Ken Newton
Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008
Monday, Oct. 6, 2008
Monday, Oct. 6, 2008
Sunday, Oct. 5, 2008
Saturday, Oct. 4, 2008
Friday, Oct. 3, 2008
Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008
Couple raise lasting symbol of autumn
Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008
Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008
Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008
Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008
Monday, Sept. 29, 2008
Barnes pledges to aid veterans
Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008
Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008
Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008
Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008
Saturday, Sept. 27, 2008
Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008
‘Dropout’ sheds label in earning his GED
Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008
Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008
Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2008
Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008
Monday, Sept. 22, 2008
Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008
Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008
Friday, Sept. 19, 2008
St. Joseph woman tries to make it as a singer in New York City
Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008
Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008
Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2008
Monday, Sept. 15, 2008
Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008
Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008
'Bush Legacy Tour' stops in St. Joseph
Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008
Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008
Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008
Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008
McCain, Palin wow 'em in area
Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008
Monday, Sept. 8, 2008
Sunday, Sept. 7, 2008
Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008
Senators, Barnes laud SCHIP
Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008
Native wood builds brothers’ business
Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008
Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008
Sunday, Aug. 31, 2008
Sunday, Aug. 31, 2008
It keeps you running
Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008
Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008
'Rebuilding America'
Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008
Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008
Monday, Aug. 25, 2008
Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008
Weddings come usually in a cookie-cutter form. Some take place on a bluff at sundown, others have barnyard themes with hay-bale pews. But most follow a familiar script.
Occasionally, you get a surprise.
Monday, Oct. 6, 2008
Nothing official yet, but talk among Democrats is that vice presidential nominee Joe Biden will make a St. Joseph stop during a two-day visit to Missouri.
Missouri remains in the battleground mixMonday, Oct. 6, 2008
Missouri treats presidential politics like one of Marty Schottenheimer’s old Chiefs teams. Play good defense, keep it close and hope someone makes a play at the end.
Taking a time out on SundaySunday, Oct. 5, 2008
Glory days of bygone sports teams stick with a man throughout his life. Guys my age in western Missouri remember the moment — where they sat, who was in the room, the whole scenario — when Len Dawson led the Chiefs to a Super Bowl victory.
Obama campaign expects close race in MissouriSaturday, Oct. 4, 2008
Conventional wisdom holds that the Barack Obama campaign approaches Missouri like city slickers, hoping big margins in St. Louis and Kansas City offset the rest of the state.
Not so, says David Plouffe.
“We’re competing for votes in every corner of Missouri,” the campaign manager for Mr. Obama told the News-Press Thursday night.
That includes Northwest Missouri. While the large cities and the southern reaches of the state have gotten attention from presidential hopefuls of both parties, they’ve mostly missed the scenery north of the I-70 corridor.
Friday, Oct. 3, 2008
Whither the candidates? While the large cities and the southern reaches of the state have gotten attention from presidential hopefuls of both parties, they’ve mostly missed the scenery north of the I-70 corridor.
Missouri senators voice supportThursday, Oct. 2, 2008
Missouri’s U.S. senators might have differed in their metaphors — ranging from medicines to malodors — but they agreed that a financial rescue plan should pass in their chamber.
Couple raise lasting symbol of autumn
Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008
Rick Tudor takes his right hand and brushes aside the squash bugs congregated on a ripened pumpkin. The insects seem barely perturbed by the gesture, falling to the soil but not panicked into a scurry.
“Other than them just being creepy, they really don’t bother you,” Mr. Tudor says.
He might well be describing the crop around him, three or so acres showing itself abundant and orange against the afternoon’s receding light. Pumpkins, despite their use in jack o’lantern artistry, remain the friendliest of fruits.
Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008
The federal bailout deliberations in Congress have generated at least one immediate impact locally. The congressional candidate forum scheduled for Friday by the St. Joseph Area Chamber of Commerce has been postponed.
Graves, Boyda vote against $700B bailout in the U.S. HouseTuesday, Sept. 30, 2008
Congressman Sam Graves couldn’t get past the blank-check mentality that he said persuaded him to vote against a federal bailout bill in the U.S. House on Monday.
Remember the Main, not the WallTuesday, Sept. 30, 2008
Bailout talks in Washington aimed at setting right the nation’s financial system. They also proved a useful lesson in geography.
High-profile Democrats to help BarnesMonday, Sept. 29, 2008
The campaign of congressional candidate Kay Barnes gets a boost early this week from a pair of high-profile Democrats.
Barnes pledges to aid veterans
Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008
Democratic congressional candidate Kay Barnes told a veterans group Saturday that she would use a position in the U.S. House to press for greater benefits for the nation’s returning service personnel. Too many troops back from Iraq and Afghanistan are struggling to get the benefits they deserve, the former Kansas City mayor said to a gathering at VFW Post 6760 in St. Joseph. “That will be a priority for me to ensure that does not continue,” she said.
Graves voices bailout concernsSunday, Sept. 28, 2008
Pushed against a wall with a take-it-or-leave-it offer when negotiating for a car, Congressman Sam Graves said he knows to step back for more thought. The financial bailout proposal working its way through the U.S. House gives him similar reason for pause. The high price tag and the heavily accelerated timetable have the Northwest Missouri lawmaker concerned. “That tells me I better step away and take a closer look at this thing,” Mr. Graves said Saturday. “Seven hundred billion dollars, that’s an awful lot of money to risk on something that folks are very unsure about.”
America feels ire in the airSunday, Sept. 28, 2008
True story. This was the message I found in a fortune cookie this week: “You are tasting the sweets of success.”
GOP official relays McCain's messageSunday, Sept. 28, 2008
Frank Donatelli watched Friday night’s presidential debate like many Americans. And the deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee believes many Americans ended the night with the same conclusion. That John McCain better commanded the facts. “You had one candidate who was competent in terms of memorizing something out of a briefing book,” Mr. Donatelli said. “You had another candidate who actually lived many of the things he was talking about.”
Graves celebrates expiration of drilling moratoriumSaturday, Sept. 27, 2008
Critics labeled it a stunt when Congressman Sam Graves and other Republicans kept the U.S. House in motion during the August recess calling for a vote on expanded energy exploration.
Now, it appears the exercise might have had an impact, if only a measured one.
Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008
A career diplomat with ties to St. Joseph took the oath of office this week as the new American ambassador to Rwanda.
‘Dropout’ sheds label in earning his GED
Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008
Charles Tolles never considered himself dumb, never really had trouble finding gainful work.
But he wrestled with a word, a label that hung around if only in his head.
Dropout.
If it didn’t exactly haunt him, it also never quite went away.
Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008
Tom Carnahan struggled to understand a perspective that failed to embrace the possibilities of renewable energy.
Political Notebook: Danforth group looks to combat voter fraudWednesday, Sept. 24, 2008
Former Sen. John Danforth left the electoral arena in 1994. But the Missouri Republican remains a go-to guy for office seekers needing a task handled.
Clap hands, here come earmarksTuesday, Sept. 23, 2008
Society evolves, and the standards of culture move in ways not always pleasing.
Graves opens lead in 6th District raceMonday, Sept. 22, 2008
Congressman Sam Graves has surged ahead in Missouri's 6th District U.S. House race, according to a poll taken last week by SurveyUSA for KCTV in Kansas City.
From the Big-Wide-World Department, it bears noting that rituals exist for happy couples wanting a Klingon wedding.Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008
From the Big-Wide-World Department, it bears noting that rituals exist for happy couples wanting a Klingon wedding.
‘Bubbles always burst’Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008
Wall Street wobbled last week under the weight of a financial upheaval that brought down long-established institutions and made taxpayers the unwitting owners of previously private assets.
In St. Joseph, banks greeted customers and payrolls got met.
Friday, Sept. 19, 2008
A state Republican official calls a Democratic U.S. senator "annoying." The senator thanks him for the compliment. It's election season in Mudville. But a larger question about the Obama campaign looms.
St. Joseph woman tries to make it as a singer in New York City
Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008
Noises of new neighborhoods take a while to get used to. Moving from a country lane outside of St. Joseph to the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn proved particularly novel for Kelli Pyle.
“There were gunshots,” she recalls, “but it wasn’t deer season.”
Her initiation to New York City life never really stops, though she accepts after three years the impersonal nature of 8 million people moving fast in a confined space, the extension of humanity being as rare as eye contact on a subway car. A stickler for promptness, she builds “oops time” into every journey through the metropolis, banking on the worst that can happen with public transit.
Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008
Wall Street financial institutions fought for their survival this week while surrogates for two presidential candidates swapped claims about which side had the best tax plan for Missourians.
Banks fall as storm hits homeTuesday, Sept. 16, 2008
My brother sounded neither relieved nor beleaguered on the phone. But his voice seldom varies. If there were two bears wrestling in his living room, he might mention it in passing and then only to make fun of one for falling.
Let candidates' military heroism standMonday, Sept. 15, 2008
In a political season where almost every statement touches off an argument or a wave of partisan spin, can Americans at least agree that serving in a foreign war and being held as a prisoner by enemies are worthy of a nation’s respect?
Sprawling 6th District a unique challenge for candidatesSunday, Sept. 14, 2008
Consider the disparity unavoidable, a quirk of constitution, geography and demographics.
Congressman Emanuel Cleaver can drive from one side of his Kansas City district to the other in maybe a half-hour, depending on traffic.
In the district to his north, Congressman Sam Graves can exit his house in Tarkio, Mo., en route to meet his constituents in Cooper County, and the drive will take three and a half hours.
Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008
Lord, love the British. They spell favor with that odd extraneous “u,” but they mean well.
'Bush Legacy Tour' stops in St. Joseph
Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008
Sandy Vandever took in the exhibits but left the partisanship to others. This rolling museum came stocked with an ample supply of politics.
Though the St. Joseph woman knew many of the facts on the wall, and even the floor, of the Bush Legacy Tour bus, she left impressed Wednesday after seeing them compiled in such tight quarters.
“I just wanted to see it,” she said. “It’s part of our history.”
Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008
Jason Brown met Sen. John McCain in Iraq in the spring of 2007. The state representative from Platte City had just returned to the war zone after healing from a combat wound.
As a Republican politician, Mr. Brown would have felt a natural allegiance with the senator in any case. But Mr. McCain impressed the Army Reservist with his support for the troop surge in Iraq at a time when media pundits, and even lawmakers of his own party, ridiculed the idea.
Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008
Jason Brown met Sen. John McCain in Iraq in the spring of 2007. The state representative from Platte City had just returned to the war zone after healing from a combat wound. Mr. McCain impressed the Army Reservist with his support for the troop surge in Iraq at a time when media pundits, and even lawmakers of his own party, ridiculed the idea.
Rural U.S. from the ground upTuesday, Sept. 9, 2008
News came last week of the death of Calvin L. Beale. Yeah, you had to look closely for the notice.
McCain, Palin wow 'em in area
Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008
Emily Huitt coupled a vow to never wash her just-shaken hand with an insistence on the qualifications of the man who did the shaking.
“He’s the only one who can run this country,” the Lathrop, Mo., woman said of John McCain. “He’s the only one who knows about foreign policy. He’s the only one who knows about drilling (for oil).”
The Republican presidential candidate, along with his running mate, Sarah Palin, said nothing to disappoint the Clinton County supporter, who rose early to get a prime spot at a Monday morning rally in the Kansas City suburbs and then pushed her way forward to shake the nominee’s hand.
Monday, Sept. 8, 2008
Three former mayors stood on the steps of St. Joseph City Hall Sunday and extolled the virtue of relationships among cities.
And one of them, former Kansas City Mayor Kay Barnes, accepted the endorsements of the other two in her race for the 6th District congressional seat.
Larry Stobbs and David Jones, who served successive tenures as St. Joseph mayor beginning in 1994, credited Ms. Barnes for her cooperation on projects ranging from regional tourism to an attempt to relocate the Kansas City Chiefs training camp to Missouri Western State University.
Sunday, Sept. 7, 2008
Never sell short your blessings. We live in remarkable times.
New replaces old in convention floor introductionThursday, Sept. 4, 2008
They are mockingly called Chamber of Commerce introductions, those short, laudatory passages about home-state glories given before the casting of roll call votes at political conventions. The recitations are time-honored and harmless, if not always brief. And they are sometimes illustrative of an individual state’s political climate.
Senators, Barnes laud SCHIP
Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008
Conni Muff earned a degree from Missouri Western State University and got a job as a social worker. Despite a diploma and employment, the St. Joseph woman can’t pay for her son’s health insurance.
The state does that.
Native wood builds brothers’ business
Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008
Craftsmen have long loved the wood of walnut trees. Very hard, exquisite grain. They use the timber in making premium rifle stocks and steering wheels for luxury cars.
Nathan and Jonathan Bokay also like walnut wood for its proximity. The trees thrive in these parts, the raw and renewable material having been part of local manufacturing for generations.
The brothers figure it this way. It makes environmental and fiscal sense to use what’s at hand. They admit coming from a long line of farm people who would stockpile odd items for decades on the chance of them one day being useful.
Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008
Even the grain of an old newsreel can’t mask the grave countenance. Even the scratchy analog audio can’t disguise the seriousness of purpose in that New England accent.
Area GOP confident before St. PaulSunday, Aug. 31, 2008
Republican John McCain announced his presidential campaign 16 months ago, nearly three months after Democrat Barack Obama.
As Labor Day arrives in near conjunction with the finish of the national political conventions, all those months, all those speeches, all those shaken hands deliver the candidates an additional 64 days of electoral uncertainty.
“It’s almost like they’re both starting the race dead even,” said Bob Ott of St. Joseph.
Sunday, Aug. 31, 2008
Some bugs of nearly microscopic size held a convention this year on my tomato plants.
It keeps you running
Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008
The wood-chip trail offers a measure of kindness to what Terry Seiter calls his “old-man body.” The description proves a self-mocking dodge.
A picture of aerobic fitness, Mr. Seiter suffers few of the ailments of long-time runners. His joints give him no real problems. His muscles, sure, hurt at times, but ice and ibuprofen do wonders.
But that misses the point, anyway. The 48-year-old St. Joseph man accepts the physical aches because of the rewards he finds in running.
Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008
St. Joseph Mayor Ken Shearin set the stage for a cemetery disturbance Wednesday by announcing his backing for the re-election of Congressman Sam Graves.
'Rebuilding America'
Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008
Barack Obama brought the convention-week vitality of his campaign to a place whose worker base might diminish before a new president takes office. Two days before accepting the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, Mr. Obama outlined for American Airlines workers a plan to revive the U.S. economy. In the process, the Illinois senator called Republican presumptive nominee John McCain out of touch with the hardships of Americans and promised an agenda that would provide middle-class tax relief, strengthen education and make health care more accessible.
Pollsters locate the disgruntledTuesday, Aug. 26, 2008
Never mind the low-sodium diet. Some things a person just has to take with a pinch of salt.
Political talk prevails at weekend party barbecuesMonday, Aug. 25, 2008
Labor Day marks the traditional beginning to the fall campaign season. But area Democrats and Republicans couldn’t wait this year, holding large gatherings over the weekend to build support a week ahead of the summer-ending holiday. Fellowship and food seemed in ample supply, but political talk prevailed.
