Columns

I recently read that 42 percent of Americans join the annual tradition of Black Friday, flooding malls and big-box stores to get a jump on the holiday shopping season. Many start well before the sun rises, standing in lines to take advantage of special deals for early risers.
I don’t exactly remember when the term “Black Friday” entered the American vernacular, but it wasn’t long ago. Now, it’s heard as often as other words that enjoy a much longer tradition — words like Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Now that we’re into the holiday season and near the end of the year, many Coloradans are preparing to make a large part of their charitable gifts for 2011. For the second year in a row, we have the opportunity to make many of those gifts through Colorado Gives Day.

I spent four of the best years of my life at Penn State University.

Many of us have harbored an underlying worry that our paper, plastics and pop cans don’t actually amount to much. It’s time to dump those old ideas and embrace recyclers and the EDS transfer station on Highway 73. Nothing brought in remains on site. Your commingled recyclables are responsibly sorted and sold to various commodities brokers.
The environment is surely the main beneficiary, but it must be profitable for a private trash company to accept this stuff for free. Many factors have to line up to make it all work.