All of a sudden, funnyman David Letterman, embroiled in a sex scandal involving interns in his television production company, doesn't seem that funny anymore. It's tough making light of something when it seriously affects your reputation.

I think Pennsylvania should legalize table games to go along with the slot machines at the state's casinos. It can only help the state's coffers, and we all know, as the only state still without a budget, that we can use all the help we can get.Good news for local tourism. Predictions are that this year's fall foliage in Pennsylvania will be spectacular, maybe a nine on a scale of one to 10.I'm all for our government bringing sleazy film director Roman Polanski home from Switzerland to face the music for the rape of a 13-year-old girl back in 1977, which he admitted to. He skipped town and fled the country after pleading guilty. But even though he's in his late 70s, it's never too late to see justice served.The Yankees announced they are lowering prices on many of their luxury seats by as much as a thousand dollars a game for next season. That's still not enough to bring me in from the bleacher seats.Here's your non-health tip of the week. If you're head for Springield, Mass. this weekend, take a side trip to the Springfield Agricultural Fair and try a "Craz-E-Burger".It's not your everyday meat on a bun burger. Yes, it comes equipped with beef and bacon and globs of cheese. But what makes it different is the bun, or rather, the lack of a bun. The burger and all its trimmings are held together with two Krispy Kreme glazed donuts, and the whole thing is deep fried to perfection. Believe it or not, but this burger has become a national hit. And why wouldn't it? After all, it only contains 1,500 calories.I don't care what the ACLU says. I still think Palmerton School officials were justified in sending home the students who protested and violated the school dress code by wearing homemade T-shirts.Good news: Heating costs are expected to be down slightly this winter. Now let's hope for a mild winter to go with it.The way I see it, President Obama has two choices. He can order the troops home and give up on Afghanistan, or he can deploy more troops to that war zone to give us a better chance to win that conflict. As evidenced by last weekend's killing of 10 American soldiers in a 36-hour firefight, the status quo we now have in that country can't continue.The three men who won the Nobel Prize in physics, for helping to develop fiber-optic cable, have changed the way we run our lives (think high speed internet service, digital cameras, etc.) like no other invention has in many years. It's also rewarding to see the three recipients, Charles K. Kao, Willard S. Boyle, and George E. Smith are 75, 85 and 79 years-old respectively. Take that, young guys.Why would Nike want to give Michael Vick free shoes?Pet blessing services lend themselves to some of the best photos The TIMES NEWS runs all year. Kids and animals. How can you miss?Gala apples are the best eating apples ever grown. My wife tells me they're not good for making apple pies, however. She uses Yellow or Red Delicious for pies. For pies you want something a little more tart, and less sweet.As an early riser, I really like the mid-afternoon and early evening Major League playoff games. Too bad World Series games still aren't played during the day. It sure would get more kids interested in the sport.The same day the woman was killed by a pet bear in Monroe County, a bear visited my home and made short work of my two garbage cans. From now on my trash cans will be kept in the garage until I'm sure the bears are in hibernation, because now they're just looking to fatten up before the winter.Bobby Bowden is the second winningest coach in college football history. But even that doesn't make him immune to critics. The head of the board of trustees at Florida State wants him to step down because of the team's 2-3 start this year. Just proves we're living in a "what have you done lately" society. Too bad, Bowden, along with winningest coach Joe Paterno, deserve to go out of their own timetable.