What’s news?

By Lynette Sowell   When you’re a kid, one of the first disappointments you learn is that the world is not very impressed with anything big that happens in your little world. I think that’s true now more than ever. I still remember the “So?

Sunday drinking hours start

By Willis Webb   Texas’ conglomeration called “liquor laws” has prompted a lot of battles over the years with “wet” versus “dry.” It has also produced a lot of good humor and introduced some pretty humorous characters as well.

Thanks, Mom

Has anyone ever really calculated all the things a mother does? Oh, I’m sure they’ve tried. But I don’t think it’s possible to come up with a complete job description. Just when you think you’ve recorded every possible thing a mother is required to do, something new will make its way onto the list.

Challenge to Hillary is Democratic win-win

Hillary Clinton is in a formidable position to win the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, should she decide to run. But someone else also is in an enviable position: Whoever challenges her.

Three cheers for ‘Harsh Harry’

By Lynette Sowell   So the thirteenth season of American Idol is winding down, and it’s been fun to watch the contestants grow all season. My two favorites and stand-outs from the beginning are Caleb Johnson, 23, and Jena Irene, 17, with my dark horse favorite Jessica Meuse, age 23.

Mama Cora combined grace, faith, toughness

By Willis Webb   My maternal grandmother, Cora Thompson Thornton Mandeville, was a great blessing in my life. First, she produced a carbon copy of herself in my mother.

Used

By Renae Brumbaugh   Did you know that Americans make up approximately 5% of the world’s population, but we generate 30% of the world’s garbage? I confess. I think about 25% of that may come from my son’s room. According to one study, each year U. S.

The Stupid Hounding of Condi Rice

By Rich Lowry   If Condoleezza Rice were as selfpitying and politically crass as Attorney General Eric Holder, she would be wondering aloud what it is about her race and gender that accounts for the hostility to her.

Playing nice

By Lynette Sowell   Robert Fulghum wrote a piece some years ago titled “Everything I needed to know I learned in kindergarten.” It’s short but pithy, full of life lessons that we’ve been taught from an early age. Gems like sharing, playing fair, saying you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.

Badmouthing politicians with Elmo

By Willis Webb   Some old stories are too good not to re-tell and put in print. In the mid- 1950s, Sam Houston State Teachers College was a small school.