First time for everything

By Lynette Sowell   So there I was driving along, minding my own business... That’s how the story goes for a lot of us, isn’t it? And then, I saw a black-andwhite pull out of the parking lot I’d just passed on North First Street. Then on went those flashing blue lights. Yep, they were after me.

Quotes good for reporters

By Willis Webb   “I like your column about Charlie Wilson. Sounds like you know him pretty well, like maybe y’all’s hats hung from some of the same bedposts.” — Joe Tonahill, renowned attorney and bon vivant Reporters love good quotes. They make a story more real, more human.

Rough ride

By Renae Brumbaugh   I flew on an airplane this week. Have I mentionedairports aren’t my favorite place to be? First, the shuttle dropped us off at the wrong entrance, and we had to walk, suitcases in tote, to the next entrance. Outside. Through puddles of goo.

#HASHTAGIDIOCY

By Rich Lowry   It takes a nearly impenetrable obtuseness to conclude that the most salient thingto know about University of California Santa Barbara killer Elliot Rodger is that he was a white male who didn’t like women.

One great big voice

By Lynette Sowell   If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a dozen times. You probably have too. “What is with this *$@%! city? We don’t need no more nail salons or storage centers or hair salons or—or— or” You fill in the blank. I agree. No more nail salons or hair salons or storage centers!

‘Ol’ man with rock’

By Willis Webb   On several occasions, including a few Father’s Day columns, I’ve written of my late father and those particularly special moments in his alltoo- short 57 years.

VA health care’s Socialist paradise

By Rich Lowry   For the left, the Department of Veterans Affairs is how health care is ideally supposed to work. No insurance companies, no private doctors, no competition -- just the government and the patient. The VA is an island of socialism in American health care.

Hiding stuff

By Renae Brumbaugh   I’ve sold my house. Which is a relief, because now that it’s sold, I don’t have to keep it so clean. I mean, really! It’s amazing how much I enjoy my messy rooms now. Never again will I lament the unmade beds or dirty laundry.

The right thing

By Renae Brumbaugh   Writing a weekly column has its challenges, just in case you were wondering. Especially when you’ve been doing it for seven years. Everything worth writing about has pretty much been written about. I asked some reliable helpers—my students—for advice about a writing topic.

Rove Is Right

By Rich Lowry   It was inevitable that attacks on Hillary Clinton would be deemed sexist. We now know that they will be called ageist, too.