Opinion
Other Editors
The Topeka Capital-Journal, on Sen. Ted Kennedy: Generations of voters have grown up since Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts first won his Senate seat during a special election in November 1962. The liberal Democrat has survived and overcome setbacks in his political and personal life since then, and now finds himself in a battle with a malignant brain tumor. We haven’t always agreed with Kennedy’s politics or some of the choices he made i...
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‘Clean’ campaign in 2nd offers Ryun advantage
John Hanna Associated Press TOPEKA (AP) — Jim Ryun appears to be trying to give himself an advantage by calling for clean campaigning as he seeks the Republican nomination in the 2nd Congressional District. Ryun, the congressman ousted in 2006, and his GOP rival, State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins, filed for office hours apart last week. In between, Ryun issued his call for a campaign free of the negative attacks that he said tend to alienate voter...
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Other Editors
Los Angeles Times, on the iPhone: For the second time in a year, Apple has slashed the price of its coveted iPhone by $200. The basic model now sells for less than the cost of an iPod Classic (not counting the $70 monthly charge for using AT&T’s mobile phone and data network, which eventually makes the purchase more expensive than an iMac). ... They’ll soon find that the iPhone doesn’t deliver everything that the Web has to offer. ... The...
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The thrill is gone
Mitch Albom Tribune Media Services My sweet, old grandfather came down from heaven recently, just in time to join me at the airport. He’d been gone for years, so a plane trip had him excited. “Why aren’t you wearing a suit and tie?” he asked. “This is an airplane, not a bus.” Planes aren’t a big deal anymore, Gramps. “Pooh. You fly in the sky, it’s a big deal.” We pulled up to the curb. “What, no one to take our luggage?” No, Gramps....
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Tri-Valley Developmental Services honors worker enthusiasm with Eagle Awards
Tim Cunningham TVDS Executive Director To see individuals excited and enthused about coming to work and excelling at their jobs is any employer’s goal. Those who enjoy their work and fellow employees are the best workers: more innovative on the job, show better cooperation with other employees, and studies have shown they report less absenteeism from illness. Happy, fulfilled workers are good employees. These truisms apply to us all, ...
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Other Editors
Chicago Tribune on the Dunkin’ Donuts ad: Rachael Ray, the painfully perky, cute-as-a-button chef and spokeswoman for Dunkin’ Donuts, got herself into hot water while peddling cold coffee. What exactly did Ray do? Switch to Starbucks? Plagiarize recipes? Cheat calorie counts? None of the above. ... Ray appeared in an Internet ad touting Dunkin’ Donuts’ supposedly full-flavored, double-brewed, rich and delicious iced coffee. She wore a bla...
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Is Google making us stupid? Maybe
Leonard Pitts Tribune Media Services I had thought it was just me. In reading the cover story in the new issue of The Atlantic, however, I have learned that I am not alone. There are at least two of us who have forgotten how to read. I do not mean that I have lost the ability to decode letters into words. I mean, rather, that I am finding it increasingly difficult to read deeply, to muster the focus and concentration necessary to wrestle...
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Auto club does road work
From the microfilm files of the Chanute Tribune as prepared by the Chanute Historical Society. The Chanute Auto Club at its regular monthly session on February 6, 1913, canvassed the ballots on the road contest with the foregoing result. The road to Earlton, which received first prize, is the one extending south from Plummer Avenue. The east road is the one into Big Creek Township, the northwest road, the one extending from the improved hig...
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Not all Democrats falling for Obama
Ben Evans and Sam Hananel Associated Press Writers WASHINGTON (AP) — Nothing personal, Sen. Obama, but our re-election comes first. Barack Obama, for all his attention and primary successes, does not go over so well in a fair number of Democratic lawmakers’ home districts. So it seems there is little chance that some will endorse him for president. Some are counting on Republican votes in their re-election bids. Some are newly minted and...
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Reunion
Ludlum The Ludlum Family Reunion held its 94th year on Sunday, Aug. 21 at Riverside Park Community Building in Iola. Debra Ludlum, president, welcomed all who attended. Don Bauer reported that there is not enough money to fix up the damaged tombstone of an unknown female buried at old Elsmore Cemetery. Also there are two horses that were brought down from Illinois and are buried in this cemetery. A stone will be placed for both. There was a r...
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Feast or famine
John Schlageck Kansas Farm Bureau While it’s true 2007 was a good year for Kansas agriculture, few farmers are flush with cash. Here on the great High Plains bumper crops with bin-busting harvests aren’t generally a yearly occurrence. In fact, in some areas of western Kansas this year is shaping up like so many before – little or no moisture for this year’s wheat crop. Kansas farmers aren’t blessed like their corn belt neighbors in Iowa a...
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Other Editors
The Wichita Eagle, on pre-Iraq war report findings: Five years ago it seemed the urgent responsibility of the Senate Intelligence Committee, then chaired by Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., to take a long, hard look at what went so horribly wrong with the prewar intelligence concerning Iraq. ... Little did anyone know how long and hard the committee’s look would be, finally reaching completion recently amid an unproductive barrage of partisanship...
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Kansas Profile: Josh and Gwen Hoy
Ron Wilson Huck Boyd Institute Deep roots. The deep roots of bluestem grass are what sustain the tallgrass prairie in times of drought and fire. “Deep roots” also could describe a young Kansas couple who are sharing their tradition of cowboy food and culture in the heart of the Kansas Flint Hills. They offer an outstanding guest ranch and food-catering service in the best tradition of the West. Like the tallgrass itself, Josh and Gwen Ho...
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New Yorkers 0-for-3 in 2008 presidential race
Devlin Barrett Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Damn Yankees. After 19 months of primary campaigning, that seems to be the attitude of the nation’s voters. A year ago, three New Yorkers — Republican Rudy Giuliani, Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and independent Michael Bloomberg — loomed large in the presidential sweepstakes. With Clinton’s departure from the race, they officially have gone 0-for-3 — a shocking bagel hole for the Big...
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Other Editors
The Garden City Telegram, on using city funds for holiday celebration: Garden City and Finney County earned praise last summer for making sure the community had a Fourth of July fireworks show. Unfortunately, the Finney County Commission hasn’t appeared as eager this year to do the same. The city and county stepped up last year to fund the bulk of the $12,000 contract for the local fireworks show after the Garden City Area Chamber of Comm...
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Review board’s job isn’t glitz and glamour
Carl Manning Associated Press Writer TOPEKA (AP) — Deciding who will manage the four state-owned and operated casinos in Kansas won’t be a task filled with glitz and glamour. More likely, it’ll be filled with non-glitzy topics such as revenue estimates, population projections and targeted markets. By the end of September, the decisions will have been made by the seven-member Lottery Gaming Facility Review Board on the developers for a si...
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Still waiting to hear from the poor
Leonard Pitts Tribune Media Services A few words about white trash. I’ve always found that term offensive, its ubiquity notwithstanding. I have a number of reasons, but the most important is that it is a gratuitous insult to the white poor. Of course, they are one of the few groups remaining one can insult with relative impunity. Granted, Vice President Cheney did not actually use the term “white trash” in the “joke” he attempted last we...
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What do Rachael Ray, Al-Quaida and Bugs Bunny have in common?
Leonard Pitts Tribune Media Services You’ve seen this gag in a hundred old cartoons: Cat turns to flee angry dog, steps on a rake instead, knocks himself silly. It’s not sophisticated humor, but it is a visceral illustration of an abiding truth: panic can make you hurt yourself. Some of us, I think, need reminding. Consider the case of Rachael Ray and the scarf that made people scream. Ray, of course, is the preternaturally perky host o...
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Other Editors
The Kansas City Star, on Teach for America’s turned-away applicants: One of the exciting things about the 50 “Teach for America” recruits coming to the Kansas City School District this year is that they come so highly qualified. The new teachers, all recent college graduates, were selected from a national applicant pool of 25,000. They represent some of the top minds graduating from the nation’s colleges and universities. In total, 3,70...
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Apple of an uncle’s eye
Mitch Albom Tribune Media Services The nephew asked the uncle if he would come to his high school graduation. The uncle said sure. It was far away. Another country. But the nephew and the uncle always had been close. In fact, the nephew looked so much like the uncle, it astonished people. They used to mug in front of the mirror, the two of them, making the same face, the same squint, the same grin. It was like looking at old and young ver...
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