Opinion

Three days on from Tuesday’s candidate forum, the work continues. There is still writing to finish over the weekend, but it is worth pausing to offer a few words of thanks. Though there are elements that may be refined before the general election, the event was, by any measure, a success...

From where I sit, it looks like the 21 hours of Iran negotiations in Islamabad last weekend won’t go into the win column. The talks broke without resolution, and the central dispute remains unchanged: Iran’s nuclear program, particularly the scope of uranium enrichment and the duration of any meaningful restrictions. ...

Back when I was going to school, we all thought it would be cool to major in philosophy, but we were told it was a professional dead end. At best, the degree was a respectable pre-law play, but beyond that, only good for stand-up comedy or teaching philosophy to other vocation-averse souls. Times change, however, and in the age of job obsolescence and robots, the misunderstood philosophy major may be having the last laugh...

It was with delight that I read Sue Doak’s column in Friday’s Gazette. She wrote of the “first frame structure in Red Willow County”. Ah yes, I knew it well. The Fitches were about our closest neighbors when my family, parents and four siblings moved from Hitchcock County to down in the valley a few miles south of McCook. ...

As of this writing, Artemis II has completed its pass around the Moon and is on its way home, with an Apollo-style splashdown expected Friday evening. The mission represents the most significant step yet in America’s return to deep space. Its immediate purpose is to test the Orion spacecraft’s systems that enable further exploration, including navigation, communications, heat shielding and the broad category NASA calls “life support.”...

I felt great joy when I read the announcement by our President that the GIB had been rescued in Iran. Great memories from my days flying air refueling tankers in the Vietnam conflict. Actually, it happened all too often when one of our fighters had suffered combat damage over North Vietnam and had to punch out over enemy-held territory. ...

A perennial editorial ritual of mine, usually at the beginning of the Christmas shopping season, is to rant about the value of shopping locally. I like to remind readers of the economic power that they wield and that their decisions as consumers have a genuine impact. ...

For a couple of years now, I have noticed many people, particularly in the service sector, saying, “Have a good rest of your day.” The phrase tortures me. There is something profoundly unsettling about hearing such an awkward construction delivered with a sincere smile, though I often suspect that the awkwardness is mine alone...

By the time this column appears, McCook and Southwest Nebraska may have received some rain. But I’m not holding my breath because the clouds appear, yet nothing falls from the sky. The lack of moisture has even increased my sense of superstition. There was a debate on postponing a weeknight kindergarten soccer game that I coach because rain was in the forecast at game time. ...

March 17 was once celebrated as “Evacuation Day,” the day that the British departed from New York during the Revolution. Overshadowed by St. Patrick’s day, that holiday is now mostly forgotten. Likewise, May, 1 or May Day was once a widely celebrated holiday in the United States, fell pray to the Cold War for its strong socialist leanings and observation is now limited to organized labor circles...

A teacher takes great pride in having a student do well in life. Possibly your old columnist might qualify as a teacher because over the past 62 years, I have taught both men and ladies to fly all sorts of aircraft. I have been privileged to help airline pilots, crop sprayers, instructors, Air Force pilots and those who simply wish to fly for enjoyment in their journey to learn...

Throughout most of my life, the baseline tip at a restaurant was universally understood to be 15 percent—not by law, but by custom. Ten percent sent a quiet but unmistakable signal that something had gone wrong, while 20 percent was reserved as a warm and deliberate thank you. ...

She loved it. Formally it was a funeral, but for us it was a family gathering to celebrate a long life well lived. The celebration was for my sister Margaret Trail Nielsen, and I’ve known her for some 88 years. Margaret, nicknamed Maggie, was the eldest of four children and loved stepping in to take over during any temporary absence of our mother...