The Knight problem and ‘false equivalency’
During the 1978 Kansas primary election, The Rev. Harold Knight, a shrill and contentious publicity hound from Chanute, telephoned the Hutchinson News to demand...
Untold story, unsung heroes: Baseball’s laundry (again)
Major league baseball is now in post-season play, the wake of a 162-game season that began in April for each of 30 teams, and...
Will we have change, or more of the same?
In certain wards and precincts across Kansas, the coming election offers a challenger, most likely a Democrat, to the incumbent office holder, more than...
On the ballot: change, or more of the same?
Gov. Brownback and friends continue to claim that the state’s former school finance formula was junked because it was “too difficult to understand.” On...
DEPARTMENT OF MEMORIES: Knowing what we don’t know
Long ago I worked for an editor in Hutchinson who often began department head meetings with a pop quiz. The test was to see...
The irony in Kobach’s voter fraud
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is still pressing, his campaign to suppress voter registration now festering in the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of...
Our gun boat, taxes and other benefits
The street sweeper makes its rounds in Lindsborg on Fridays, and in our neighborhood we usually see it around noon – usually, we say,...
As death edges closer, as we search for answers…
Fred Vandegrift, a newspaper man from deep in his bones and his soul, died on August 28 in Wichita. He will be remembered for...
An old essay, and the filament of hope
Some time ago I was asked by a couple of editors in California to write a short essay about Kansas. It was titled “A...
Kansas history speaks: Government when it worked (5)
(Long before distress and malice became a Republican manifesto, Kansas had a most viable and vibrant government, led by people who helped the state...