In 1998, Lanie Black did the impossible in Mississippi County. He won the contest for state representative as a Republican — the first to do so since Reconstruction. The four-term legislator, farmer and Navy veteran died recently. He was 73.

There is no word more overused in political life than "historic." But considering the runoff races for the two U.S. Senate seats in Georgia, "historic" is the right word. There is little of what we once thought of as middle ground remaining in the nation. Today, we've got the left, the right and not much in the center...

Americans are well versed in the consequences for physical health from COVID-19. Newspapers brim daily with scary headlines alarming us of any risk that it might pose, no matter how minor or remote. But there are other nasty and less often discussed consequences brought on by this pandemic and by our collective reaction to it -- whether that's due to people locking themselves up at home out of fear of encountering others or government-ordered lockdowns...

I'm torn this year. I've never been much of a Christmas decorator post-childhood, and everybody knows I rail against those Hallmark snow movies, as I call them. Last year, what with the new house and all, I did my thang, and put up not one, but two Christmas trees. That was huge for me. This year, I'm going to do it again -- not because I feel 100% all about it, but because I refuse to give in to the oddity that has been 2020...

If you love soccer, you know Diego Maradona as one of the all-time greats. The day I watched him play was June 8, 1990, in Milan, Italy, the opening match of the once-every-four-years World Cup, with Argentina defending its crown. When that day started, I had no idea I would be there, or how important the day would become to international soccer.

Big questions remain about what exactly happened in the 2020 election. I’ve been looking over history, compiled on the Statista website, of total votes cast in presidential elections compared with the number of eligible voters. 2020 seems very, very odd...

This letter is written on the day after Thanksgiving. The morning news said that the COVID-19 pandemic has now taken more than 263,000 lives, and that more than 90,000 individuals are hospitalized with this disease. In Missouri these numbers are 3,900 and 2,750 respectively...

When I take a life saving shot for my Multiple Sclerosis, I use a piece of medical equipment called a syringe. There are many items of medical equipment: protective gloves, bandages, ventilators, and, yes, face masks. Face masks have been used successfully for over 100 years by our medical heroes. They save lives. There is nothing mysterious about them, and they are politically neutral just like the virus we seek to defeat...

Congratulations to the Jackson football team on a wonderful season. Here's hoping they win it all at state. Also, congratulations to the Jackson soccer team on winning their state title. Good things happening with Jackson sports. In a year with so much uncertainty, it's been refreshing to have a bit of normalcy with the display of Christmas lights. Many wonderful displays locally that can be enjoyed from the safety of your car. Merry Christmas!...

If the Cape County Collector's Office would write complete sentences on their postcards it might be less confusing. Receiving a postcard on a Saturday that says the mortgage holder is requesting our "Real Estate" caused a momentary bit of anxiety. Is this some kind of new party game?...

The Toybox and Christmas for the Elderly programs will operate a little differently from previous years this Christmas, but the need for support is still great — more so this year with the challenges of COVID-19. Toybox is collecting toy donations at several area businesses, including the Southeast Missourian. And there is coordination between Toybox and Toys for Tots, meaning donations can be made at drop boxes labeled for either of the drives...

Congratulations to the Jackson football team on a tremendous season. Will be rooting them on Saturday as they go for the Class 5 championship. For all the hard-core Trumpists: How is it plausible that a Red state like Georgia could let Democrats run rampant with alleged voter fraud? You would have to suspend reality (which Trump apparently did) to believe something as farcical as that. ...

On Aug. 10, 2021, Missouri will turn 200 years old. Recently, the Postal Service unveiled several new stamp designs for 2021, and among them is a stamp marking Missouri becoming the nation’s 24th state. The stamp’s art is a photograph of the Bollinger Mill State Historic Site at Burfordville in Cape Girardeau County, capturing the four-story mill along the Whitewater River with the Burfordville Covered Bridge nearby...

Thank you Salvation Army for helping people on Thanksgiving Day. This is an important organization that deserves support. ...

As COVID-19 cases continue to surge, our doctors are working tirelessly to ensure patients have the best possible chance of surviving this deadly virus. Unfortunately, the federal government is planning to move forward with policy that would have consequences felt across the entire health care system, a system that is already stressed...

If you live in Cape Girardeau you have most likely driven on West End Blvd. For years there had been a pretty bad dip/trouble spot at the intersection of Rockwood Drive across from Capaha Park. You may also know this spot from the famous "Riverboat House."...

Many Trump haters have been lying all along about President Donald Trump, what he stands for, what his record has been and who his supporters are. Now they tell us they want unity. What Trump wants -- and want his supporters want -- is for America to reclaim its greatness, its robust liberty tradition, its prosperity, the integrity of its borders, fair trade deals with foreign nations and its military strength. He has made great strides in achieving these goals...

The unofficial start to Christmas shopping begins this weekend. In recent years the Black Friday kickoff has consistently started earlier and earlier. Some would camp out overnight to be the first ones in a shopping center. Then instead of opening in the wee hours of the morning, stores started opening on Thanksgiving...

Every Thanksgiving, we make a conscious effort to give thanks. This year, even in the midst of a pandemic, I'd encourage you to be genuinely grateful for everything you may take for granted. There is still so very much. Let's be thankful that we continue to do so much better on a global scale. ...

A big thank you to the girls that turned in my wedding ring at Aldi's after finding it in the store. I would like to have thanked you in person, but you didn't leave your names. Your kindness is really appreciated. May God Bless You. Congratulations to the Jackson High School Soccer team for their state championship and Notre Dame's soccer team's second-place finish. Both teams represented the progress in Southeast Missouri area soccer programs. All of us soccer fans are so proud of you!...

The backlash is coming. It already seems clear that the first major political and culture eruption of the Biden years will be a roiling populist backlash against the next round of COVID restrictions. We saw this sentiment play out in sporadic anti-lockdown demonstrations last spring and it has driven ongoing resistance to masks, but it is, in all likelihood, about to reach an entirely new level -- fueled by exhaustion with the virus, elite hypocrisy and the shattered credibility of the public-health establishment.. ...

O God, may we remember the true reason for the Christmas season. Amen.

We live in a time of heedless iconoclasm, and so one of the country's oldest traditions is under assault. Thanksgiving is increasingly portrayed as, at best, based on falsehoods and, at worst, a whitewash of genocide against Native Americans. The New York Times ran a piece the other day titled, "The Thanksgiving Myth Gets a Deeper Look This Year," bristling with hostility toward the day of gratitude and noting that "the holiday arrives in the midst of a national struggle over racial justice." (The paper is admirably consistent -- a couple of years ago it ran an article headlined, "Everything You Learned About Thanksgiving Is Wrong."). ...

There are struggles in the land, as there always are and will be, because humans are imperfect beings. But America remains a land of bounty, good in its spirit, founded on hope of a better future, with institutions built to last, and people free to self-determine and help one another. We have much for which to be grateful...

Donald Trump is nearing a crossroads. Those who allege that he has endangered the tradition of smooth presidential transitions by not conceding immediately after the media declared him the loser suffer amnesia. When Trump was elected in 2016, the Washington establishment lost its collective mind. The top echelon of the FBI and CIA were still spreading a fraudulent Christopher Steele dossier paid for by the campaign of his opponent, Hillary Clinton, and the Democratic National Committee...

It seems Trump supporters are quick to claim fraud in the election, but it's time for them to head to court and prove it or stop whining. Facebook, OANN, Twitter, Newsmax and Fox News have never required irrefutable evidence, but courts do. Stop trying your case in the media and head to court if you're really serious about the fraud claims. ...

Sen. Roy Blunt says the United States has written two new chapters on how to respond to a pandemic, one on testing and another on vaccines. The senator spoke with me Friday afternoon on several topics, including the good news about multiple COVID-19 vaccines nearing approval...

If ever there was a year to feel justified for not being thankful, it would be 2020. Let's face it; it's been a year like none of us has ever seen, and it's given us plenty of reasons to be unthankful. Nonetheless, let's not succumb to that mindset...

Archbishop Bashar Warda is a man of hope, humility, courage and defiance. Christians will stay in the Middle East, like it or not, he says -- even if there is little or no room for them among Muslim leaders in the region. "Chilling" doesn't begin to describe listening to Warda talking about the threat to his people in that troubled part of the world. ...

How extremely fortunate Cape Girardeau County is to have Kara Summers as our County Clerk. What an awesome responsibility she and her tremendous staff carry. Kara's visible and measurable commitment to honesty, integrity, reliability, truth, timeliness and dependability are traits of character we need to emulate. ...

I want to thank the Cape Girardeau Public Health Center for providing the opportunity to get flu immunizations in a drive-through setting. My daughter and I received our immunizations in less than 15 minutes, and the service was outstanding. The nurses and administrative staff were friendly and efficient; they are great ambassadors for the Department of Health...

Before an eager farewell to 2020, most of us would like to take control back of this year's unpredictable narrative. Is it possible to contend with our disruptive antagonist and win 2020 from its grip? Yes, I believe we can change 2020's story from one of uncertainty to one of hope. Our strategy is Giving Tuesday...

Thanksgiving — a time to give thanks, and a time to reflect on what we are grateful for over the past year. Thanksgiving is also typically the start of the celebratory holiday season. For many, 2020 has been a year of shutdowns, of mask-wearing, of isolation and quarantine, of COVID. But there’s always something to be thankful for. ...

A lot of things worry me about a Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration, but nothing troubles me more than that it will accommodate the left’s disturbing march toward selective suppression of free speech. Much of the war against this sacred liberty occurs at the level of our culture, but when a leftist-friendly administration is in power, our efforts to combat this culturally will be more difficult...

With over 500 COVID cases in the last seven days and the election being over, you’d think the remaining 20% of you who refuse to wear a mask would figure it out. Stop being selfish. Put your mask on or stay at home. And that includes you sports parents. ...

Thanksgiving 1970 will always be a day to remember for one Kelso man. A year earlier, Fred Welter, in his early 20s, was only five weeks into a military assignment in Vietnam. A fellow serviceman behind him stepped on a "booby trap" fatally killing the man and seriously injuring Welter...

I'm a conservative, and I guess I should be writing a column about my great distress resulting from this election. But I'm not going to write that column, because it's not what I feel. I'm actually quite upbeat and optimistic about the country that I love...

Where has the coronavirus gone? Nowhere. The pandemic has gained a second wind, even as it is mysteriously scarcer in postelection headlines. If anything, COVID-19 seems more contagious as cold temperatures arrive, people stay in indoors and perhaps their vitamin D levels taper off...

As a part of 16 days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence, on Saturday, Dec. 5, the Zonta Club of Cape Girardeau will participate in two events to bring awareness to domestic violence. First, we encourage everyone to wear or display orange to draw attention to our campaign. Secondly, we invite the community to stand with us in solidarity at 1 p.m. at Liberty Corner of Capaha Park to be a part of Zonta Says NO to Violence Against Women...