Most of us fail the marshmallow challenge. Even if we know there’s a greater reward for denying ourselves two sweets instead of one, we say, “why wait?” That can be a problem. Deferring immediate gratification…

If passed into law, can Education Saving Accounts and tax credit vouchers withstand a constitutional challenge? That’s a question rolling around the Kansas Capitol.  The concern, at this point, is speculation since these two school…

Suddenly lawmakers in several states are rushing to relax child labor laws to make it easier for teenagers to work longer hours, later hours and more dangerous jobs. In Arkansas, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed…

As we near the end of the Kansas Legislative session it strikes me how different our state could be with different legislative leadership.  I don’t like to be partisan, however, it is important to point…

For many years, it was good to be inclusive, by which I mean it was good to appreciate diversity and to acknowledge cultural biases. Now, it could become illegal. Arizona’s Senate passed legislation that would…

Kansas is officially a Home Rule state. It has been since 1961, when an amendment to the Kansas state constitution officially declared that Kansas cities are “empowered to determine their local affairs…except when” such actions…

Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin ended their Moscow summit this week by showcasing economic help and diplomatic support China will provide the now supplicant banana-less republic that is Putin’s Russia today. But even more importantly,…

Dear Chairwoman Renee Erickson and members of the Senate Committee on Commerce: I am Bruce Symes, a resident of Iola and Allen County for 37 years and currently a member of the Allen County Commission,…

My phone alerted me to a four-year-old photo a few days ago, or rather it alerted me to a photo taken four years ago of a newspaper clipping from decades ago. The clipping was a…

Last spring, I decided to let native wildflowers take over a small area of my lawn. I was giddy with excitement and hopeful that my little garden would be a haven for insects and other…