It’s the Christmas edition of the Weekend Reader, so let’s set off on a search for stories that emphasize peace and goodwill to all people and — oh, what’s the point? Let’s just do the usual roundup of noteworthy news and see if we can sprinkle in just a little holiday seasoning.

I still haven’t sent out this year’s Christmas cards, by the way, but if you want me to send one to you, I’ll happily do so. Just email me your address at [email protected] and the card will be in your mailbox by — let’s say, Valentine’s Day. That seems doable.

Samaritan Health Services — citing a workforce shortage — has announced plans to “pause” labor and delivery services at Lebanon Community Hospital. It’s a worrisome trend, particularly since labor and delivery units have closed in recent years in Oregon and other rural towns. The given reason for the pause in Lebanon — “a series of unexpected physician departures across” the mid-valley — won’t be completely unexpected to anyone who’s recently received a letter saying that their personal physician has “retired.” It’s worth remembering that one of the reasons why Samaritan worked so hard to attract a medical school to Lebanon was to increase the number of physicians willing to stay and practice in the mid-valley.

On a related note, here’s a story from The Oregonian/OregonLive’s Kristine de Leon about the decision by Optum — the new owner of The Corvallis Clinic — to stop offering maternity and women’s health services at the clinic in February. Clinic managers say they’ve been losing physicians and haven’t been able to recruit replacements — why, it could be part of “a series of unexpected physician departures.” This also tracks with what happened when Optum, a branch of health care giant UnitedHealth, took over the Oregon Medical Group in Eugene. (Full disclosure: This latter story comes from Lookout Eugene-Springfield, where I now work.)

I’m still reeling from the weekend murders of filmmaker and actor Rob Reiner and his wife, photographer Michele Singer Reiner. Reiner, as you know, shot much of his 1986 movie “Stand By Me” in the mid-valley, and the Democrat-Herald reached into its files to pull out photographs from the production’s stop in Brownsville. Reiner and his collaborators were mostly based in Eugene during the shoot, and Lookout Eugene-Springfield talked this week with a woman who worked on the production.

And speaking of Reiner: I think it would be fair to call his recent work uneven, but he put together a remarkable run of movies that people still love in the 1980s and 1990s. Consider: “This is Spinal Tap,” “Stand By Me,” “The Princess Bride,” “When Harry Met Sally…,” “A Few Good Men,” and “Misery” all were made between 1984 and 1992. (Well, I don’t know if anyone loves “Misery,” but it still works.) It’s probably not a coincidence that two of those movies were based on Stephen King stories; to that end, here’s King himself with a moving tribute to Reiner.

President Donald Trump this week signed an executive order removing cannabis from the list of federal Schedule I drugs — the category reserved for drugs with a high possibility of abuse and no medical value. Trump said that, while marijuana still carries a high potential for abuse (and, in fact, recent studies suggest that marijuana addiction is on the rise), it also has potential medical benefits. It’s still illegal federally, although in Oregon t’s legal for both recreational and medicinal use. The reclassification could help clear the way for additional medical research. Oddly, Trump forgot to mention that the effort to reclassify the drug began under Joe Biden’s administration.

Are you thinking the Trump administration is focused mainly on targeting large media companies? KCBS — an all-news radio station in San Francisco — earned unwelcome attention from the administration after reporting on the activities of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the area. In response, The Associated Press reports, the station dialed back its political coverage, a classic example of the “chilling effect” in action.

Looking for a positive twist on the Trump administration? Then try this piece from Vox, in which Zack Beauchamp argues that Trump’s war on democracy is doomed because of the haphazard (and often inept) way in which the administration pursues its goals. (Beauchamp even coins a word — “haphazardism” — to describe the phenomenon.) Personally, I think that description is a better fit for Trump’s first administration; the second edition seems to be operating more effectively. Discuss amongst yourselves.

Speaking of Trump, is there a sure-fire way to tell if the president is lying — or, somewhat more charitably, just making stuff up? The Atlantic’s Marie-Rose Sheinerman thinks she’s found it: Whenever the president cites “92 percent” or a similar number, it’s a tell.

In any event, it’s a sure bet that darker days are ahead — especially Sunday, the darkest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. That’s depressing. But literally brighter days will follow. Say what you will about The Associated Press, but it rarely misses the mark with its solstice coverage.

The Oregonian is reporting that police came to the aid of a seal that was found Saturday plodding along U.S. Highway 101 in Lincoln County. The Oregonian’s reliable Jamie Hale starts the short story with an odd (and unexplained) reference to an “Arrested Development” episode in which a seal bites off the hand of Tony Hale’s Buster Bluth character. This all makes one wonder if there’s some sort of connection between Tony and Jamie Hale. I should look this up, but I probably won’t.

To continue this week’s descent, here’s a story from The New York Times that examines in depth this question: How many times can a movie use the F-word (or, as we sometimes write it, f—) and maintain its PG-13 rating? The answer, as it turns out, is “once,” and the story outlines the surprisingly numerous ways in which that rule plays out in moviemaking. (I would have loved to watch the Times’ editorial meetings in which writers and editors argued whether to use the word itself in the story.) Parental advisory: The word is used, without dashes, in the story.

Here’s another peek at The Atlantic’s continuing Space Telescope Advent Calendar, featuring a shot from the James Webb Space Telescope.

That’s it for this week. Your Christmas card is in the mail. It might get to you a little late.