Life

To Your Good Health: Aggressive treatment for Crohn’s

DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m a 57-year-old man, and I’ve had Crohn’s disease since I was a child. For the past 18 years, I’ve managed it quite successfully with 6-MP, budesonide and Xifaxan. For the past five years in particular, I’ve been in perfect health. My C-reactive protein (CRP) test was under 5 mg/dL, and my colonoscopy from about four years ago was pristine. Just recently, I had a colonoscopy that showed significant inflammation, and my blood work is showing it, too, with a CRP of 19.5 mg/dL. My doctor recommends an aggressive treatment with Skyrizi. I don’t want to take ...

‘American Soldier’ play comes to Salem High School

The play “The American Soldier” will be staged for one performance on Saturday at Salem High School. This production tells the story of the American soldier through 14 characters based on real people, actual letters and true experiences spanning from the American Revolution to present day. The play captures the discipline, teamwork and brotherhood of military service while also examining the internal struggles soldiers face when returning home. Audiences meet a Revolutionary War soldier freezing at Valley Forge, a WWII veteran haunted by Iwo Jima, a grieving Vietnam-era ...

Music evolves and piano stays the same for Simpson

In some ways, Brian Simpson is a creature of habit. The jazz pianist, who headlines Saturday’s Youngstown Jazz & Wine event at Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre, released his first album, “Closer Still,” in 1995. He recently finished his 13th, which doesn’t have a release date yet. ...

Thursday evening TV

Rust Belt Theater Company stages ‘Forbidden Youngstown’ revue

The Rust Belt Theater Company brings its 14th edition of “Forbidden Youngstown” to Youngstown Playhouse this weekend. This bawdy, irreverent musical revue is a spoof of theater culture and the city of Youngstown that Rust Belt calls home. It pokes fun at classic musical theater tropes ...

A limited series could have delivered ‘Maximum Pleasure’

The end. Movies used to put those words on the screen. Now, it seems as if no movie or television series commits to an ending. Filmmakers had no trouble telling a story in 90 to 180 minutes for decades. Sure, there were occasional sequels and various franchises in different genres, but each installment was a self-contained unit with a beginning, middle and end. One didn’t need to see the previous Sherlock Holmes or Abbott & Costello movie to understand the nuances of what came next. Now every other movie requires homework. Wanna see the latest “Star Wars” or Marvel ...