Articles on PR for People

August 2026 Magazine

Wildfires rage through the U.S. while our fearless leaders wage global war for their own profit and personal gain. Please see Annie Searle’s article Heating Up. We need a new and different leadership who will work for the people. Leadership needs to focus on the real dangers to America: the rising costs of food, housing, fuel, healthcare, education, the proliferation of AI data centers, and the destruction of our environment due to climate change. One word of warning: Make sure you are reading and listening to the right media to get the truth about what is happening. Aside from writing stories about people, we also write essays and articles that shed light on how the media works, thereby helping you to develop your own critical thinking skills. With the proliferation of fake news, chatbots, algorithms, and AI-generated news, memes, photos, and videos, it is more important than ever to be able to discern what is real. Please see my article The Media, Fake News, and AI.   –Patricia Vaccarino

 


Heating Up

This weekend, as we look around the country, we see that a significant portion of the population is displaced, evacuated from their own homes because of wildfires, floods, winds, tornadoes, mudslides or even failures of critical infrastructure like bridges, roads, and dams. This is not a new phenomenon—it’s familiar from the last several years, as the planet heats up. Since Trump returned to office in 2025, his administration has continued to eliminate regulated climate control protections and advance the use of contributors to the problem, oil, gas, and coal.


Blanche’s Confirmation Vote Could Flip the Senate

The Epstein files are the Achilles’ heel for Republican Senators this November, and their vote to confirm Todd Blanche as U.S. Attorney General is the Democrats’ populist arrow that could topple them.


The Media, Fake News, and AI

Whenever you read, see or hear news, always consider the source. We’ve been in the media business for a long time and can spot the fake from the real. We want to help you to be a discerning consumer of news. 


Leafing Through Reno’s Library

The Downtown Reno Library on Center Street isn’t your typical air-conditioned library. Push through the doors and you’ll find yourself walking onto a vine-bedecked bridge through a jungle atrium. There are thousands of plants here – begonias and philodendrons, mother-in-law tongues and spider plants, aloe vera, an avocado tree, Norfolk pines, and so much more.


Congress Can Reverse America’s Growing Wealth Disparity

Congress can reverse America’s Wealth Disparity. But we must determine whether the public cares and, if so, whether they are aware that it affects their living conditions. Do we have extreme disparity in wealth? Does anyone notice or care? 

 


July 2026 Magazine

The story about Yonkers born musician Joel Diamond will astonish you with his Yonkas speak. I had the privilege of meeting Joel in NYC a few years ago, and I adore his refreshing and direct persona. He is truly a “Diamond in the Rough.” Barbara Lloyd McMichael writes about the U.S. National Park Service and its many heritage fruit orchards. Barbara also writes about the history, legacy and current controversy surrounding the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Our July book reviews are not light summer reading, but you might find them interesting. Submission by Michel Houellebecq is a complicated rendering of what happens to a liberal culture when it is suppressed by an orthodox, reactionary leadership. DEATH AND THE BUTTERFLY by Colin Hester captures the liminal space between life and death, where the beauty of the butterfly prevails. We welcome commentary by risk management expert Annie Searle who has been writing ASA News & Notes for Seventeen Years. Do you know the difference between Social Democrats and Democratic Socialists? Nick Licata explains the schism in the Democratic Party. Happy July!  –Patricia Vaccarino

 


Diamond in The Rough

How Joel Diamond came to play at Carnegie Hall is a Yonkers story that began at the Hammond Organ Store on Nepperhan Avenue. Diamond was born blind in one eye, but when he walked into the organ store, he could play the keyboard. He was a prodigy.

 


Seventeen Years

This is the 142nd newsletter that the ASA Institute for Risk and Innovation has published since 2009, each containing a column that I have written on the Sunday morning preceding publication.  In its early years, ASA covered most dimensions of operational risk through a lens that analyzed events from the perspectives of people, process, systems, and external events. 


Preserving America’s Heritage Orchards

The U.S. National Park Service is known for its preservation of historic homes, monuments, and beautiful wild landscapes across the country: the Statue of Liberty, the Grand Canyon, and Yellowstone’s Old Faithful geyser immediately come to mind.