EDITORIAL: Journalism has no home for gatekeeping in 2025
Freelance and citizen journalists are not the reason for the demise of newspapers in America, but rather corporate downsizing and hedge fund buyouts.
Freelance and citizen journalists are not the reason for the demise of newspapers in America, but rather corporate downsizing and hedge fund buyouts.
Here are your Letters to the Editor for March 31, 2025: Time to give opportunity to new leaders or go with a familiar name because it’s safe? What is the value of experience? The ability to say you’ve “been there” and “done that”? When hiring, many would say they place more value in a candidate’s experience than their education, certification or any other qualifications. It’s because there is a belief that a person has gained the wisdom and insight that […]
We have a huge problem here, and they're related to the tariffs levied on the United States' top three trade partners. Americans have been suffering through inflation that plagued the first Trump administration and the entire Biden administration. Surprise, surprise: nothing has changed with the second Trump administration so far. Now Americans will be forced to suffer even more with Tuesday's tariffs on trade partners Canada, Mexico, and China. How? Because once existing inventory is exhausted, cost of living is […]
Have you been to the grocery store lately? Prices have gone up and up…what can you do about it? How can you feed your busy family well and stick to a realistic budget? Illinois Extension Educator Mary Liz Wright shares these tips on what you can do: Here are a few tips: Watch what you are throwing away. If you are throwing the same things away over and over stop buying them. Also, do not throw things away according to […]
When I’m at an event with people I’ve never seen before, I depend on my business card for salvation. Even if you don’t have a job, a card lets you display credentials to get one. You never get a second chance to make a first engraved impression. If Bob spends his life daydreaming, he can’t brag about that on a resume. But if his business card claims he’s a “futurist,” you’ll consider him a dude with potential. Educational titles on […]
I am writing after attending the Hannibal Public School District monthly meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 19. Our district has been in financial distress for quite some time. This has led to difficult decisions for the current board. As the board navigates through difficult spending decisions, the public is frustrated by the emotional impact of the process. For the past five years, I have been regularly attending the monthly meetings. I recall the start of discussions regarding Eugene Field Elementary School. […]
The Sullivan School District appears to be in the middle of a scandal in a year that seems to be riddled with scandals all year, all over the country. This one isn't that much different when a school board member verbally abuses a member of the district's coaching staff. The most recent school board meeting was certainly heated, per multiple accounts, but the parties that didn't seem to care were that of the rest of the school board. For the […]
October is a busy time for many of us. Summer is over and we may find that various work and family responsibilities are taking up more of our time and energy. Illinois Extension Educator Kara Schweitzer has written this great article about why self-care is important and how to incorporate it into your busy schedule. Kara says: In August, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an Advisory on the Mental Health and Well-Being of Parents. The advisory emphasizes the high levels […]
Last spring, at a Rural Democracy Institute convening in Omaha, a room of over one hundred rural policy experts and elected officials from the hollers of Appalachia to the expansive mountains of Big Sky Country were all big beaming smiles and enthusiastically raised hands when asked “who here knows their postal worker by name?” The relationships that people have with their postal workers are the most universal, direct, consistent, person-to-person contact that most people will ever have with government service […]