We step to the podium today to offer a lecture against unnecessary tanning, joining a chorus of skin doctors who have long preached about the ill affects of the sun (and faux sun), the lesions that can develop, the skin melanomas that can be deadly.

And, we watch with interest the developments in the nearby city of Springfield, which has become the latest in our country to rein in young people who are trying to do more with their skin than their skin allows.

Springfield has passed a ban on minors using commercial tanning beds. Come Jan. 1, it will be illegal for them to turn on the roasting button if they are younger than 18.