If you wonder what Republicans are accomplishing in Washington, look no further than the Senate Armed Services Committee, where a majority of them voted to create the predicate for drafting women into the military. Astonishingly, only five of the committee's 13 GOP members voted against an amendment requiring women to begin to register for the Selective Service...

It's not uncommon for me to experience a sinus infection or two each year. Eleven days before Christmas, I felt one coming on, or so I thought — and this time with chest congestion. Though not terribly concerned, I decided to go to a local urgent care facility for a round of antibiotics with the hope that I would feel better before Christmas...

Talking to reporters on July 2, President Biden was pressed about the sudden, embarrassing evacuation of our air base in Afghanistan and widespread predictions the Afghan government would fall quickly to the Taliban. The president testily replied: “I want to talk about happy things, man.”...

It is my privilege to lead the largest health care system between Memphis and St. Louis. Entrusted to me are nearly 3,000 employees and their families' livelihoods. My responsibility as a healthcare CEO extends beyond the walls of our hospital and clinics and into the communities we are called to serve. The current COVID-19 surge sweeping Missouri is cause for great alarm for our local healthcare infrastructure and our region...

Is the Supreme Court going to overrule Roe v. Wade? That's the question raised by a Mississippi abortion case soon to come before court. "The conclusion that abortion is a constitutional right has no basis in text, structure, history, or tradition," the attorney general of Mississippi, Lynn Fitch, writes in her brief...

Rarely has stunning human achievement been greeted with as much churlishness as when Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos managed to fly or launch themselves into space. There may be all sorts of legitimate grounds for criticizing billionaires, but attaining suborbital flight under their own power doesn’t seem one of them...

This past Friday, we buried our long-time friend and fellow bandmate (Alex Riffle & The Stiff-Riffs), Larry Light of Sullivan, Missouri. He died from the delta variant virus. Before he was infected, he was a robust, energetic 57-year-old family man and one of the best flat-picking guitarist in the country...

The Olympics were postponed a year because of COVID and now athletes are canceling because they have COVID! What's wrong with them? Why didn't they get vaccinated? This is the most important thing they will ever do and all they had to do was get vaccinated. Shame on them and the U.S. Olympic Committee!...

This is a big week for the folks in Jackson. It's Homecomers week. There are rides and games to enjoy, booths to visit, and carnival food to consume. There's also a variety of music entertainment. For many folks, going to Homecomers is about running into old friends. It's about tradition. One that's been taking place now in Jackson for many years...

Drive any direction out of Cape Girardeau, and the region's agriculture sector quickly becomes apparent. From the corn fields of Southern Illinois to the cattle operations north of the city to the row crops grown to the west and south, agriculture is big business...

Drive any direction out of Cape Girardeau, and the region’s agriculture sector quickly becomes apparent. From the corn fields of Southern Illinois to the cattle operations north of the city to the row crops grown to the west and south, agriculture is big business...

Drury Hotels was recently recognized with its 16th consecutive J.D. Power Award. Southeast Missourian business editor Jay Wolz recently reported the award was based on J.D. Power’s 2021 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study and Drury ranked “Highest in Guest Satisfaction Among Upper Midscale Hotel Chains.” ...

So our governor is accepting COVID money for his beef farm but is limiting unemployment and health benefits for Missourians. He wants to be propped up by governmental money but denies the same to others. ...

In the old days, Democrats had predictable agendas, supposedly focused on individual rights, the “little guy” and distrust of the military-industrial complex. The left, often on spec, blasted the wealthy, whether the “lucre” was self-made or inherited. ...

Since the new wave of race consciousness that has been sweeping our country, precipitated by the graphic video of the killing of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin, something very strange has happened. Somehow, what is perceived as a problem has become widely understood to be the solution. And it is endangering our country...

For all those people spreading the lie that the COVID-19 vaccine does not stop COVID-19, answer one question: Why are 99% of those getting COVID-19 now only the unvaccinated? It is sad that a true American hero like Dr. Anthony Fauci is treated so badly. ...

Is there anything the left won't blame on their fantastical scapegoat, climate change? Don't bet on it. Their latest dodge is blaming the border crisis, which they created, on the climate crisis, which they invented. A Politico article is headlined, "It's Not a Border Crisis. It's a Climate Crisis." That's a convenient twofer. Never let an opportunity to blame a crisis on climate change go to waste. Well played...

After months of declining COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, both are on the rise. According to health officials, more than 97% of people getting hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated. And according to surgeon general Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, 99.5% of deaths are among those who weren't vaccinated. Meanwhile, the Delta variant is causing problems all around Southwest Missouri, though it has yet to hit us hard. That's why now is a good time for the vaccine...

A lot of people don't care about the nation's growing debt. Some believe that low interest rates for the foreseeable future essentially means a free lunch for the government. Others believe that no matter what the cost of this debt, it is all worth it because of the purported higher returns on government spending. But there is an argument that may convince them otherwise: If inflation ever gets out of control, it's easier to deal with it in a lower-debt environment...

It's that time of year again when parents start paying for "six star" ratings from pay-to-play athlete recruiting websites. These ratings are a joke, and they're preying on overbearing parents and their high school kids. Listen, if you're good enough to be a college student-athlete, coaches will find you. Your Tweets and videos and these silly websites are frivolous...

No one is trying to topple the Alamo quite yet, but a new revisionist book on the foundational event of Texas history partakes of the iconoclastic spirit of our time. The book, titled "Forget the Alamo," is a harsh call for Texans, and Americans, to get over a battle deeply etched in our popular memory...

Let's say you're Joe Biden. For entirely valid and legitimate reasons, you staked much of your presidency on getting the country vaccinated. You had a very good start, but then things started to stall right as a new, more contagious delta variant of the coronavirus was spreading...

Southeast Missouri has no shortage of talented student-athletes -- both on the field and in the classroom. Earlier this month the eighth annual Semoball Awards, presented by SoutheastHEALTH, were held at the Rock N' Roll Drive-In. Nearly 200 athletes were honored for impressive athletic performances, academic excellence, comeback efforts and admirable examples of sportsmanship...

"Freedom of speech is the air that any thinker breathes; it's the fuel that ignites the fire of an intellectual's thoughts." Raif Badawi dared to write such things in Saudi Arabia. And he exercised his own freedom of speech, asking questions about faith and challenging extremism in that country -- so he was imprisoned for apostasy for 10 years. ...

Really sad that Mario's Pizza closed due to lack of people not wanting to work. They had the best Stromboli ever! Our current administration (Democrats) believes the correct way to combat unemployment is to continue to hand out monies to those who desire not to work to support themselves. ...

Could you or someone you know have created a monster? A monster, mutant, variant of COVID-19? Unvaccinated people lead to person-to-person transmission of the virus. Every time the virus replicates, there is an opportunity for mutation. Right now, the mutation known as the delta variant has become the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the United States...

An individual with an idea and the drive to make it happen is a powerful thing. Just ask Aaron Horrell and Barb Bailey. The two artists, owners of Painted Wren Art Gallery in Cape Girardeau, came up with a concept more than two years ago to take their Paint for a Cause campaign to the next level, engaging thousands of Missourians across the state to paint a mural in celebration of the Show Me State’s bicentennial. ...

While our nation is moving toward socialism and communism, the Cuban people are fighting for freedom. Every country that has a socialist or communist government, the people want freedom. Socialism and communism is only good for the elites and leaders. ...

What a mess. Democrats (and their allies in the media) have convinced themselves the Republican Party is at war with democracy. Republicans (and their allies in the media) have convinced themselves the Democratic Party is at war with democracy. ...

Most people sense America is under assault by America-hating forces and worry our freedoms are actually in jeopardy. Mark Levin’s new book, “American Marxism,” confirms those fears, exposes the chilling aims and methods of these malicious groups, and provides a blueprint to restore America to a path of recovery...

If this is Joe Biden when he's forceful and passionate, the country is better off with the passive and detached version. The president gave a thunderous address in Philadelphia on Tuesday denouncing alleged Republican voter suppression. Playing on the darkest fears of Democrats and layering on the adjectival overkill, Biden blatantly distorted Republican state-level election laws in a frankly demagogic speech...

How often during the last year of wokeness have middle- and lower-class Americans listened to multimillionaires of all races and genders lecture them on their various pathologies and oppressions? University presidents with million-dollar salaries virtue-signal on the cheap their own sort of "unearned white privilege."...

Every policy wonk will tell you that after you live in Washington long enough, you start seeing the same issues reemerge on a regular basis. Common ones are praise for the magical ability of government spending to help pay for itself during recessions and hand-wringing over the myth of middle-class stagnation. And when Uncle Sam's coffers are empty, everyone suddenly remembers the so-called tax gap -- the difference between the tax revenues Congress expects versus those it actually collects...

Work continues on the Department of Veteran Affairs Cape Girardeau Health Care Center at 711 South Mount Auburn Road. Officials expect the 45,000-square-feet facility to be complete in early November, and the doors are set to open Feb. 1. The center will feature virtually the same primary and specialty care clinics as its parent, John J. ...

On a recent flight from Texas to North Carolina, a woman came so unglued that she tried to open the plane's door. The flight crew had to bind and gag her with duct tape. This was an extreme example of a disturbing trend in air travel: People are becoming unruly or even hysterical...

The Broadway Theater is an eyesore and danger on Broadway. And there is no way this area will raise $15 million to fix it up. Anyone who gives money thinking they are helping is just prolonging the inevitable, wasting their money and potentially allowing a hazard on Broadway to become deadly. Unless a wealthy person steps forward soon with a gift of millions of dollars, it should be torn down so something safe and practical can replace it. Sad for history but necessary tor safety...

The deer invasion is getting worse at our house. My wife hung bars of soap among the flowers and bushes in the yard because she heard that would keep the deer away. We had tried the stinky deer repellent stuff, but it was more disgusting than the inside of an over ripe porta-pottie. (It did stop the neighbor's cat and dog from messing in our yard for a while.) Anyway, we hoped the soap was the answer...

The Poor People's Campaign has announced a "season of nonviolent, moral direct action," targeting the U.S. Senate with disruptive activities every Monday, July 12 through Aug 2. According to the campaign's co-chair, the Rev. William Barber II, "The Senate must end the filibuster, protect and expand voting rights, and pass a minimum wage of $15 an hour."...