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I need my polka fix

Columns

I spend an ungodly amount of time in a tractor cab during the fall. Outside of sleeping, eating at odd intervals, and doing maintenance, my life is lived in a cab. The tractor radio is my steady companion. Every spring and fall, I spend a lot more time listening to the radio than Pam. The rest of the year, I listen to my wife because that’s what a successful husband does. I listen to a lot of news. (Spoiler alert, it’s bad.) Weather reports are must-listen radio when everything you do depends on weather. I follow the markets. Following the markets means following the mind of ...

Still striving for peace and freedom

Columns

I noticed this week that Marshall’s Adult Community Center sponsored a presentation about the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. It involved a tense two weeks when the world came close to nuclear war. The missile crisis was a major event in a much longer situation known as the Cold War, which lasted for more than 40 years. It began in the late 1940s, when the Soviet Union had developed the atomic bomb and when it prevented Eastern Europeans from moving to the West. It was still in full swing when I was a child in the 1970s. I remember being part of civil defense drills at Holy ...

Thumbs up/down

Editorials

THUMBS DOWN Daylight savings still a thing This Sunday at 2 a.m. daylight saving time goes into effect and clocks will fall back to 1 a.m. This means everyone gets an extra hour this Sunday. While it is great to get another hour back after losing one in the spring, it is still annoying to go through this clock upkeep every six months; especially since it is widely unpopular. Both political parties have pushed legislation to stop daylight savings, and have seen overwhelming public support for the bipartisan efforts. But it never goes anywhere and after this federal government ...

Shadows and Sleuths: Edgar Allan Poe’s Enduring Legacy

Columns

As October wanes and the veil between worlds feels thinner, it’s worth revisiting the man who gave American literature its first true detective — and its most haunting shadows. Edgar Allan Poe, often remembered for his tales of terror, also pioneered the detective story with “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” in 1841. His creation of C. Auguste Dupin laid the groundwork for generations of sleuths, from Sherlock Holmes to today’s true crime podcasters. But Poe’s genius wasn’t just in plot. He understood atmosphere — the creak of floorboards, the whisper of guilt, the ...

Republicans without backbones enabling Trump

Letters

To the editor: The last time I voted for a Republican candidate was 1988. I voted for Sen. David Durenbuger. This was when Republicans still had backbones and made sense. There is a phrase “coming down on the wrong side of history”. I do believe this phrase captures the current position of Rep Brad Finstad — A Trump “Enabler” who follows Trump’s lead on policies, robbing medical research, militarizing law and order in some of our cities, murdering assumed drug smugglers, firing Federal employees at will, willy nilly tariffs that have at this point accomplished little ...

Return back to the basic principles

Columns

Once upon a time, there was a country called the United States of America founded upon the basic principles of freedom, liberty and prosperity. Because of these principles, granted to each of us by our creator, the founders, George Washington, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin and others, met in Philadelphia in May 25 thru September 17, 1878, to revise the Articles of Confederation, however, after much debate they agreed rather than revising the Articles to abolish them and create a new frame of government. On June 21, 1788, the Constitution along with the first 10 Amendments, known ...