By Michael Kaufman
Why hasn’t the governor signed a bill that benefits consumers and local small businesses, and which passed with overwhelming popular and bipartisan legislative support? The answer isn’t exactly hard to find. Opposed to the legislation are big pharmaceutical companies, managed care companies and big business in general.

Farm scene along a country road, Otego, New York.

By Bob Gaydos
In politics, money talks. Big time. For Rick Perry, the pursuit of money often takes him on verbal excursions into the political twilight zone. The birther issue? Really, Rick?

By Carrie Jacobson
I’ve made it to Ocracoke Island, and on this windswept spit of sand, am painting a lot, and understanding a little, too.

By Jeffrey Page
I can see the page before me. And it’s in focus.

A frothy mountain brook meanders along autumn’s forest floor.

By Bob Gaydos
Poor Jon Huntsman. His campaign is just about out of money. He is polling about 7 percent among potential Republican voters. And yet he insists on trying to run a campaign grounded in what most people would regard as reality.

By Jeffrey Page
What a candidate for president, such as Perry, owes the people is a statement along the lines of: “Rev. Jeffress should repudiate his comments just as I repudiate him.”

By Shawn Dell Joyce

Many local businesses are discovering the benefits of taking the Ten Percent Challenge and lowering their energy use and cost by ten percent before the winter rise in energy costs. One of those businesses is Al Valk’s Garage in Walden.

By Carrie Jacobson
We all need to shift our focus from time to time