When a commercial airliner, with minimal New Year's Eve passengers, crash lands on a remote island controlled by lawless guerrillas and separatists, the veteran captain is forced to work with a federal criminal he was charged to transport in order to rescue the plane’s occupants from their kidnappers.

One of life’s hardest things to get free from are wounds sent from people in the form of words.

Years ago, a man who had been attending our church cornered my husband, Pastor Al, in the hallway after the service and said "I hope you know I hate you!" If you knew Al, you are not surprised at this response ... "I feel sorry for you!" and went on his way greeting the ones who, so far, still loved him!

Given Sierra Club opposition to commercial meat production, its wish to eliminate internal combustion engines therein undermining use of fossil fuels and nixing ethanol production, it's view of corn production as an environmental threat as well as offering no explanations as to what alternative source would produce the quantity of electricity needed to light bulbs or charge EVs … this lack of support for the necessities to sustain our society is irrational.

In a scene that brought eerie chills to the minds of Spencer residents, local volunteer firefighters, joined by area fire crews, battled a blaze in the 200 block of Grand Avenue, which apparently originated in an upstairs apartment. Working hard to maintain a perimeter and keep it from spreading, the individual heroes worked as a team to keep the danger limited to a small area.

Down at the sale barn Saturday, the think tank had coagulated there with coffees to go. Doc and Dud had their dogs with them, while Bert and Dewey and Steve went stag.

Dud tried to start a conversation, but the loudspeaker soon drove them outside, where they arrayed themselves on dropped tailgates and waited to hear what Dud had in mind.

Boost the flavor and nutritional value of winter meals by growing a container of greens indoors. Plant, tend and harvest greens for garden-fresh flavor now and throughout the year.

As my phone keeps notifying me, we are headed into yet another Winter Storm Warning while I write this article. This winter season just seems to keep reminding us how mild the last few have been.

It’s been a couple of weeks ago since I reviewed “M3GAN” in Randy’s Reviews on the entertainment page. The film, a fantasy-horror-comedy, is a tale about artificial intelligence run amok when a sophisticated child designer creates a prototype, life-size AI child doll and tests it out as a new friend for her distraught niece who recently lost her parents in a car accident.

Telling the truth never goes out of style. Hypocrisy has a certain stench about it. We can debate the relative merits about these statements but suffice it to say there is a dearth of truth telling and an abundance of hypocrisy these days. It is distressing for many, hence the rise in anxiety and depression among the populace. I must say, however, that the good old cowboy shows of by gone television days give one a glance at the values that sustain any society worth saving.

This week, the House Human Resources Committee unanimously passed House Study Bill 8, a bill to prohibit non-compete agreements for mental health care providers.

This bill will allow mental health providers to continue to see their patients and not have to unnecessarily waste time and money battling with an employer in court.

Between July of 2021 and June of 2022, more than 107,000 Americans tragically died from a drug overdose, cementing opioids as the leading cause of death among people ages 18 to 45 in the United States.

Tom Hanks is outstanding as the “get off my lawn” guy in the neighborhood, delivering heart and emotion in this redemption story involving a man suffering great personal loss amidst a tight neighborhood in “A Man Called Otto.”

Every fall, long after the grass has turned brown, I get on my riding lawn mower to mulch all the leaves that have fallen to the ground. That image got me thinking about death — you know — how leaves are green and then they die. It’s kind of hard not to think about death when you are in the process of crunching through thousands of skeletons of what used to be supple green leaves that would wave gently in the wind.

According to the Sierra Club Foundation’s website, the environmental organization promotes efforts to educate and empower people to protect and improve the natural and human environment. Some of the Sierra Club’s goals include solving the climate crisis, supporting programs and policies that get people outdoors, and to build a diverse, inclusive environmental movement that reflects and represents today’s American public.

I don’t mind Boots. He just curls up quietly against my belly and stays put. But sleeping with Desdemona can be a bit unnerving. She snores. Sometimes she gets little bad dreams and scratches me, too. But hey, I get to come in out of the cold and sleep with Aunt Ada’s cats on her sofa, and a guy can tolerate a certain amount of cat snoring for that.