Freezing to death in a parking garage

Karen Batts (that’s her on the right of the photo), 52, of Portland, Ore., was evicted from subsidized housing for not paying her rent (she owed $338). She moved into a parking garage, where she froze to death on Saturday, becoming Portland’s fourth person who is homeless to die on the streets just this year. Ms. Batts …

Girl doctors get things done

At least, that’s the general finding of a new Harvard study (and thanks, Leftover, for sending it). According to the study, elderly hospitalized patients are less likely to die within a month of admission, and less likely to be readmitted within a month after discharge. (The study said that if boy doctors worked so well, …

Deep breath. Back to more temporal matters.

              Something, as says Leftover, who sent this, needs to be done. You can read more here.

Because I write a blog called “Dating Jesus…”

…some kind-hearted soul just wished me a happy Easter week. I hardly knew how to respond, other than “Thank you. You, as well.” I didn’t go into the whole thing that I don’t really celebrate Easter, though the rest of Christendom seems to. I didn’t go into the fact that fundamentalists still walking around with those unique scars …

On being grateful…

We lost a family member, the stepdaughter of my sister-in-law. The deceased was a vivacious, fun-loving woman who was battling cancer when a stroke got her. She was just 52 and left a grieving husband, a son, and enough friends and family to form a long, long line last night at the funeral home. It may seem strange to …

Did you see the super moon? And then the eclipse?

We repaired to our town beach to watch, and then we stayed to watch what we thought was the eclipse, but it was slow in coming so we went home and watched that from the privacy of our back stoop. The trip to the beach was worth it, though. Entire families came in their cars …

Read “Forward Through Ferguson: A Path Toward Racial Equality”

The report was issued on Monday by the Ferguson Commission, a diverse 16-member volunteer group charged with looking at Ferguson and beyond, post-Michael Brown’s death. I’ve started my way back through it a second time, and I have to tell you, the report takes a deep dive into race and makes, by its own count, 189 calls to …

Should Dzhokhar Tsarnaev get the death penalty?

The Boston Marathon bomber was found guilty on all counts by a jury of his peers this week. Guilty, as CNN said, of using weapons of mass destruction, guilty of bombing a place of public use, guilty of conspiracy and aiding and abetting. Three people were killed and more than 260 injured when the bombs …

Another Trayvon Martin, this one in Milwaukee

Darius Simmons, 13, was recently shot to death as he brought his family’s trash cans in from the curb. The shooter, Darius Simmons’ 75-year old neighbor, has pleaded not guilty. The family had just moved to their new neighborhood because the mother, Patricia Larry [pictured], wanted to be in a safer place. As Kevin Powell …