As the publisher of this grand newspaper, and turning 85 this week, I look back at the more than 60 years of being a newspaperman, and I can’t think of a better way to live. Thank you to all who have read about my wonderings and allowed me to write unbridled. I am still writing with a clear mind everyday, and when I wake up in the…

The last figure we saw was over 65,000 Afghans were being flown out of Afghanistan to somewhere; however, it did not say where. Are we willing to have…

We do not know what it was like during World War II, only what we read in books; however, today must have many comparisons. First of all, the war went on…

Does time travel exist? Probably not, but let’s take a shot. The California drought may give us a unique chance to go back to 1955. That’s when the Folsom Dam was built, during they heydays of dam building from the 1950s to the ’70s. California, along with the rest of the United States, experienced major population growth with the…

Year ago, fires burned regularly in our California forests and they were an asset, ridding the forests of the undergrowth. Actually, the forests needed them…

By STEVE M. TIETJEN, Ed.D. Most Merced County students return to the classroom this week after a year-and-a-half of in-person learning, distance…

There was a time when COVID-19 was at its peak and businesses were shutting their doors at a rapid pace. Paying people a bonus when they lost their job was the right thing to do. However, things have changed, and businesses are opening up again, but there are no workers. We write specially because the sit-down restaurant businesses cannot…

This is the first time in my life I have had to depend on a well for my water, and I have been seriously thinking of letting my lawn go dry. However, it…

Since COVID-19 hit Merced, there hasn’t been much progress to talk about. Homelessness has only gotten worse, unemployment is as high as always, and, of…

She was in her 80s, and I was in my 70s, when I received my first letter from Betty Stewart, written in the most beautiful handwriting I had seen since my dad died — and he had attended Calligraphy classes. The letter was written on yellow-lined pad paper, just the same as the pads which I used to write on when I covered the stories of the…