Not long ago, I moved from a tiny town to a small city of about 8,000 people in central Illinois to be closer to the action. You know: band concerts, ice cream socials, veterans’ sandwich…

County commissioners voiced interest in recycling at their meeting Tuesday.  Of tires and electronics. That’s certainly a blow to local volunteers who for the last year have been pleading with city and county officials to…

When Georgia O’Keeffe moved to New Mexico in 1929, she spent a month at the Taos ranch of novelist D. H. Lawrence. For portions of each day, she lay down on an old bench beneath…

Public officials’ actions can be flawed or a fraud. Yet some people applaud. June 12, Salina’s city commission offered a prime example. A routine proclamation was read and signed by the mayor. It recognized Pride…

After decades of decline, fatal traffic crashes increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Today’s traffic deaths are falling harder and harder on bicyclists and pedestrians. In Kansas, pedestrian deaths increased 261%, from 18 in 2019 to…

One rainy day in April 2019, my phone buzzed and the caller ID lit up with “Supreme Court.” I stared at the two words for a moment. Was I in trouble? Then I remembered. A…

On Aug. 14, Dolly Parton is coming to Kansas to celebrate the statewide success of her Imagination Library program.  Dolly’s Imagination Library is an example of how music, art, and culture can intersect with social…

Last week’s congressional hearings on UAPs, more popularly known as UFOs, were unusual even by the standards of U.S. politics — in both content and style. Not only did members of the military and intelligence…

I was never a Barbie girl, but I definitely understand what it means to live in a Barbie world. Growing up in the ‘80s in a feminist household, I didn’t have a Barbie, but I…

Publisher’s Weekly recently reported that book sales for the first half of the year are down once again, continuing a trend that has accelerated since the pandemic. As usual, I seem to be out of…