Like many of you I send my kids off to school each morning under the assumption that they are going to walk through the doors, seek out their friends, engage with their peers, attend their classes, perhaps learn a thing or two and return home safe and perhaps sporting a bit more wisdom than they had a few hours earlier when I dropped them at the door...

It's been a while since last I blogged, so I'm going to try and be a little more regular with these brief musings. As we close in on the change of administration Friday, I would encourage those anti-Trump folks to withhold judgement until he's had an opportunity to demonstrate what is administration is going to do moving forward. ...

I know what I think. And those who know me know what I think. But I'm curious as to what you think about former President Bill Clinton's on-board plane meeting Attorney Loretta Lynch. Was it just casual conversation as was suggested? Was it something more? Do you have a problem with it or are you okay with it? I will sit back and listen...

When there were 17 in the GOP field of presidential candidates, they said he had no chance. Every time he opened his mouth and the media played sound-bite after sound-bite, determined to sour the voting public on him, they said this is the end for him. ...

Remember Ethan Couch, the Texas teen who entered a guilty plea after killing four people in a drunk driving accident to 2013, only to receive probation when his attorney argued "affluenza" as a defense. What is affluenza you ask - why it's a social condition which makes him lose his sense of consequences of actions because he was coddled by affluent parents from a young age. ...

Just looking at the results of a recent WalletHub poll which determined the cities with the highest and lowest holiday budgets in the U.S. 563 largest cities, 7 of the top 10 spending city residents reside in Texas. While Palo Alto, California sits on top with $2,886 in personal dollars budgeted for the holidays...

We keep talking about the need to keep our streets safe for our children, yet time and time again, I read stories -- not from national papers, but papers right here in Iowa -- regarding sex offenders re-offending against children or teens. Had they been locked up, the risk of re-offense would have been non-existent. ...

Always great discussion at Coffee with the Editor Tuesday mornings beginning at 7 a.m. at the Spencer Dream Center. Of course today, one of the hot topics - actually the main topic - was the attack in Paris by ISIS last Friday. We all recognize that the horrific tragedy that it was, but the question I posed is what do we do about it now? And how long before we see a similar such event on American soil or some other place around the globe. ...

If you haven't seen Max in theaters yet, you're running out of time to share what is a rare family-friendly film with a message of love as well as dedication and patriotism. The story involves a military bomb and arms sniffing dog who loses his handler to an enemy attack in Afghanistan. ...

While GOP presidential hopefuls have been making appearances at various locations around the state -- a vast majority of which are in Des Moines or east -- Spencer will get its first visitors this week when South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham and Louisiana Gov. ...

Wanted to take some time to reach out to those of you in the Spencer area and invite you to join me and a group of good people for Coffee with the Editor each week. We meet Tuesday mornings at 7 a.m. in the dining room at the Spencer Dream Center. The Daily Reporter supplies the coffee and together we create the conversation. ...

Another summer is quickly wrapping up. It seems the older I get, the faster these seasons move past -- with the exception of winter, that seems to drag on forever. In our family, it marks a huge transition as our third child of six has moved on, leaving the nest to find his way under the watchful eye of his new "daddy," a U.S. ...

I don't get it. Last week I visited with a local family with a beautiful young 11-year-old girl who took the Salt and Ice Challenge on the dare of a friend - not knowing what was going to happen - and suffered second degree burns as a result. Apparently that was a "game" that began among young people a couple of year's ago. ...

Okay, I don't usually blog movie reviews, but after attending Thursday night's preview showing of Scarlett Johansson's newest sci-fi thriller, I thought it my civic duty to warn you about this one. Without going into too much detail, suffice it to say this movie is just so far over the top to be enjoyable. ...

In this business, there are weeks when, based on the activities scheduled in the community, you have a pretty good idea about the direction your stories will take. And some of those weeks, people walk through the door and throw you a curve ball. This was one of those weeks. ...

I'm not quite sure how long we've been conducting our Coffee with the Editor sessions on Tuesday mornings at the Spencer Dream Center. Some of my regulars are suggesting our one year anniversary has either recently passed or is soon approaching. Who's keeping track really? It's been great. ...

I know what I thought about the all-important Super Bowl commercials. The three really amazing commercials weren't funny, but instead featured a tribute to farmers, those serving this country and a relationship between a trainer and his Clydesdale. There were some laughs. Doritos got it done twice with a chip hungry goat and men dressed as princesses. Dejon Sanders was great. The old folks sneaking out of the home for a night of partying on the town. There were some good laughs...

Since the shooting tragedy which claimed the life of children and adults alike at Sandy Hook Elementary school, both sides of the gun control and 2nd Amendment issues have been turning up the rhetoric. President Obama has suggested there must be some changes he can make using his Presidential power...

I want to take a few moments to courage anyone in the general area of the Clay County Fair to turn out for the debate between Rep. Steve King and Christie Vilsack Saturday evening at the Clay County Regional Events Center. The debate is due to start at 5:30 p.m. ...

So Lance Armstrong has given up his fight against the powers that be in the cycling world. They claim he has doped based on various testimony to the fact. He has passed 500 different tests to detect doping as administered by the governing body. Armstrong Thursday chose to walk away from the fight and leave the distractions behind him in order to focus on his foundation work. ...