Author: Lagniappe

Alzheimer’s is a major public health issue we must urgently address – the burden is large, the impact is major and there are ways to intervene. This National Public Health Week, policymakers can take action to help the more than 5 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s and the nearly 14 million who may develop the disease by 2050. One important way Congress can act is by passing the Building Our Largest Dementia (BOLD) Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act (S. 2076/H.R. 4256). Endorsed by the Alzheimer’s Association, the Act would create an Alzheimer’s public health infrastructure across the country to implement effective Alzheimer’s interventions including increasing early detection and diagnosis, reducing risk and preventing avoidable hospitalizations. Having cared for several family members with Alzheimer’s disease, I understand firsthand the impact legislation like this can have on families and our nation. Please join me in thanking Congressman Bradley Byrne for fighting for the millions of Americans affected by Alzheimer’s by supporting the BOLD Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act. If we are going to end Alzheimer’s disease, then we must start treating it like the public health threat it is. Beth Reinert District 01 Alzheimer’s Association...

To the editor: I attended the Mobile Opera production of La Boheme last weekend and was tremendously impressed by the quality of the performance. Any stage in the world would have been proud to have those singers. The stage direction was admirable and the orchestra was superbly led by Maestro Bernard McDonald. I am a Past President of the board of directors of Mobile Opera and have seen many opera productions both here and elsewhere including the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Our Opera ranks among the top ten regional opera companies in the nation. What a great benefit to our community to have this gem of an opera company right here in Mobile! Thank you for your support of the arts, including opera, in Mobile. Spencer C. Frost, III Mobile,...

Dear Ashley: I’m just now getting around to replying to your column “A pessimistic case for the lottery” (Hidden Agenda, Feb. 21, 2018). I’ve said in previous letters that I supported Democrat gubernatorial candidates Don Siegelman (the first time when he ran for re-election I voted Libertarian), Ron Sparks and Parker Griffith over the single issue of legalized gambling — which made me extremely unpopular among my fellow conservatives on local talk radio. I just can’t see “we know better than you do how to spend your money and live your private life” as anything even remotely resembling a conservative idea. It’s in the same category as banning 16-ounce or larger sodas. Jefferson said it best, “governments were not set up to protect us from ourselves.” In 2012 I was living in Chickasaw, a very likable town. I rode my bike to the polls to vote “yes” on a referendum to “just this one time” borrow from the state’s “rainy day fund” to keep from hiking taxes on the poor. Two years later Bentley ran for re-election on a platform of “everything’s fine, it’s stopped raining , read my lips, no new taxes,” all the while planning a massive tax hike for his second term. I knew it was going to be either one or the other, which is why I supported Griffith. Amazingly, even Bentley ended up supporting...