Posted June 01, 2022in Morain
America is very good at mourning its victims of mass shootings. Should be — we get plenty of practice. Local, state and national leaders express their heartfelt condolences to the grieving survivors. Memorial flowers, messages and tokens of remembrance pile up at the site of the tragedy. Reporters interview suffering
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Posted May 24, 2022in Morain
This year’s Bell Tower Festival in Jefferson will be special. It’s the 43rd annual Festival, but that’s not anything out of the ordinary. The extra “secret sauce” this year is that 2022 is the 150th anniversary of Jefferson’s incorporation. So the Festival committee is adding numerous extras to make this
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Posted May 17, 2022in Morain
Appeals courts that sit as multi-member panels, including supreme courts, hear pleadings and legal arguments in public. But after those end, and the briefs are filed, the judges retire to their chambers to deliberate their decision in secret. Or “private,” if you prefer. No constitution requires that they close their
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Posted May 10, 2022in Morain
Millions of Americans are now focused on the issue of abortion, after someone leaked a first draft of the U.S. Supreme Court’s apparent decision to repeal the nation’s guarantee of a woman’s right to choose. The court is expected to issue its official ruling in June. If the leaked draft
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Posted May 05, 2022in Morain
Last Sunday, May 1, would have been my late brother Tom’s 75th birthday. He is much missed by his extended family members and many, many friends. Tom was blessed with many talents, among them an uncommon knack for creative writing. He also possessed a lifetime love for rhubarb. He combined
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Posted April 29, 2022in Morain
The nation has seen fit to tweak the original document as times and sentiments have changed. Are American political institutions strong enough to withstand the battering they’re taking today from power-hungry groups and authoritarian-driven individuals? I think so — but I’m not as certain as I used to be. The
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Posted April 29, 2022in Morain
Last Friday marked the 75th anniversary of one of the most signal days in the history of baseball – in fact, in the history of American professional sports, and in the history of civil rights. On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson stepped onto Ebbets Field in Brooklyn as the first
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Posted April 29, 2022in Morain
Beethoven’s genius overcame his handicap, and he created most of his compendium of magnificent compositions within a silent world. The word “ineffable” means incapable of being described in words. It’s a useful term. Writers, like myself, when unable to say what we mean, fall back from time to time on
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Posted March 28, 2022in Morain
A bill has been proposed in the Iowa Senate that would give enormous power to a minority in the Iowa Legislature. Not a racial, gendered, religious or ethnic minority, but a minority that would constitute just one-third of either legislative house. The bill, Senate Study Bill 3064, which last week
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Posted March 22, 2022in Morain
Last week was Sunshine Week in the United States. It was not in Russia. The American Society of News Editors established Sunshine Week in 2005 to emphasize the importance of open government and the dangers of excessive and unnecessary secrecy. It celebrates the First Amendment’s requirement that “Congress shall make
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