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After speaking about healthcare at the University of Iowa

As a nasty virus made its presence unpleasantly and unmistakably known late last Monday night, I tossed and turned in bed, too miserable to sleep and irritated by a high-pitched, wobbly electrical whine. Although I had noticed it the last few nights, I'd successfully ignored the sound. This night, the whine grated my very last nerve. However, also on this night, on one of my many trips to the bathroom, I discovered the source of the bothersome noise – the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner on its charger – and silenced it.

Today I would like to tell you that you did it! You survived the shopping, the baking, the office parties and even the tacky "I'm Santa's Vixen" t-shirt from your weird brother-in-law, Fred. Yes, that is what I would like to tell you, but unfortunately I can't because this is post-Christmas week, a.k.a. "What the Heck Happened Here – Did We Host a College Fraternity Hazing?" Because nothing short of a nuclear blast could account for this big of a mess.

To all Morgan Hill residents: Is it hot enough yet? In late

Are you ready, people? Time to strap on your aprons!

BY Dr. Leonard Peikoff

It is a fact that two words still strike terror in my heart: Valentine's Day. This is not because I don't believe in love and hearts and all. It's just that every Feb. 14 I suffer unfortunate flashbacks to my grade-school days, which, truth be told, occurred lots of decades ago.

Starting in the late 1940s, most public school systems in the U.S. included the kindergarten program as a part of their regular 12-year sequence. Kindergarten (translation: a child's garden) was intended to build certain skills that would better prepare children to function as group members. In the early 1960s, the Ford Foundation developed programs to serve pre-kindergarten children who resided in low-income urban areas. They were designed to enhance nurturing activities that would put them on even footing with their pre-kindergarten peers. Initially, this effort only included the summer session that preceded the kindergarten year. One of the programs became know as Head Start.

A few weeks ago, in my column citing examples of lack of discipline in public schools, I said that the summer assignments at a Morgan Hill public school weren't collected. This is what I understood from conversations with not just my student, but another. When I tried to verify the information (phone system is awful to navigate, an email went unanswered), I opted for not giving the school the benefit of the doubt and printed what I believed was correct.

Volunteers, Community Support Are Essential for School Success