Americans

The federal government Friday called for all baby boomers to be tested for hepatitis C, which kills more Americans each year than AIDS and is the leading reason for liver transplants. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made the recommendation to find hundreds of thousands of people who don't realize that they have the infection, which greatly increases their chances of developing cirrhosis and liver cancer. The hepatitis C virus is transmitted by blood, usually through intravenous drug use or transfusions.

In rejecting PSA screening for prostate cancer, an influential federal panel has chipped a cornerstone of preventive medicine, declaring that it's not always best to catch cancer as early as possible. "At best, PSA screening may help only 1 man in 1,000 avoid death from prostate cancer," the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said Monday. "Most prostate cancers found by PSA screening are slow growing, not life threatening, and will not cause a man any harm during his lifetime.

Amid the many messages you will hear about screening for prostate cancer in the coming days, I hope these stand out: There is at best a small potential benefit from prostate cancer screening, and there are substantial known harms. We need a better test, and we need better treatment options. The panel I chair, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, has just issued a recommendation against screening men of any age for prostate cancer using the prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, blood test.

The housing market's continuing struggles have upset the retirement plans of millions of Americans, keeping more of them in their current homes, waiting for diminished equity to reappear. Others plan to move, but they appear to be demanding something much different from what they wanted before the real estate boom turned to bust: smaller, less expensive retirement houses they can afford with their reduced means. At the start of the financial crisis in the fall of 2008, economists weren't anticipating that the long-term trend toward retirement living would be derailed.

This summer, hair weaves are taking a turn for the kinky, the curly and the wavy. Why is this news? When black women first started sewing hair onto their scalps during the 1990s en masse, the resulting shoulder-length bobs were as much about achieving a smooth texture as it was about having length. Fabulous hair was defined as long and straight. However, as more black women have come to terms with their natural curl pattern, store-bought tresses are trending toward the fuzzy rather than the flat-ironed.

IN TODAY'S AMERICA, the poor are apparently getting poorer. Then again, so is the middle class. And just like in the days leading up to the Great Depression, the rich are getting even richer. Figures released by the Census Bureau yesterday (full story on Page 31) show that poverty is the highest it's been since 1994 - and for working-age people 18 to 65 years old, it's the highest since 1965, when President Johnson declared a war on it (that ended in a stalemate). For millions of low- and middle-income Americans, the economic ladder has gone only down during the recession.

In the first few years of the last decade, a lot of assumptions were made about aging baby boomers, their parents, their children, and their housing needs. Boomers would begin downsizing as soon as the children flew the coop, starting at about 55. Boomers would move to communities filled with their own kind. Elderly parents would be accommodated in a casita — a part of the house — until they needed continuing care. The casita would then be converted to a crafts room.

In the months leading up to tonight's midnight tax-filing deadline, Americans have been feverishly pouring billions of dollars into Individual Retirement Accounts at a far faster pace than in 1990, according to Money magazine's Small Investor Index. Discount broker Charles Schwab, for example, has opened 17,500 new IRA accounts this year, compared with 12,700 for the same period a year ago. At Fidelity Investments, investors with existing IRAs have added 15 percent more cash to their accounts than they did a year ago. Analysts give two reasons for the heightened interest in IRAs.

I AM an American. I am neither a Democrat nor Republican, red or blue, left or right. I grew up a rebellious child, I challenged authority and would not stand up to salute the flag in high school. I didn't agree with the way MY country was run. I'm older now, and though I still carry a heavy stone in my stomach at the thought of the way MY country is run, I know it's not America's fault. I love America, and am a proud American. But, like every American, I have my opinions and beliefs that oppose those of others.

So, Nancy Reagan told the Los Angeles Times that she hasn't talked to her daughter, Patti Davis, for more than a year. What else is new? There is a reason that Americans feel compelled to talk about "family values. " We don't have any - or, rather, we have significantly fewer than almost any other people on Earth. We are the people who left our parents and grandparents behind in Europe to come to the New World. Then we left them behind generation after generation as young men followed Horace Greeley's advice to go West.

Phillip Phillips, the 21-year-old from Leesburg, Ga., was anointed the winner of the 11th season of American Idol on Wednesday night. A fan and judges' favorite, the easy-going singer sailed through the competition, never landing among the weekly bottom three. By way of contrast, Jessica Sanchez, the 16-year-old from Chula Vista, Calif., whom Phillips prevailed over in the finals, was actually eliminated by viewer votes more than a month ago but was brought back by the judges.

My mom was one of the original American idols. It was close to 60 years ago, when Simon Cowell hadn't even been born, let alone cast his first smug look at a contestant. But Rose Elkin was ideal material for a show that was the American Idol of its time and place. Broadcast in the 1950s on WCAU-TV, Dividends for Homemakers was a local, occasionally loopy, but likable talk and gossip program for what were then known as "housewives" in need of some entertainment as they awaited their afternoon soaps (or, as my Aunt Zena used to call them, "the stories")

Higher prices for visits to doctors, surgery, and drugs were the main cause of higher health-care costs for privately insured Americans in 2010, when overall utilization of health-care services was down, a report by the Health Care Cost Institute in Washington, said Monday. The report, using data provided by Aetna, Humana, and United Healthcare, analyzed three billion claims for 33 million individuals covered by employer-based health insurance from 2007 through 2010. "For the first time, we have comprehensive data on the privately insured.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Two Americans jailed in Haiti were charged with conspiracy for participating in a street march that pressed for the return of the country's disbanded army, a Haitian government official said Sunday. Reginald Delva, Haiti's Secretary of State for Public Security, said Jason William Petrie and Steven Parker Shaw were charged Saturday night because of their involvement in last week's march. Petrie, 39, is from Barberton, Ohio; and Shaw, 57, is from Dighton, Mass.

Thousands of people are expected to converge on Franklin Square Park, at 6th and Race streets in Center City, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday for the sixth-annual Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Festival. Highlights include a children's fair and other kids' activities, music and artistic performances. Various cultural and other organizations will host information booths. May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. — Julie Shaw

We call it corn, the Native Americans call it maize. Whatever you call it, there's a ton of it the screenplay of Crooked Arrows . It's billed as the first movie about lacrosse, the country's fastest-growing sport and also the continent's oldest, played by the six nations of the Iroquois confederacy going back a thousand years or more - a heritage reflected in the underdog scenario that drives Crooked Arrows. Former Superman Brandon Routh (part Kickapoo, who knew?

The 11th annual East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention celebrates the African American experience in comic books Friday and Saturday. The convention will offer an awards ceremony, film screenings, youth workshops, a parade, a comic-book marketplace, and other events at the African American Museum in Philadelphia and the Enterprise Center in West Philadelphia. Convention activities begin at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the museum, with a free reception and ceremonies for the Pioneer and Glyph comic awards.

Jennifer Lopez, 42, shocked fans this week when she said she wasn't sure she would stay on at American Idol. To some, it felt like a betrayal of all they held good, sacred, and true. Alas, E! News' Mark Malkin says J-Lo already has decided to ditch the show. "She's just too busy," Anonymous Source says, noting that the singer is due to go on a months-long world tour with Enrique Iglesias. J-Lo has yet to confirm or deny the report. She does tell E! she feels conflicted.

Half of Americans think Facebook is a passing fad, according to the results of a new Associated Press-CNBC poll. And, in the run-up to the social network's initial public offering of stock, half of Americans also say the social network's expected asking price is too high. The company Mark Zuckerberg created as a Harvard student eight years ago is preparing for what looks to be the biggest Internet IPO ever. Expected later this week, Facebook's Wall Street debut could value the company at $100 billion, making it worth more than Disney, Ford and Kraft Foods.

DEAR ABBY: One of my friends, "Max," cheats at golf. He moves his ball closer to the hole on the green and "improves" his lie when he thinks no one is looking. I have tried to overlook Max's transgressions, but others in our golf group talk and joke behind his back. How should I go about stopping the problem without stressing our friendship? — Florida Golfer DEAR GOLFER: What you have described is considered a terrible breach of golf etiquette. What it shows about Max is a serious lack of ethics.