Environmental ‘wackoism’ is not extinct

Dr. Henry Miller, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, and Gregory Conko, senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, in their Forbes article "Rachel Carson's Deadly Fantasies" (Sept. 5, 2012), wrote that her 1962 book "Silent Spring" led to a world ban on DDT use.

Carter: Let’s go dancing in the streets

While you were riding out the storm last Sunday, I was putting bicycles on the rooftop rack of our car. It was raining, but I'd been tracking radar and hourly forecasts all day. It was now or never.

Lincoln Memorial, Arlington are reminders of freedom's cost

If you were to suddenly appear this weekend at the numerous BBQs or pool parties without any knowledge of our nation's history, it might be hard to understand the real meaning of Memorial Day.

Morgan: From Covington square to Capitol Hill

The Covington News office is conveniently located for its local government reporters within easy walking distance of city hall, the Historic Courthouse and the county administration building. Today Gabe Khouli holds down that beat, but before Gabe, there was Rachel Oswald, trudging those well-worn paths and developing far more friends and admirers of her work than enemies. She was back in town this week for a visit with some of those friends.

Travis: How do teachers savor their summer? Let’s count the ways

In just a few days, the school year for Newton County children will be over. We'll see pictures of them rushing out of the schools' doors, cheering.

Yarbrough: They’re schools, not businesses, as teachers know well

Dear Public School Teachers in Georgia:

McCoy: Where am I? Brain is not playing fair

It's not cool to keep silent

I remember the first time I ran away from home. I was in sixth grade and I had been wronged in some way. I was sure my parents loved my sister more or denied me some privilege, and I was having none of that. I stayed home when my parents left for work, skipped school, packed a bag and took my bike to this little secluded spot by the river, thinking that was an awesome place to live. I was home before my parents.

Credit report coding trips up buyers

Are large numbers of homeowners who have negotiated short sales with lenders at risk because of a startling omission in the American credit system? Do their credit reports and scores indicate that they were foreclosed upon, rather than having negotiated a mutually agreeable resolution with their lenders?

Sometimes, perspective changes things

Single and lonely in a new neighborhood, a guy invites his neighbors to a drop-in party. With ample food and drink, he sits alone as party time comes and goes.

Who's teaching students to hate U.S.?

Brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who are accused of setting the bombs that exploded at the Boston Marathon, attended the University of Massachusetts. Maybe they hated our nation before college, but if you want lessons on hating America, college attendance might be a good start. Let's look at it.

Where am I? Brain isn't playing fair

Last week, while out of town and staying in a hotel, I had a most exasperating experience.

Property tax proposal doesn’t add up

The word tax is a three-letter word that might as well be a four-letter word these days.

Cushman: Crisis management

My graduate course in crisis management was the 2012 Republican presidential primaries as a senior advisory and national media surrogate for Newt Gingrich.

Crosswalk confusion is rampant

I try to walk at least five days or more a week for close to an hour.

Morgan: Rep. Broun part of the problem

I really wish they'd have told me something I don't already know. That was my response this week to a new poll by the Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire. In it, Congress gets a lower approval rating than root canals, cockroaches, head lice and colonoscopies. It could hardly get much worse than that. Those results follow on the heels of a December Gallup poll that found members of Congress beat out just one profession - ...

Perugino: Unilateral Disarmament of Americans

President Obama using Joe Biden as his mouthpiece is not unexpectedly making noise that he will implement gun control measures through the use of the Executive Order. Obama has been sending out messages about his commitment to restrict gun ownership by Americans since early in his first term. He has hinted at taking action to institute tight restrictions on guns and ammunition during conversations with liberal foreign heads of state and United Nations representatives. He ...

Yarbrough: To Cameron: Thank you for the perspective

Dear Cameron Charles Yarbrough: Over the years it has been a tradition at the first of the year to impart some words of wisdom in this space to your father, uncle and cousins, who double as my grandsons. Perhaps some of my observations were useful to them. Maybe some fell on deaf ears. I have never asked. Anyway, they are adults now; old enough and wise enough (I hope) to figure things out for themselves. So now it's just you and me, kid.

Travis: New Year’s realizations

The holiday season is over. For the last two months, all I have been doing is making lists. The need for a list usually hits me in the morning when I am sitting at my kitchen table and drinking my morning cup of tea. I have a whole day ahead of me and I try to organize what I need to do for the day. I can't keep as many trains of thought going in ...

Dangling over the fiscal cliff

Let me get this clear in my mind: we have avoided the fiscal cliff but not avoided the fiscal cliff because what was done prevents a supposed disaster but ultimately did not do enough and the danger is still with us.

Why the 2nd amendment?

Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., shootings, said: "The British are not coming. ... We don't need all these guns to kill people." Lewis' vision, shared by many, represents a gross ignorance of why the framers of the Constitution gave us the Second Amendment. How about a few quotes from the period and you decide whether our Founding Fathers harbored a fear of foreign tyrants.

Ten Ways to Start the New Year Fresh

It's the beginning of a new year and a great chance to start over -- but how? Here are 10 ways to gain a fresh start in 2013.

Rethinking New Year’s resolutions

As I write, the new year is already four days spent, and it'll be nearly a week behind us by the time you read this. If you made any resolutions, I hope they're still unbroken.

Fiscal cliff deal may be bad for politicians

In Washington, many are celebrating the deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. Some, like The Washington Post, are hailing the "strong bipartisan votes (on) a big, contentious issue."

Travis: A trip to Lego Atlanta

I hate to admit this, but even at my age, I love Legos. I bought Duplos for my children when they were little and enjoyed playing with them. As my children grew, we transitioned into Legos. When my grandchildren came along, I bought more Duplos, and we spent many happy hours with them. I would build a tower, and the granddaughter would knock it down. Then we'd do it all over again and again and ...

McCoy: Goodbye Mr. Butternut and 2012

Many of your respected newspaper columnists are offering New Year's resolutions, but notice I said, "respected." That's your first clue that I'm not going in for the tradition resolutions game. Instead, I want to look back on 2012 and review some things that just didn't work for me. I'm resolving nothing about 2013, but I'll remember these mistakes and maybe I won't repeat them. This is a lighter approach to resolutions where I'll make a ...

Perugino: What fiscal cliffs?

What the "heck" is a fiscal cliff and where is it? Do we have one in Newton County? Apparently we don't know because we are being lead around by the nose with glazed over eyes by politicians in Washington away from the real fall down into financial ruin of our country. President Obama and Harry Reid have become masters at strategy who utilizes magic tricks to focus our attention on the Bill they have spun ...

A voice on the line

When the student body moved into the building that now houses Newton High School, every classroom had a phone. Those phones hung on the wall, and, in theory, a teacher could call the office if he or she had a question or discipline problem. He could also call another classroom or the library. Supposedly, a teacher could dial some special number and make an announcement that would be broadcast over the loud speaker throughout the ...

Sorry Mayans, but there is a new year

I was hoping that for once the Mayans would be right about something and that the world would have ended on Dec. 21 as they had said it would. That would have taken care of the fiscal cliff and all the politicians that caused it. A little fire and brimstone would serve them right.

Middle East democracy

Here's the first paragraph of my last year's column "Democracy Is Impossible": After Moammar Gadhafi's downfall as Libya's tyrannical ruler, politicians and 'experts' in the U.S. and elsewhere, including French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, are saying that his death marked the end of 42 years of tyranny and the beginning of democracy in Libya. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said Gadhafi's death represented an opportunity for Libya to make a peaceful and responsible transition to democracy. ...