Editor’s note

On the same day this week that Memorial Medical Center proposed its $122 million expansion to the state review board, Glenwood High School proposed getting more students out of physical education classes. Springfi eld Public Schools have to grant P. E. waivers because several schools don’t have adequate gym space. Nobody is saying taking kids out of P. E. is part of a plan to help fi ll all the new patient rooms being built at both Springfi eld hospitals – there will be plenty of baby boomers to do that for years. There’s some good news in a new report that shows slight declines in childhood obesity, which still is at 17 percent. Let’s hope the coming era of Obamacare will emphasize the message that health and fi tness is the answer to the high cost of hospitals and medicine. And look for IT’s annual health and fi tness issue Jan. 17. –Fletcher Farrar, editor and publisher

Cover photo by Patrick Yeagle