OTHER COLUMNS FROM THE PLAIN DEALER

Editorials and opinion columns for Northeast Ohio

• Cleveland will prove its detractors wrong - Mayor Frank Jackson
At this time of year, people typically wax poetic on the speedy passage of time and look forward to the next year with anticipation and the notion that somehow next year will bring the success and fulfillment for which we are looking. This year is different: 2008 has brought about a sense of uncertainty and economic challenges that have not been seen in generations. People are nostalgic for the good old days because the times we live in have changed so much.

• Medina United Way starts program to encourage saving among county residents
Rebooting the failing American economy may be getting a head start in Medina County - $1 and a roll of pennies at a time.

• Build up our community
As a growing chorus in Northeast Ohio urges more regional cooperation, one agency has long practiced intergovernmental efficiencies on big-ticket improvements to our infrastructure. Build Up Greater Cleveland - affiliated with the Greater Cleveland Partnership - is celebrating its 25th year of facilitating more than $6 billion worth of infrastructure improvements in greater Cleveland. Working partners include the Cleveland Engineering Society, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority, Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, Ohio Department of Transportation, city of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County Engineer's office and Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency. Here are some of the ways Build Up Greater Cleveland members have impacted local residents:

• In fiscal storm, new strategies rise
Washington --

• Antibiotic must be used sparingly in the nation's food supply
Three of the NFL's biggest stars have been tackled by something so small it can be seen only under a microscope. Cleveland Browns' star Kellen Winslow, Tom Brady of the New England Patriots and Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts have been sidelined with bacterial infections this season, according to news reports.

• NASA's black-hole budgets
A cancer is over taking our space agency: the rou tine acquiescence to immense cost increases in projects. Unmistakable new indications of this illness surfaced last month with NASA's decision to spend at least $100 million more on its poorly managed, now-over-$2 billion Mars Science Laboratory. This decision to go forward with the project, a robotic rover, was made even though it has tripled in cost since its inception, it is behind schedule, there is no firm estimate of the final cost and NASA hasn't disclosed the collateral damage inflicted on other programs and activities that depend on NASA's limited science budget.

• A trap door blocks men looking for employment
As part of my job at Lake land Community College, it is not uncommon for me to meet with a middle-aged white male who just lost an $80,000 a year job and, in my next appointment, meet with a black male ex-offender who is looking for an $8 per hour job. It took a while for me to realize that they have, amazingly, something in common: They both share the same trap door.