For the first 40 years that Iola Industries owned the land surrounding the old Lehigh quarry, “we wondered what could possibly happen here that would be good,” John McRae, president of Iola Industries, is quoted…

When NPR correspondent John Burnett retired recently after 36 years, Weekend Edition host Scott Simon asked him what lesson he would take away from his years of covering global events. “If I could wave my…

Next week, the diversity in school debate returns to neighboring state Missouri via House Bill 952, its anti-1619 Project bill, joining the earlier proposed Parent’s Bill of Rights, SB 776.  Missouri, a bellwether for policymaking…

The Kansas Legislature now has its first abortion bill on the docket of the post-Roe v. Wade era — and the first since Kansans voted to protect abortion rights by defeating the “Value Them Both”…

One of the simplest ways to define politics is as a struggle for power. This power struggle has flared up again. The legislature began their 2023 session by introducing a bill that would further disrupt…

The roots of my love for Kansas Day were planted deep many years ago in Mrs. Garrett’s second-grade class at Jefferson Elementary School in Iola. The simple act of coloring my own version of the…

If you haven’t seen “All Quiet on the Western Front,” you’re missing out. The German film, an adaptation of the French novel, is directed by Edward Berger and was released late last year on Netflix.…

Laura Kelly knows what works for the majority of Kansans. She’s down to earth, plainspoken, and a temperamental and political moderate. Two successive tall Republican men have run against the diminutive Democrat, and each has…

Consistent with conservative wishes when it comes to K-12 education, the 2023 “A better way” legislative agenda Kansas Republicans released a few days ago leans toward support for school choice Education Savings Accounts (ESAs). Any…

I finished reading Jennifer Egan’s “The Candy House” last weekend, my first read of the new year. It was a wonderful book, featuring interlinked stories of characters who grapple with a brave new world where…