Insights and Opinions

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 some of them live in our town? Many of us are Christian, God-fearing people. The right thing to do is to welcome them into our community and our homes. After all, they were there for the…

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…

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…

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 would be the only lawn on the whole block which would be dry. Then as fate would have it, the Saturday of July 4th weekend, I woke up, and there was no water. The well had gone dry. At…

It was not that long ago when we first stepped onto our own sailboat in Alameda, and sailed out into San Francisco Bay. The year was 1994. We had only…

By Steve Tietjen, Ed.D. & Salvador Sandoval, MD It has been more than a year since the COVID-19 health crisis disrupted our lives. While most…

Paradise, California is like a moonscape. It has been more than two and half years since the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s history — the Camp Fire. The blaze was also the most expensive natural disaster in the world in 2018 in terms of insured losses. Today, there are some new homes being built on what were once…

With 41 percent of the normal rainfall in most areas of California, what are we looking at this fire season? The same as the past, only worse. There…

EDITOR’S NOTE: Publisher John Derby drove more than 4,000 miles in less than a week to be with his sister for her 88 birthday and present in Illinois for…

We are in the GREEN tier! That means we can toss the masks, go buy gas for less than $2 per gallon and head for Fresno for a flight to London! … Not. APRIL FOOLS! Unfortunately, Merced is one of eight (of 58) counties stuck in the purple tier that indicates widespread outbreak. But things are slowly progressing. Last week, our…