For the Birds: Lifelong experiences with birds By Jamie Johnston I loved all flora and fauna as a child, I had no favorites. I was young, a pre-teen just wanting to go out of the house to see what I could discover. I’d sneak out of the house just as the sun cast its warmth on the land in the early morning and head for the woods, snooping for hidden mammals, birds, amphibians, and insects. Finding a nest of some…
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Dog Charmer: Dakota is smart, but the woods distract him We have a beautiful and smart six-month-old male Rottweiler named Dakota. He is really good with the basics of sit, lay down and stay. We love to go hiking and the goal is to be able to take him off leash. He loves to be out in the woods. How do we get him to be more attentive to us when walking? We need him to come back to us…
Bound Volumes 210 YEARS AGO Those who have been led by federal falsehoods to fear that our country was in the high road to destruction will be gratified by that paragraph of the President’s Message which adverts to the state of our finances. From this it appears that no loan has been made during the past year; that the loan made in 1810 has been paid off; that the current expenses of the government have been defrayed; that the interest…
Letter: Smoky in Muskogee We drive through Oklahoma a few times a year. Eastern Oklahoma is beautiful, immortalized by Woody Guthrie’s “Oklahoma Hills.” It’s also a place of crushing rural poverty, as bad as “The Grapes of Wrath,” where the casinos, lotteries and dope shops hoover up the loose change of the working poor. Oklahoma has become the largest producer of marijuana in America — surpassing Mexico as the low cost supplier of weed. More dope farms than all other…
News from the Noteworthy: Consider the option: Dry January Let’s be honest: 2021 was not a year that most of us will look back on with a wistful sigh of nostalgia. I’ve heard words like stressful, overwhelming, awful, endless, depressing, and devastating. And, if the Facebook newsfeed is any indicator, many of us have turned to an extra glass of wine or bottle of beer to calm our frayed nerves. “Dry January” offers an option to hit the reset button…
Letter: Festivus-worthy spending Here we go again! The annual Festivus report is in on some of the stupid expenditures that have been voted on in government this year. Millions spent on a study about gambling that paid for pigeons to play slot machines; another study that finally verified that kids crave junk food; $25 million for art projects to be displayed around New York City; more than $11 million that a US agency put out to request Vietnamese citizens stop…
Brother, can you spare a Crypto? By Ted Potrikus Back in the day, I’d go through the first dozen-or-so blank checks in our family checkbook at January’s beginning just to write in the digits applicable to our new calendar year. Now, I’m not even sure I could find the checkbook. New Year’s Day, in fact, I wanted to buy something I found online. I got to the ‘shopping cart’ part of the deal and was prepared to enter my credit…
Life during COVID: The ease of testing By Richard Sternberg, M.D. This morning (Monday, January 3), I was tested for COVID-19. The process was easy, quick, not particularly uncomfortable, and easy to schedule. While I would’ve preferred a rapid test to know whether or not I’m currently infected, I can wait a day or two for the PCR test — which was the one available — and still be diagnosed within five days of the onset of symptoms as recommended…
Editorial: Omicron’s Paradox A COVID-weary public confronts the conundrum daily: Is this good news? Is it bad news? We have to admit that we’re a little bit confused. The Omicron caseload is frightening on its surface — ridiculously high numbers on a daily basis, top-of-the-fold newspaper coverage, lead-story status. We’re so attuned to scary numbers and frightening graphs that when we hear about record-shattering daily positive tests coming back, the first thing we want to do is retreat to our…
Governor calls for two-term cap for statewide elected officials Governor Kathy Hochul’s 2022 State of the State message calls for a two-term limit for New York’s four top offices – governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and comptroller. Her plan tracks a similar call from the state’s likely Republican candidate for governor in 2022, Long Island Congressman Lee Zeldin. Rep. Zeldin’s plan, announced December 1, 2021, would affect only the governor’s office. Any term limit proposal would require an amendment to…
