If you wonder how open government laws affect you, think about these basics: The local taxes we pay. The roads we drive on. Even, sometimes, matters of life and death. Access to information through public meetings and records helps us know about the decisions elected...
Whatever our political views, certainly we can agree we have the right to know how government is conducting business. How are taxpayer dollars spent? Who is influencing decisions? Access to information allows us to speak up and hold public officials accountable, while...
Journalists relentlessly pursue the truth in order to provide citizens with the information they need to be self-governing. And yet, for journalists, doing that work can be risky, dangerous and even cost lives. Just 15 months ago the deadliest attack on journalists...
You’re probably chuckling already. Seriously? “The joy of politics”? That was pretty much the reaction I got the other day when, in the middle of a conversation about how confrontational, adversarial, and downright unpleasant politics has become of late, I...
Democracy’s premise is that ordinary citizens can make solid decisions on complex issues. But this basic principle and the structure of laws and practices erected over the centuries to safeguard it are being questioned as rarely before. It’s not just that political...
This week, October 6 – 12, 2019, marks National Newspaper Week, which, in my view, is a celebration of the First Amendment. This week is a confirmation of our freedom of speech, our right to a free press, our right to peaceably assemble and our right to petition the...
The Endangered Species Act has been stretched beyond recognition into little more than a property grab while little progress is made on species restoration. I personally have been following the need to reform the Endangered Species Act for more than twenty years and...
AIDS could soon be history. Pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson recently announced plans to test an experimental HIV vaccine in the United States, South America, and Europe. It’s already conducting a clinical trial of the vaccine in Africa, with results...
When I walked into the doors of The Farmersville Times office 13 years ago, I had no idea what was in store. I was going to stay for a year, maybe two at the most. But something happened. I fell in love with the town and with the people in this small, quaint borough....
