Gail Short - a freelance writer in Birmingham, Alabama

It might be tempting to purchase your medicines from an online pharmacy to save money, but beware. Some online pharmacies are selling ineffective and even dangerous products.
The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) reported this year that it identified dozens of illicit online pharmacies (IOPs) selling drugs marketed as treatments for COVID-19, drugs that would normally require a prescription.

“Rogue internet pharmacy networks are run by criminal opportunists, and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has provided the perfect opportunity for illegal online drug sellers to prey on fearful consumers,” the NABP says in its “Rogue Rx Activity Report.” Read the article. 

After nearly a decade delivering newspapers part time, Jesus Serrano says he dreamed of landing a better-paying, full-time position with benefits.        
He applied for several jobs, he says. Employers, however, rejected him because he lacked a high school degree.

“Most of the jobs ask you for the high school diploma or a GED,” Serrano says. So last year, he went the Bakersfield Adult School to enroll and study for a GED. That is when a School adviser told him he could study closer to his home at the School’s new workforce development center, Job Spot, at 1501 Panama Lane. Read the three articles on pages 2, 6-7.

In late spring of this year, automakers in the United States began ramping up production after a nearly two-month shutdown to contain COVID-19. By then, the virus had sickened millions and killed thousands of Americans and forced businesses across the traumatized nation to close. Read the article. 

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Joshua Finklea, pastor of The Rock in Conway, South Carolina, is quick to credit God’s grace for his congregation’s growth.

“His hand has been on us,” says Finklea, who is starting his fifth year as pastor of the 15-year-old church. “He has allowed us to do some things that have resulted in people being reached.”
But besides God’s grace, the church strives to attract, reach and teach those Finklea calls “this generation.”
“We don’t use the phrase ‘next generation’ because we believe that students and kids and young adults aren’t ‘next,’” Finklea says. “God wants to use them today.” Read the article.