large dams failed. No lives were lost, in part because the dams’ imminent failure had been anticipated for several days, as a result of heavy rainfall. Read more

Many school districts and individual teachers have contingency plans for classes to be interrupted for a few days. We doubt more than a handful had strategies for the current situation, in which the last couple of months of school for millions of students was canceled. Read more

Hospital personnel such as nurses and doctors, ambulance crews and other full-time health care professionals are viewed by many Americans as the front-line heroines and heroes of the COVID-19 epidemic. An episode two weeks ago reminds us first responders such as police officers and firefight… Read more

Even back in the day, when our grandfather would sit in that lawn chair, turn on that transistor radio and smile — we knew what it was all about. Read more

What is it about those lawn parties that draw us to the neon lights like a mindless moth ready to shell out our precious greenbacks for raffle tickets, fried foods and that wonderful barbecue chicken? Read more

Unanimity over how much power intelligence agencies should have to pry into Americans’ personal affairs has disappeared with reports during the past few years of unconstitutional invasions of privacy. Victims of that have ranged from high-ranking government officials down to millions of othe… Read more

Many public school districts are ending the academic year early or plan to do so, The Associated Press reports. In some, use of distance learning via online tools has been pronounced a disappointment. Read more

Nearly every American has suffered financially from the COVID-19 epidemic. At least 36 million of us were laid off from our workplaces. Even those still on the job have seen their retirement savings decimated. Read more

Thousands of older Americans may have died needlessly because we as a nation did not heed an early wake-up call regarding COVID-19. It is not too late to save thousands of others. Read more

It is one thing to throw money at a problem. It is something else to keep throwing it while telling recipients they cannot use it to get out of a jam not of their own making. Read more

If you are among those who have not lost their jobs because of the COVID-19 epidemic, congratulations. Perhaps you share the widespread opinion that the current “lockdown” of the economy should continue, to keep everyone safe. Read more

People the government classifies as black or African-American are being killed by COVID-19 at a rate far higher than their proportion of the U.S. population as a whole. It is a trend that has been noticeable for several weeks. Read more

One of his players said it best when asked to describe Chris Cofer. Read more

During three and one-half years, Americans converted a peacetime economy to become the arsenal of democracy and win World War II. The “greatest generation” accomplished that because it had to be done, for the good of all humankind. Read more

As the coronavirus epidemic hit full stride, Americans learned to our dismay that the nation lacked adequate supplies of COVID-19 test kits, personal protective gear such as face masks, medical ventilators and other necessities for dealing with a massive health care emergency. Read more

Mission not really of much use probably is not the slogan those in the military would choose for their genuinely superhuman efforts to help areas such as New York City that have been slammed hard by COVID-19. And in truth, the armed forces have done an excellent, life-saving job. Read more

We all need a bit of a psychological pick-me-up. The tough fight against COVID-19 is taking its tool on us emotionally. Read more