Nora Ephron said that everything is copy, and in the life of a columnist, that is especially true. You live your life and observe your life at the same time . . . more

Q. My parents are getting older, and we’ve discussed having them move in with us. The recent tax change also makes it more necessary, so we have less taxes to pay between both households. more

A: Many adult children are called upon to help their aging parents as life changes set in, yet only 65 percent of siblings report talking about money with one another, according to research by … more

Ten years ago, Howard T. Herber Middle School teacher Marguerite Izzo found herself in the office of U.S. Sen. Carolyn McCarthy and began recounting her observations stemming from the No Child Left Behind Act. As she was talking, McCarthy yelled for an aide to grab a notebook and start writing. “I couldn’t believe someone cared,” said Izzo, adding that this was the beginning of legislation to involve teachers in writing federal education policy. “The legislation was introduced two or three times, but never got off the ground,” Izzo said. more

Baseball season is upon us, and over the past few weeks, Little Leaguers have taken the field, sporting brightly colored uniforms and freshly oiled gloves. The smell of the grass . . . more

The drug addicts’ brain scans that Dr. Stephen Dewey takes appear in psychedelic shades of red, yellow, green and blue, each indicating a level of brain activity — or inactivity. Red means excited. Blue is dormant. Dewey is the laboratory director for behavioral and molecular neuro-imaging at the North Shore-LIJ Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. In that capacity, he’s put hundreds of addicts’ brains to the test — the positron emission tomography test, that is — seeking to understand precisely what happens to the mind when a pot smoker lights up or a heroin junkie shoots up. And, he has found, it isn’t pretty. more

Summer driving season is in full swing, and we’re out on the roads in large numbers. The absence of winter’s dangers can make it seem like a safer time to drive . . . more

Patients should stop thinking of powerful pain medications like Oxycontin and Vycodin as slightly stronger versions of Tylenol and Advil. Rather, they should think of them as “heroin pills.” That’s according to Dr. Andrew Kolodny, president of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing and chief medical officer for Phoenix House, a national, nonprofit drug treatment agency. more

Every day, 2,500 teens across the country, ages 12 to 17, get high off prescription drugs, and 70 percent of them obtain their narcotics from family members or friends –– most often by swiping them from bathroom medicine cabinets, according to Wendy Tepfer, executive director of the Bellmore-Merrick Community Parent Center. more

In jumping into the teacher-tenure debate, I know I’m stirring up a hornet’s nest. But who doesn’t like a little danger now and again? So here goes. more