Rural Roots and American Rainbows

It’s supposed to be a time of goodwill and cheer, but it seems like the folks who need to rattle a saber 24-7 are finding reasons to act like Ebenezer Scrooge and ruin everyone’s holiday season with wave after wave of bitter political correctness. Holiday classics are threatened with extinction. Time-honored phrases are seen as…

I sometimes have to wonder if writers realize the awesome power they possess. When wielded correctly, it can be an amazing force that influences people. When wielded in a reckless and bullying fashion, it makes you look like an idiot. This is magnified even more when writers come together as a group to condemn another….

On Sunday, we pay tribute to our veterans, the people who chose to put their lives on hold to fight for our freedom. They are the ones who went toward the battle as others fled. They are the ones who knew there was the risk they could die in battle, but they moved forward anyway….

In more than 20 years of reporting the news and even more years of reading it, I’ve seen my fair share of weird and disgusting stories. However, I’ve never uncovered a story about teenagers taking human ashes and using them as the secret ingredient for cookies—until now. This is probably not the sort of thing…

Oct. 7-13 is National Newspapers Week, and an encounter this week reminded me of why it’s more important than ever to let people know the role that journalists play in making sure their communities are aware and educated about what’s going around them. I was working on a story, and as part of that work,…

When the creators of the United States Constitution crafted the First Amendment that includes, among other things, freedom of speech, who knew that the debate on that freedom would extend to books? I’m not just talking about the blistering critique of the Trump administration in journalist Bob Woodward’s new book “Fear.” I’m talking about the…

I realize that sometimes we need a break from reality. With all the strife in the world making headline news 24 hours a day, not to mention President Donald Trump’s every tweet becoming a major event, we sometimes need to ponder something else. I think we might be taking things a little too far, though,…

Last weekend saw one of Washington’s most prominent figures pass away. Sen. John McCain died Saturday after a difficult battle with brain cancer, fading into the pages of history, leaving the ranks of true American patriots one short. McCain represented my home state, Arizona, for more than three decades. After two terms as a Congressman,…

There is a saying, “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.” It comes from the bard himself, William Shakespeare, in the play “Henry IV, Part 2.” Who would have guessed that a line written more than 400 years ago to describe English royalty would become so relevant in an American beauty pageant? Gretchen Carlson,…

Farming can be more of a game of chance than any you’d find in Atlantic City or Las Vegas, and the stakes are much higher. There could be too much rain, or not enough. Maybe some uninvited insects decide to set up shop and ruin the crops. A tornado might mow down the cornfield, or…

Wisconsin is well known for its fields of green and farms as far as the eye can see. In Shawano County, almost 46 percent of the land is agricultural, with dairy farms making up a huge chunk of it. Many of these farms have been passed down from generation to generation, many evolving to keep…