Column

Kyle Troutman: A case of some Mondays
The last two Mondays have been unique ones for the Troutman family, marked by worries about weather one week and enjoyment of a celestial event the next. On April 1, we were set to return home from a weekend in Florida visiting my eldest sister, who just had her first baby, miss Scarlett Ever Parker.

Rich Cummings: Get out and minister
It looks like Spring has finally arrived. No more forecasted freezes and a whole lot of warm sunshine.

Kyle Troutman: Part IV — The new normal
Pinpointing a problem is easy, but finding a solution — not as much. After the Cassville school district held a screening of the documentary “Childhood 2.0” recently, attendees were asked to complete a survey to help organizer understand what people liked and disliked about the unique event.

Kyle Troutman: Part III — The new normal
How much time a day do you spend on a smart device? This question was posed to grade 6-12 Cassville students in a voluntary poll recently, receiving more than 350 responses. According to the results, 20% of students are on a device more than 6 hours a day, 31.9% are at 4-6 hours, 34.6% are at 2-4 hours and only 13.5% are under 2 hours.

Kristina Atwood: Stay scam savvy
Every week, it seems like we hear about a new scam that we need to keep our eye out for, whether it comes in the form of a person going door-to-door, a phone call, text message, mail, or email. We have to pay attention to mail that looks official, but isn’t, text messages, phone calls, and email that appears to come from an official sounding number or uses official sounding and sometimes threatening messages which aren’t true, and people who come to the door that look official and may not be.

Dakoda Pettigrew: American Insights — Lincoln in Peoria
With the flourish of his signature, President Franklin Pierce set America down the path toward civil war. On May 30, 1854, the fourteenth president signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, repealing the Missouri Compromise and opening the territories to slavery through popular sovereignty.

Kyle Troutman: Part II: The new normal
A couple weeks ago, a panel of five brave high school students answered some uncomfortable questions in front of about 50 adults gathered at the FEMA Event Center.

Jeremiah Buntin: Roaring River’s other ‘Mountain Maid’
Most residents and vacationers in the Ozarks region are familiar with the story of Jean Wallace, the clairvoyant recluse living in her Roaring River cabin in the hills south of Cassville until its destruction by fire in 1940, claiming the life of the Mountain Maid of Roaring River.

Sheila Harris: Feces by another name
My heart is a little bit broken. With the proliferation of land-applied industrial processing waste in Barry County, I’m already seeing, firsthand, the degradation of the natural resources for which the Ozarks are known.

Kyle Troutman: Part I: The new normal
The future of our youth is at stake. No, this is not hyperbole. If you’re reading this, chances are you remember a time in your life when the internet did…