My new fancy dress

I was excited to wear my new dress.It was slimming, I thought: all black and covered with flounces from the neckline to the hemline. I wore it with high heels – which I rarely wear – and red drop earrings.

Information needed on juvenile crime

Laws to protect some can also cause heartache to others. One of those includes not making information available on crimes that involve juveniles.We understand that officials must be very careful to protect the rights of youngsters by not releasing their names.

Omicron variant spreads faster than before

Dear Doctors: Can you please talk about the omicron variant? I keep hearing different information about whether or not it's worse than the delta variant and how sick it's going to make you. Why has there been so much panic about this new variant?

Employee disappointed by recent raise

DEAR HARRIETTE: My assistant has been doing a good job at work, so I offered her a promotion and a 20% raise. I was surprised and disappointed by her response. She said she thought the raise wasn't enough and that she deserves a lot more. I run a small business and do not have more to give her.

Could it be the sore loser effect?

For the last year, we've heard one commentator after another tell us that American democracy is in crisis.

Addressing hunger a moral obligation

There is no better place for your donated dollars than your local food bank or other nutrition programs. The need for food is acute in many families as the damaging effects of the pandemic continue to ripple through the economy while inflation – the worst in 40 years – wrecks family budgets.

Harris is a work in progress

New year, new start for Kamala Harris?Last year should have been one of triumph for N the vice president. She was a pathfinder as the first female, Black and Asian occupant of the office.

Still much to learn about personalized nutrition

Dear Doctors: I've been hearing about something called "personalized nutrition." They're saying it can help with all sorts of stuff, like depression, losing weight and even migraines. Apparently it starts with a poop sample? What's this all about?

Friends make too much noise at resturant worker’s job

DEAR HARRIETTE: I work in an upscale restaurant. My friends come in often to visit me, but my new boss doesn't like them very much. My friends can be a little bit rowdy, and apparently my boss doesn't like so much noise in the dining room area. My old boss had no problem with my friends.

A challenge for the new year

“Be my Mommy!" the banner in the CVS window read, part of a display of surplus Baby Emma dolls. I noticed during Mass – shortly before I went to the drugstore to pick up prescriptions – that one of the petitions during the service was for those struggling to have a happy, peaceful Christmas.