Let Life Resume

America remains bound by often extreme pandemic restrictions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends staying 6 feet away from others. In Oregon, everyone must wear a mask outdoors. In parts of the country, 2-year-olds must wear masks. Are such rules necessary?

Texas Press Association Capital Highlights

State climatologist: Texas getting hotter The state climatologist recently predicted that Texas will continue to get hotter and for longer periods of time during the next 15 years.

Views from Around the Panhandle

I’m a storyteller. Sometimes I tell long stories, and sometimes I tell a lot of little stories, depending on how my brain is working that week. Also, there are several inches of space on page four that are begging for comic relief.

China Tests Taiwan After Afghanistan Debacle

On Oct. 4, 56 mainland Chinese combat aircraft crossed the Taiwan Strait and illegally penetrated sovereign Taiwanese airspace. That aerial "show of force" rated as the largest mainland Chinese airspace violation since 1949 when Chinese Nationalist soldiers retreated to the island and dug in.

Native American Summer?...

My aged Uncle Mort can take a side road into yesteryear quickern’ most people can start an argument over vaccines. Now, he’s on a mission to learn more about Indian Summer. He’s finding much information about the season in numerous countries of the world.

Don't Play Race Card To Advocate Abortion

from The Colorado Springs Gazette Politicos play the race card with reckless abandon. As such, the words "racist" and "racism" are losing punch. These words are the crudest and most misused cudgels in English.

Texas Press Association Capital Highlights

Abbott wants to increase illegal voting penalties COVID-19 cases continue to decline Gov. Greg Abbott has asked the Texas Legislature to increase the penalty for illegal voting, adding the item to the third special session now underway.

Public Officials as Public Targets

All threats against public officials are unconscionable. Whether the officials are top tier or low level; federal, state or local; elected or appointed; Democrat, Republican or nonpartisan -- they are in almost every case just doing their job.

A Quiet Hero…

J. Ron Hardin, from most angles, might appear to be the kind of guy others would enjoy competing against. They might figure him to be a “push-over” in recreational or business endeavors, and they’d be wrong. He’d probably get so far ahead of ‘em that he’d soon be out of sight to the naked eye.

Smeared

I just sued Facebook. I didn't want to sue. I hate lawsuits. I tried for a year to reach someone at Facebook to fix things, but Facebook wouldn't. Here's the problem: Facebook uses "independent fact-checkers" to try to reduce fake news on their site. That's a noble goal.