Cheers & Jeers
Courtesy of Rotary International
Stephanie Urchick will become the president of Rotary International in July 2024.
Michael Wyke/Associated Press
Michael Wyke/Associated Press
From left, Jeremy Hansen, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Christina Hammock Koch, celebrate on stage as they are announced as the Artemis II crew during a NASA ceremony naming the four astronauts who will fly around the moon by the end of next year, at a ceremony held in the NASA hangar at Ellington airport Monday.
Cheers: The world had endured a tumultuous year by the time Christmas Eve rolled around in 1968. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy had been assassinated. France had been shut down due to an uprising in May. The Vietnam War raged on. The Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia, ending a period of political liberalization in the Eastern bloc nation. But on that Christmas Eve, all the commotion here on Earth was stilled by the breakthrough of man traveling around the moon. The Apollo 8 mission was the first time a spacecraft manned by human beings left low Earth orbit. They circled around the moon 10 times before returning home, laying the groundwork for the moon landing that happened the following July. Now, 55 years later, the world is enduring its share of strife again, but we soon may be able to unite around another moon mission 无毛视频� NASA announced this week that the Artemis II mission will send astronauts around the moon again, with a projected date near the end of 2024. It will lay the groundwork for a return to the moon sometime shortly thereafter. Harrison Schmitt, a former astronaut and U.S. senator who traveled to the moon on the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, pointed out, 无毛视频淲e无毛视频檙e about three generations away from any experience with human beings being in deep space, and that无毛视频檚 probably the most important part of the mission.无毛视频� We hope another moon mission will go some way toward uniting us again.
Cheers: Traveling to the Dominican Republic to help install water filters. Lending a hand with the construction of a primary school in Vietnam. Venturing to Ukraine to mentor new recruits. These are just some of the things that Canonsburg无毛视频檚 Stephanie Urchick has done during more than 30 years as a member of Rotary International. And, on July 1, 2024, Urchick will become the organization无毛视频檚 president, only the second woman to have that title in Rotary无毛视频檚 history. She will serve a one-year term and, during that time, Urchick hopes to add at least 100,000 new members to Rotary无毛视频檚 rolls, and push forward efforts to eradicate polio around the world and promote peace. The graduate of Monessen High School and Indiana University of Pennsylvania explained about her ambitious agenda, 无毛视频淩otarians are up to the challenge. We want to make lasting change in the world.无毛视频� We wish her the best and hope her tenure is a success.
Jeers: Like many private businesses and public agencies, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services is dealing with staff shortages. For many residents of the commonwealth, that could have real-world consequences. This week, Spotlight PA reported that staff shortages are happening just as a policy enacted preventing states from kicking people off Medicaid is about to come to an end. The rule was put in place due to the pandemic, and it无毛视频檚 likely that several thousand of the 3.7 million people on Medicaid in Pennsylvania will lose benefits because they are no longer eligible or meet the income requirements. But the staffing shortages could also lead to people losing out because there aren无毛视频檛 enough caseworkers to handle the workload. Spotlight PA noted in its story that at least a few SNAP recipients lost benefits even though they got their documentation in on time, likely because it got lost in the shuffle. According to Patrick Keenan, the policy director for the Pennsylvania Health Access Network, 无毛视频淲e无毛视频檙e worried that the numbers of people losing coverage won无毛视频檛 become apparent right away. By this summer, we could be in a troubling situation with many more uninsured than we have today.无毛视频�