Columns

Arizona mirrors the midterm divide

PHOENIX — The race to pick a new U.S. Senator from Arizona underscores the tenor, tactics and tightness of the 2018 midterm elections. Two admired congresswomen are neck and neck as they seek to replace retiring Sen. Jeff Flake.

Church ‘Ladies Day’: Needed more than ever

As I type these words, my wife is eagerly anticipating the annual Ladies Day at the country church we’ve been members of for the entirety of our marriage (and which I’ve attended since I was six days old).

It’s news to me

These are the best of times, and the worst of times, for being well informed. We have a vast landscape of news sources, yet we tend to view them through a peephole rather than a porthole.

Graffiti by social-justice warriors was a hate crime

I grew up with family stories. My maternal great-grandfather, a hard-working immigrant from Abruzzo, reacted to some now forgotten blow to his honor by hanging himself with his youngest daughter’s jump rope in their West Philadelphia basement.

Failing U.S. citizenship

Failing U.S. citizenship “If younger generations don’t know why and how America is such a great nation, we are doomed!” “Ah, you speak of the recent Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation survey that finds only one in three Americans can pass the U.S. Citizenship Test.” “You got that right.

Governor’s Medicaid expansion claims rebutted

Gov. John Bel Edwards just released an editorial titled “Louisiana is Making Progress,” and states in part that “by every metric, Medicaid Expansion was the right choice for Louisiana” as it has saved the state over $300 million, grown the economy by generating $3.

Community journalism matters because communities matter

“Everything in this newspaper is important to someone.” It’s become something of a mantra for me in recent years. Weekly community newspapers are eclectic, to say the least. We publish photos of ribbons being cut at bakeries and donations being dropped off at local food pantries.

​Kavanaugh and the President’s big mouth

The Kavanaugh Nightmare is almost over. For almost three weeks Judge Brett Kavanaugh — a good father, a good man, a brilliant conservative legal jurist — has had his reputation permanently trashed and dragged through the mud by Democrats and their willing accomplices in the liberal media.

Political divide is no laughing matter

With all the vitriol in our politics — with all the disagreement that is tearing our country apart — we could all use some levity about now. Here’s one joke I think we can all agree with: A man wearing a ski mask jumped into the path of a well-dressed man and stuck a gun against his ribs.

Stopping violence: Listen to our police chiefs

Violence in our disadvantaged communities struck again in Baton Rouge, this time taking the life of LSU basketball player Wayde Sims who stepped in to a fistfight to defend his friend just off Southern University’s campus last Friday night.