Hits and misses – observer-reporter

HIT: Let’s say your grandmother died without telling anyone that she had a safe with jewelry and stock certificates in it, or a savings account that wasn’t listed. Without heirs claiming it, the money and valuables go to the state, where it is kept as unclaimed property. Right now, the Pennsylvania Treasury is holding an eye-watering $4.5 billion worth of unclaimed property. The real estate it owns also includes utility refunds, insurance policies, bounced checks and more. It is estimated that approximately 10% of Pennsylvania residents have unclaimed property. During the 2023-2024 fiscal year, more than $200 million in unclaimed property was returned to its rightful owners, and officials are urging Pennsylvanians to visit patreasury.gov/unclaimed-property/ to see if anything is that is theirs. Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity said, “Every dollar can make a big difference for families right now, so I encourage everyone to search our website for themselves and their loved ones to see if they are entitled to unclaimed property. ..”

HIT: The news about drug overdoses in the United States has been mostly bleak in recent years, with numbers spiking again during the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the National Center for Health Statistics offered actual news this week that was at least somewhat good. The federal agency reported that drug overdose deaths decreased by 3% in 2023 compared to the previous year. More than 100,000 Americans still die from drug overdoses every year — enough to fill a football stadium — but at least the numbers are starting to move in the other direction. Why did the numbers drop a little bit? It could include better access to naloxone, which reverses opioid overdoses, and better access to treatment now that the worst of COVID-19 appears to be behind us. Whatever the reason, we can only hope that a further decline will occur when the data is released in 2025.

MISS: The Life of Dr. Cyril Wecht, the Allegheny County pathologist and politician, was not without achievement and controversy, as Wecht’s many obituaries this week noted after his death Monday at age 93. He was accused of wrongdoing on a few occasions during his long career and was known for being temperamental. Wecht certainly received a great deal of publicity thanks to his oft-stated belief that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. But we were struck by a comment Wecht made in an interview with the Observer-Reporter in 2017. Wecht was born in the Greene County community of Bobtown, and he expressed regret for not asking his parents how they ended up there after them to the United States from Eastern Europe. He said, “I’m so mad at myself for not pursuing this to learn more, but I don’t know. In my defense, all I can say is that some parents may have shared experiences and reminisced, but mine never did.” That’s a lesson from Wecht worth heeding – if you have older loved ones, ask about their lives and listen to their stories now, before they are no longer here to tell them.