Column
Staff View: Sludge is in the air — We ain’t seen nothin’ yet
After a relative lull, sludge is back in the spotlight this spring as the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) prepares to announce a public meeting, a preliminary step before issuing new operating permits for three storage tanks which can hold over 800,000 gallons of meat and food-processing residuals.
Publisher View — Kyle Troutman: Low turnout, big results
Municipal elections have a history of lower turnout, and while the April 7 election predictably followed that trend, the results will impact far, far more than those who cast the votes.
Publisher View — Kyle Troutman: Predictably sad
It’s a funny thing, news. Largely, it’s unpredictable what will elicit the biggest reactions from the public, especially on social media. Sometimes, what we feel like are our best stories get a mere flicker of attention. Other times, a story lands on my desk that I am certain will bring a waves of attention — and not always the good kind.
Staff View — Sheila Harris: A word from a boogeyman
I’m reading that, based on an uptick in spiritual interest, our nation is experiencing a religious revival.
Community Voices — Janet Mills: Legacy that blooms each Spring
Since trading an urban lifestyle for rural life in Cassville more than twenty years ago, I am still learning to settle into the rhythms of springtime in the Ozarks.
Community Voices — Lynn Hilburn: Barry County and people
In previous editorials, I’ve discussed land in Missouri and in Barry County and how things developed for the first white settlements in Barry County. I will review some of that briefly.
Community Voices — Terry Held: The radical spirit of Cassville
The word radical has become a strange word in modern America. Turn on the television or scroll through social media, and it is usually used as an accusation. A radical is someone unreasonable. Someone extreme. Someone bent on tearing things down.
Publisher View — Kyle Troutman: Mission accomplished
The last week of February every year has repeatedly come to be one of the most coverage-heavy weeks of the year — and while 2026 gave no shortage of challenges, it gave as many rewards.
American Insights — Dakoda Pettigrew: A centennial call for freedom
American independence at one hundred years, The New York Times wrote on Tuesday, July 4, 1876, was nothing short of “a complete century of trial.”
Local Devotional — Randy Crane: The Book of Life
If there is a personal, infinite God who created all things including human life (and I believe there is!)….and, if this infinite, personal God wants us to understand how we are to navigate through life understanding good from evil, right from wrong and even more importantly how we are to understand the truth about who God is and how He wants us to be in a genuine, loving relationship with Him, then the question we must ask is this: Could this God make Himself and His will known to us in an understandable way which is absolutely true — true for all people throughout all time?
