Cheers to the Miles Delivers group and those supporting the group’s plea to MaineHealth about keeping or delaying the shuttering of its birthing facility. Not only will the closure cause mothers to travel greater distances to receive treatment and give birth, but the closure will have a dramatic effect on young families choosing not to settle here in the region. The cost of homes here in the region is high enough and adding the problem of not having convenient and safe access to a birthing facility will not be beneficial toward increasing our school population.

I’ve been “into” baseball this summer, especially with the Red Sox being so successful over the past month—tying team records for wins over the month of July, the 15-game win streak and winning eight straight series. Also, I have also been intrigued by the Major League Baseball trade deadline for many years – especially so this year as we have enjoyed following Ryan Zeferjahn, whom my wife met several years ago when he played alongside our nephew at Kansas University. He was drafted by the Red Sox, and played at Portland and Worcester before being traded to the Los Angeles Angels. On Monday he was traded again – to the Chicago Cubs. Luckily, the Cubs will be coming to Boston in late September and we hope to meet up with him again.

With the weather turning warmer and more humid this week, please remember not to leave children or pets unattended in your cars. Cars turn into mini furnaces, no matter that the windows are rolled down, and children and pets don’t have any way of controlling the temperatures. According to a statistic I saw on the news Tuesday morning, over 1,000 children died of heat exhaustion last year when they were left in cars.