Add one more potential victim to the catalog of high-profile species likely to be harmed by the Endangered Species Act. The sage grouse, a large ground-dwelling bird that inhabits 165 million acres in 11 Western states, including Montana, appears headed for listing under the act, much to the detriment of both the grouse and […]

The oft-heard claim that charters perform no better than conventional schools is out of date and inaccurate. Many have been puzzled by New York Mayor Bill de Blasio‘s skepticism toward charter schools, his calls for ending space-sharing and charging them rent, and his $210 million cut of a construction fund important to the schools. Education reformers […]

  The young woman looked frightened. All I did was ask some pointed questions. “Why do you have 35 kinds of energy bars, but only one brand of straight pins? And why are those made in China? Why aren’t your pins made in America?” This Kerr drug store was the final stop of my ten “observations,” so I had […]

To stop mass killers, we should let people like off-duty police and security guards carry concealed weapons.   The recent senseless killings in Isla Vista, California of six college students at the hands of an obviously troubled 22-year-old Elliot Rodger, who then killed himself before he could be apprehended by the police, has provoked another […]

Ramona and I have returned from a memorable two weeks on a small cruise boat on Alaska’s Inside Passage.  She takes a vacation trip to some exotic location nearly every year but I mainly travel on business. I had twice been to Alaska, both times in the winter. One was to the North Slope, the […]