It is a surreal state, padding to the kitchen to blend a smoothie, while less than 25 miles away the ground is poised to split open and swallow a village. The wild prospect — too…

More than a year ago, Iola council members voted 7-0 to extend water, electric and streets in the Cedarbrook Addition and followed through last spring by committing $1.7 million to the project with the goal…

A couple of weeks ago, a young crowd in Shanghai came out in force to celebrate Halloween. The street where I live filled with revelers dressed in a range of elaborate costumes — as the…

In the time Sam Brownback was our senator, and later governor, I’ve been to dozens of his speeches. But I never saw him deliver a sermon before.  I did Friday, at the Wichita Pachyderm Club. …

On Oct. 8, President Biden ordered a fleet of military ships and an aircraft carrier closer to the war between Israel and Hamas. Days later, he ordered a second carrier group to steam into the…

A small town in east Alabama is saying goodbye to someone they shouldn’t have lost. By all accounts, F.L. “Bubba” Copeland Jr. was loved by thousands in Smiths Station, a community of about 5,400. He…

From head to toe, our bodies are adapting to accommodate our devices. A majority of U.S. workers spend most of each weekday seated and looking at screens. We’ve thereby put ourselves in the midst of…

Like urban communities across the nation, Kansas City, Mo., has a public health problem. Gun violence is staggeringly high. In 2022, despite a nationwide drop in gun crime, Kansas City suffered its second-deadliest year since…

During seminary, I studied genocide with Dr. Elie Wiesel.  For three fall semesters I had a seat around a large oak table in a classroom on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. Wiesel, a Nobel Prize winner,…

This summer was the hottest on record, and September was warmer than the average July temperatures from 2001-2010. Kansas farms are on the frontlines of these changes. Persistent drought gripped a large portion of the…