Tuesday night’s State of the Union address marked a turning point even before President Joe Biden opened his mouth. The mere sight of the president entering the House chamber without a mask captured the improved state of the pandemic in America. The White House followed up Wednesday with a new strategy that marks a smarter approach at this stage of fighting COVID-19.
Vietta Garr is not a household name. However, for Bess and Harry Truman, Vietta Garr was literally a household name. In March, which is Women’s History Month, it is fitting that Garr receive recognition for the important and little-known role she played in the lives of Harry, Bess and Margaret Truman, and of Bess’s mother, Madge Gates Wallace. Garr, who was African- American, also deserves a belated recognition during Black History Month, which was in February.
Judy Wanager, Oak Grove To the editor: I was surprised to read that the Missouri House wants to block Medicaid expansion yet again. It appears to me these people don’t like anyone but themselves.
Even as Missouri voters keep sending Republican supermajorities to the Legislature each election cycle, many of those same voters also keep second-guessing what those legislators do there. In recent years, voters have used ballot initiatives to override the ruling Republicans on issues like labor rights, medical marijuana, political reform and Medicaid expansion. It’s a phenomenon that seems to speak volumes about voters’ political tribalism versus actual policy preferences. But in any case, ballot initiatives make those preferences clear.
What’s your story? The one you’ve been learning all your life, that tells where you’ve been, where you’re going, what you’ve learned along the way, who you’ve loved, who you are and hope to be someday?
To my way of thinking, there are three seasons – baseball, the overlay of hockey and college basketball, and the brief, grim time in late fall when the first has ended and the second hasn’t really gotten going yet.
For nearly three decades, Independence commercial growth has been concentrated – with significant public assistance – in the city's southeast corner. It's also good to see development beyond restaurants and big boxes.
Missouri continuously ranks in the top 10 of states for gun violence deaths and the number of women killed by their partners. Domestic violence hotlines throughout Missouri receive on average about 200 calls a day, and in 2020 nearly 30,000 individuals received services through the state’s domestic violence programs.
It shouldn’t be a surprise to students of history the way authoritarians use lies and manipulation to gather power and justify terrible deeds that destroy human freedom and life. Yet it is shocking when these cycles repeat historically, and here we are again, listening to a despotic strongman bent on reordering the world and twisting history and truth to do it.
Sharon was working on her certified nursing assistant certification through Job Skills for New Careers, a collaborative community initiative focused on helping hard-working adults gain the skills they need to qualify for better paying, in-demand careers.