Columns

By Jennifer Prince Sherman

Guest Columnist

SHIIP, the Seniors’ Health Insurance Information Program, for many years has built a reputation for providing reliable, unbiased information about Medicare. Housed in the North Carolina Department of Insurance, SHIIP provides free counseling to Medicare beneficiaries and their caregivers by phone and in person in all 100 counties of the state.

I have to warn you, I am now the slowest river on the road.

If you are trying to get somewhere quickly, I’ll be over in the right lane. Don’t mind me.

I don’t know if I’m finally starting to get used to the way things work around here or if I’ve just given up on the tenets the high school football coaches/driver’s education instructors taught me in summer school.

But I’m just going to go with it from here on out.

By Rep. Frank Iler

Guest Columnist

The North Carolina House and Senate held no voting sessions for almost two weeks, so there was no column in this series last week. There were “skeleton sessions” held to comply with the constitution, which says we must meet every four days while in session. These sessions are attended by members who live in the immediate area or are in Raleigh for other reasons. No votes are taken, but bills can be received from the other chamber and moved in and out of committees from the floor during these sessions.

I like to think by the time you read this, actor-comedian Robin Williams will have spent the last few days yukking it up again with his mentor, Jonathan Winters.

Like most of us, I was saddened to read Williams’ death this past Monday is an apparent suicide. He’d publicly discussed his past substance abuse and ongoing struggle with depression even though he was one of the funniest people on earth.