Cheers & Jeers
Cheers: When a portion of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia collapsed earlier this month after a truck carrying gasoline overturned and ignited, most officials projected that the loss of the overpass would close the highway for weeks, leading to major delays and maybe even cause the price of some goods to go up due to the added time and miles to transport them. Amazingly enough, though, that stretch of I-95 reopened last weekend. Crews worked 24/7 and used 2,000 tons of lightweight glass nuggets to fill the underpass, bringing it to surface level, according to the Associated Press. Then, they paved over it to create three lanes of traffic going in each direction. This will allow traffic to flow on the highway while a permanent structure is built. That the road is open again is an inspiring demonstration of both teamwork and leadership.
Cheers: President Biden is running for reelection at age 80. Harrison Ford is starring in the latest “Indiana Jones” movie at age 81. Bob Dylan is still touring relentlessly at age 82. They are some of the more noteworthy examples of octogenarians who are still plugging away when most of their peers have long settled into retirement. According to an article in The Wall Street Journal this week, more and more eighty-somethings who aren’t as well known as Biden, Ford or Dylan are participating in the workforce. The Journal reported that roughly 650,000 Americans over age 18 were participating in the labor force, about 18% more than a decade earlier, and that the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the number of Americans older than 75 in the workforce will stand at 11.7% by 2030. Granted, some of the older folks who are in the workforce have returned because of financial issues, and many of those working past 80 are in professional roles and not engaging in back-breaking labor. Still, with the labor force shrinking and the number of older Americans growing, no one should feel compelled to call it quits if they still have all their skills and their wits about them.
Jeers: Penn State University’s student newspaper The Daily Collegian has produced reporters who have gone on to work for CNN, Sports Illustrated and other outlets, have won Pulitzer Prizes and have written best-sellers. Despite its long and distinguished history and status as an important training ground for young journalists, university administrators are considering cutting its funding to $0 by the 2024-25 academic year. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported this week that because of a $140 million structural deficit, funding might be whittled down to $200,000 from the current $475,000 in the 2023-24 academic year, and then eliminated the following year. There is apparently discussion about finding other ways to fund the news outlet, including making it part of a news consortium or building an endowment for it. Nevertheless, the idea of eliminating funding altogether should not be on the table at all. Nick Stonesifer, the editor of The Daily Collegian, pointed out, “You’re going to be hard pressed to find a journalist anywhere now that didn’t work for their student paper in any capacity. When that comes under threat, you really have to think about how that impacts the field as a whole.”