Columns

This summer we will celebrate more than 150 athletes and coaches at the Semoball Awards. It’s an incredible evening that makes for lifelong memories for the athletes, their parents and coaches, and many others. Throughout the year, I speak with individuals throughout Southeast Missouri about the event. Invariably I bring up certain stories from previous years...

Turn on cable TV, listen to popular podcasts, even peruse the online commentary section of this newspaper, and a regular theme emerges: Partisanship is threatening American democracy. But is it really? Or is there something more concerning at work? Last week I wrote about a Harvard Business School presentation that looked at the debilitating impact of screen usage -- phones, tablets, video games -- by kids. ...

This is the time of year we focus our attention on high school graduates, as across the nation, students have either just walked across the stage or are about to. Words of wisdom, gifts, and prayers -- appreciated and much needed -- extend from us to them, but maybe we should widen our lenses and bestow the same on another group just as needy during this time...

When it comes to the global-warming debate, mischaracterizations abound. For example, the term “denier” is often used — suggesting someone doesn’t believe the Earth has warmed over the past century. In fact, the scientific community is split over the primary driver of contemporary warming — whether it’s rising carbon dioxide (CO2) or increased solar output. ...

You might know Bloomfield, Missouri as the small town with a Purina factory. Or for its Christmas high school basketball tournament. One of Missouri's cemeteries for veterans is located in Bloomfield. But did you know that this rural Missouri town of less than 2,000 people is home to the Stars and Stripes Museum and Library?...

The setting was a Harvard Business School classroom. The question came from a boy who looked to be around 12 years old, "How much time do I have to use a smart phone to be called an addict?" It was a question, it seemed, sparked because of his parents, who considered his use to be over the line, and there was a note of defiance in the tone...

Communication has gone downhill big time. I used to think it was mainly the younger folks who no longer understood the basics, but I've learned that poor communication has become an equal opportunity oppressor. So I dedicate today to some principles that every one of us should apply...

Last weekend President Donald Trump made an unannounced visit to Mclean Bible Church, a nondenominational megachurch in Northern Virginian. The Sunday service followed the Virginia Beach mass shooting and was also previously designated -- unrelatedly -- as a day of prayer for the president and other government leaders...

Fathers get the short end of the stick every year. Father's Day hardly gets the hype Mother's Day does. So I decided to do my part early to help dads get some much-deserved recognition. On Mother's Day, moms get showered with flowers, candy, dinner, and gifts people have spent weeks, at least, contemplating. ...

"If you build it, they will come." That, of course, is a line from the classic baseball movie "Field of Dreams," featuring Kevin Costner as a farmer who dedicates his corn field to build a baseball stadium that attracts ballplayers of days gone by. You could, however, use that famous line to describe the Missouri National Veterans Memorial in Perryville, Missouri. Except in this case, it's not a game and the people are real...

Excitement is growing for the inaugural year of the Cape Catfish, and a wooden-bat college baseball league, which will be enlivening Capaha Park throughout the summer. First home game is June 4, and Cape fans will have a big part to say in the success of the team, but maybe not in a way they expect...

I ran across a Pew Research article published recently breaking down “8 facts about love and marriage in America.” One of them really jumped out at me — the willingness people possess to compromise their faith but not their politics. “Sizable minorities of married people are members of a different religious group than their partner, but marriages and partnerships across political party lines are relatively rare,” A.W. Geiger and Gretchen Livingston wrote...

Last summer as Raymond Buhs prepared to accept the Southeast Missourian's Spirit of America Award, he told reporter Joshua Hartwig about serving in World War II fresh out of high school and again at age 26 in the Korean War. As a working professional, Buhs made contributions to the community through business leadership and civic involvement. He said that "everybody owes something to the community, just like you owe something to your church."...

There is a cuteness about watching kids walk into their school. From the disproportionate size of backpacks to creative hair styles -- in my girls' cases, different braids -- they take a bit of a parent's heart with them as they slip away through the school door. ...

Just for argument's sake, let's say a year from now, the Deep State culprits who sought to undermine the will of the people have been fully exposed. And the illegal attempt to engineer a Deep State coup has led to the doorsteps of some very high-ranking government officials -- current and former...

I'm not her fan, and I'm not a Democrat, but I don't take stands based on fandom or political parties. I take stands based on what is right, and I'm not afraid to oppose wrong, like the attack on Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib's Holocaust comments. Republicans are slamming her for her "antisemitic" remarks. This is the kind of stuff that turns me off from politics. We could roll out a plethora of crazy things Tlaib has said, but let's stay in the moment...

The United States of America has always stood as a safe haven from religious persecution. As Americans, we value the freedom to practice religion without punishment, and we stand in support of religious people around the globe. Perhaps no people throughout history have been persecuted more than the Jewish people, and as attacks on people of Jewish faith rise around the globe, it's never been more important to support our greatest ally in the Middle East, Israel...

Mid-day Tuesday Chick-fil-A owner and operator Brian House gets everyone's attention at his Cape Girardeau store. "Today we want to recognize our officers who put their lives on the line for us," House said. On this day law enforcement officers get a free meal and a portion of sales to benefit Curt Fox, a local highway patrol officer battling cancer...

I rarely, if ever, write about sports in this column. Today is an exception. Sung Kang, a little-known South Korean golfer, won the Byron Nelson golf tournament this past weekend. In doing so, he outlasted some of the most prominent names in professional golfing circles...

What do you do when the Black Police come knocking? No, not black police -- the Black Police, the self-appointed officers patrolling the streets, airwaves and Internet for Black Code violators. With the goal "to serve and protect," -- Who? -- they make their presence and authority known...

Congratulations to the Southeast Missouri State University graduates this weekend as they celebrate at commencement. It's a special time for these students. It certainly was for me in 2008 and then again in 2010 when I walked across the stage at the Show Me Center. (One of my fondest memories of 2008's commencement was hearing the keynote from Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr.) The path to graduation is not easy, from deciding what field to study to paying for college...

Two prominent stories in the New York Times over the weekend returned to a theme that is never far from presidential politics, especially since Hillary Clinton first ran: Is likability a bad metric for leadership? (My answer is, Yes, but not for the gender-specific reason of the NYT stories.) One piece was a front-page article. The second: "The Likability Trap," an editorial column...

For as long as I can remember, the prevailing political axiom was that voters vote their pocketbooks. Were that still the case, our incumbent President would walk to an easy reelection in numbers unseen for many years. But this is not your Daddy's political climate. Or had you noticed?...

Mother’s Day is approaching, and there may be no better time to dive into this subject, which I open up with a question: Can men learn from a woman, or is that reserved for baby boys learning to walk, middle-schoolers learning in English class and teenagers learning to cook — with it all ending at graduation?...

This week I was asked to serve as one of four judges for the Notre Dame Regional High School Dawg Fight. The Dawg Fight is like the TV show “Shark Tank” where five venture capitalists hear from entrepreneurs with business ideas and then compete with each other when there is a business worth pursuing...

I made a 26-hour trip to Chicago last week for a meeting at an airport hotel. Flying out of Cape Girardeau, I left my office at 11 a.m., was on the plane at noon, landed around 1:14 and was at the convention center speaking on a panel at 3:30. It was a smooth and incredibly convenient trip. ...

Four thousand days. Depending on your age and perspective, that's either a drop in the bucket or an eternity. Sometimes, we of a certain age try to gauge where we stand in the march of time. I've long passed that point where I have more days in my future than I've had in my past...

Joe Biden is running for president. The list of Democrat candidates is growing, and with all the choices, the former vice president is soaring at the top of the polls. But why? The announcement Thursday was no shock. None of these announcements are anymore. ...

Bill Springer was one of my favorite teachers whose class I never took. The former Cape Girardeau Central High School history and creative writing instructor died Wednesday afternoon. Friends, colleagues and former students shared their memories following the news of this affable and talented educator who possessed a quirky sense of humor and innate ability to educate others...

On April 22, Sen. Wayne Wallingford (District 27-Cape Girardeau) shared in this space his reasons for supporting work-hour-tracking requirements for some recipients of Medicaid. Yet similar proposals have been challenged in federal court. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg recently ruled that Kentucky could not implement a similar program, and that one in Arkansas could not continue. ...