As pets accompany their owners more places, the friendly skies are often not so friendly for our pets. In the last four years, 62 animals have been injured or died while in transit on Alaska Airlines. Only Delta – with six times Alaska’s air traffic…
The FDA has approved the use of scorpion-derived venom in human trials on brain cancer patients. Really. The re-engineered protein from the scorpion is mixed with a fluorescent molecule "flashlight;" the product, called “tumor paint,” illuminates tumors or areas so small a physician may be…
Christine Hansen did not intend to become a partner in the healing of others’ grief, but she is. Hansen is a glass artist who lives near Olympia; she takes cremains (people and pets) and incorporates the ashes into glass memorial beads. Some of the beads…
Three retired firefighters who rushed in to assist people when the World Trade Center was hit by terrorists, died on the same day – all from cancer. In the years since the attacks, many first responders have suffered from respiratory illness. Many have died from…
Spokane Bishop Blase Cupich, perhaps some of the best evidence yet of the “Francis effect,” has arrived in his new home - Chicago. Cupich, reportedly more moderate than his Chicago predecessor Archbishop George, leaves a diocese of 100,000 Catholics to take on the Chicago Archdiocese…
Providence Health & Services celebrates its humble beginnings this week, honoring the foundress of Providence, Blessed Emilie Gamelin. She died on September 23, 1851. Emilie married a man who was decades older than she was; they had three sons. The happy couple shared a vision…
Beloved actress and singer, Polly Bergen, died Saturday at her home in Connecticut. She was 84 years old. Bergen won an Emmy in 1957 for her portrayal of singer Helen Morgan – an alcoholic. Fifty years later she was nominated again for a role on…
The pope witnessed 20 couples’ wedding vows at the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Basilica last Sunday. Some couples live together; some of the betrothed had been married before. One bride is a mother - all unusual for Catholic weddings. Pope Francis advised them that marriage is…
You may not know his name, but you know his lyrics. Bob Crewe wrote songs for Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, as well as other music legends. His lyrics marked our rites of passage. Boomers remember. Bob Crewe died last week at the age…
The whole strutting one’s body in a swimsuit in hopes of “winning,” goes against all my sensibilities. Have to say. Still, I smile when I think of the Miss America pageant. As a little girl, I watched the annual cattle call-like festivities with my grandmother…
We walk the streets of our communities and at any time we see them: persons who have mental illness. When one of these persons commits a crime – or is it a crime if they have limited awareness? – they are arrested and put in…
We remember where we were, the images on television, the accounting for friends and family who live in New York City. My sisters and I frantically called each other to learn about my brother-in-law. He was in Lower Manhattan on business. After sixty minutes, he…
My husband and I cleaned out the storage area above the garage – without marital discord. He likes to toss, while I like to “consider” how an item may be useful, still. Add in the his/hers factor: as comedian George Carlin said, “Please move your…
The baby-boom generation is moving into their elder years and bringing their great expectations – like fabulous food. And many senior living facilities are seeking to meet that expectation. In the Chicago area, the Mather, a senior living community, the chef creates duck breasts and…
The FDA has approved a new class of drugs to fight cancer. The first drug – Keytruda - was approved for patients with advanced melanoma, patients for whom other treatments have failed. Other drugs in trials have been successful against kidney and lung cancers. The…
America’s funniest funny woman has died. Joan Rivers, 81, died one week after she suffered cardiac arrest during a medical procedure. She leaves a daughter, Melissa, and a grandson, Cooper, and a nation who couldn’t help but laugh at her quick wit, her outrageous comments.…
Fall is really here now. School busses lumber through our neighborhoods, the cool morning air heralds change. And tonight the Seahawks kick off the professional football season against the Green Bay Packers. Enjoy the melancholy of autumn, when crisp leaves skitter across cement, marching bands…
Tracking and living by the “experts’ findings” on food choices can make one’s head – and perhaps stomach – hurt. Low carb? Low fat? Vegan? A new major study claims that people who avoid carbohydrates and eat fat – even the saturated kinds of fat…
Spokesman-Review features writer Rebecca Nappi, along with writer Catherine Johnston of Olympia, Wash., discuss here issues facing aging boomers, seniors and those experiencing serious illness, dying, death and other forms of loss.
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