It’s customary this time of year for newspapers everywhere to write glowing editorials about the virtue of shopping local. After all, throughout the year, local businesses support the ability of local journalists to deliver local news, and we hope you will support them. Local news is ...

I am not a big football fan but on the rare occasions when I have visited a university stadium I love the halftime performances by the college bands. In particular, I enjoy the sousaphones in the bands. For those who are not tuba aficionados, a sousaphone is the round-belled tuba most common ...

Before me, I have the unsigned letter referenced in Thursday’s story announcing the resignation of this community’s assistant city manager. I could have published it, but I chose not to. There are several reasons for my decision, the first being that this newspaper routinely doesn’t ...

The English-speaking world’s most common expression of farewell, “goodbye,” originated in the 16th century as “God be with you.” Through a series of metamorphoses over the next two centuries it became the contraction we use today — “goodbye.” Its history notwithstanding, I ...

When I was asked as a veteran to write about war, my first reaction was to say no. Why do it? Then wrote a few thoughts down. I spent 25 years — seven active duty and 18 in the guard and reserves — serving my country in the military. In retrospect, war was always something that I was ...

When asked to share a few thoughts regarding war, there were several ideas that surfaced. It has been a long time since I’ve worn the uniform. I consider myself somewhat patriotic and I love this country. I am a Marine. Though given the prompt here, it is my intent to answer objectively ...