In 2011 — after local voters twice rejected smaller governing bodies — Iolans tapped eight local residents to serve on the first city council in more than a century. But even with the new governing…

This afternoon, Rep. Kent Thompson, R-LaHarpe, will consider drastic cuts to public libraries that would likely force the closings of libraries in Humboldt, Moran and Savonburg and reduce Iola’s public library to little more than…

Granddaughter Emma gave me a stare and then swallowed hard as she tried to fathom the import when I mentioned her great-great-grandmother married when she was 13. Emma is 14. Without saying so, I knew…

When the Internet first came into widespread use I was working as a librarian at a public library in Holland, Mich. Almost immediately, we librarians worried the Internet would be a threat to our jobs.…

Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook, R-Shawnee, is using one mother’s fears about sex education as a springboard to craft a new state law. In this case, the mother is upset her ninth-grade daughter is learning about the…

How to fund Kansas’s schools is turning into class warfare with the battle lines being drawn between legislators who represent wealthy school districts and those who do not. Rep. Ray Merrick, speaker of the House,…

In the holiday classic “A Christmas Story” Ralphie labors to convince his parents a Red Ryder BB gun should await him under the tree on Christmas morning. He fears his fondest wish is dashed when…

Revenue coming to state coffers in February being $54 million less than expectations will deal the universities of Kansas and Kansas State, and other public colleges and universities, significant blows. Of the $17.2 million in…

OMG. “This is an economic problem, not a tax policy problem,” Gov. Sam Brownback said Tuesday afternoon in response to the news that February’s tax receipts fell short $54 million. Does he think we’re stupid?…

Hillary Clinton stormed closer to the Democratic presidential nomination with her landslide victory in the South Carolina primary Saturday. Today’s Super Tuesday primaries across the South may be the coup de grâce for Bernie Sanders.…