Each year, the Missouri General Assembly gets the opportunity to review those bills that were given the thumbs down from the governor. It is a part of our system of checks and balances. Deciding to override a veto is also a good way to take a second look at something that may have been a goo…

My so-called smartphone apparently does not know the difference between “good” and “God.” It has a feature for people like me who are either too rushed or too lazy to lift their finger off the screen when typing. I can swipe my finger over the letters, and the phone figures out the words I a…

For nearly a year and a half, we have heard the term “the new normal” more times than we can count. The ongoing pandemic has uprooted so many of the things we used to do, or take for granted, every day. Because of COVID-19, the Missouri State Fair had to be revamped last year. But, this year…

The passing of former Missouri House Speaker Bob Griffin on July 7 reminds me of a conflict I’ve seen so often with public officials between dedication to serving the public versus seeking financial or political gain.

On July 4, citizens throughout our great nation will join together in celebration of the United States of America’s 245th birthday. As we stand on the brink of another year in the life of our comparatively young nation, I ask everyone to join me in reflecting on how far we have come as an Am…

Scripture

As my parents marked their 55th wedding anniversary, I did research about marriage in general. The 55th wedding anniversary is called the emerald anniversary because emeralds are a rarer gemstone, and I guess a marriage that lasts 55 years is an extremely rare find.

There is an old saying that states “April showers brings May flowers.” In our case, it feels more like “May showers, brings June flowers.”

The Missouri General Assembly spent a great deal of time over the past two years working on changes to some of our state’s crime laws. This effort has resulted in a sweeping criminal justice reform measure that now awaits the governor’s signature. Senate Bill 53 and 60 are a compromise packa…

Farming is a family business. It always has been. Most farmers have been working cattle, working the land and feeding the world from the time they could walk. They’ve lived their entire lives working endless hours to live their dream, carry on the family farm, and hopefully pass it along to …

The charge of apartheid is the new blood libel. As Hamas rains rockets down on Israel, members of the Squad in Congress and other left-wing enemies are using the occasion to amplify their accusation that Israel is an “apartheid state.”

“We are a big tent party,” said House of Representatives Republican leader Kevin McCarthy. For McCarthy it was nearly a psychotic departure from reality. He was in the process of engineering the bloody removal of Liz Cheney from the No. 3 spot in his House leadership team.

The 2021 Missouri legislative session was one of the most unusual and unpredictable of the legislative gatherings I’ve covered in some 50 years.

I have been thinking a lot about nurses in the past couple of weeks. I know the week extending from Thursday to Wednesday, May 6 to 12, is officially Nurses Week. This year, the 2021 theme was “Nurses: A Voice to Lead.” I heard a health care leader say, “This year, more than ever, we are loo…

Think of five adjectives that describe yourself. How has that list changed over the last year? The pandemic has changed how many of us see and interact with the world, and most especially with other people.

After a series of rulings undercutting his New Deal, President Franklin Roosevelt proposed expanding the Supreme Court to as many as 15 justices.

I am passionate about many things in my role as a state senator, especially when it comes to aiding the many local government entities in the 12th Senatorial District.

President (Joe) Biden finally addressed a Joint Session of Congress.