I’ve been called many things in my life, some with a germ of truth and some with a full-blown head cold. But my favorite occurred in 2003, when the late New York Post editor and MSNBC editor-in-chief, Jerry Nachman, welcomed me on his show as “the so-called father of reality TV.”

My dad bought our first television in the late 1950s. The black and white was a prisoner of the antenna; adjusting its rabbit ears required finesse and a big helping of patience.

From ice storms and earthquakes, to flooding and tornadoes, Illinois has its share of emergencies. September is National Preparedness Month, and as Acting Director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA), I want to encourage all Illinoisans to spend a few moments during this month…

Lately, the Effingham Daily News has been running opinion editorial columns from a source that calls itself “The Center Square,” which appears to be a rebranding attempt by a group called the Illinois Policy Institute. One of the prominent writers is Austin Berg.

The Effingham Fire Department will visit select neighborhoods on Wednesday, Sept. 11, to install free smoke detectors and provide fire safety information. Effingham Fire Chief Bob Tutko said in a release that the free installation is part of a day of service in honor of those lost and injur…

The county prosecutor, an intractable fellow named Stan, kept busy in the early 1970s bringing tokers to justice. Les Mieserables’ bloodhound police inspector Javet had nothing on this guy.

Illinois’ two major income tax hikes were major failures.

New York Times columnist Bret Stephens created quite a stir with his reaction to a critic on social media.

With a title like this you might think this column is about defending the lives of the unborn or arguing against doctor assisted suicide. While these are worthy topics, this article is about your own life course: whether your lifestyle is headed towards life or towards death.

The art of taxation seems to elude Illinois lawmakers.

Some public servants spend their lives in the kind of service that makes our community stronger. Others give their lives protecting us. The Effingham Daily News this week featured stories about two people who embody each. One died far too young in the line of duty. The other lived to 93. In …

My wife hates bears; eventually, she went from the general to the specific. Human beings personalize things; it is our nature. New Jersey bears got on her bad side, although they were not in Minnesota.

I am giving a talk to long-term state prison inmates, soon to be released, about how to navigate government and politics. This, on the premise they will need licenses to drive and ply some trades, and maybe even want to get involved in politics.

As you shop for back-to-school supplies for your kids or food for the Labor Day cookout, consider this: the clerks, shelf stockers, truck drivers, and factory workers who make that possible can all be legally forced to pay money to a union or else be fired.

A few months ago, Customs and Border Protection officers made the country’s largest fentanyl bust in history. Two hundred and fifty-four pounds of fentanyl and 395 pounds of methamphetamine was stopped at the border. A 26-six-year-old Mexican man was driving a tractor-trailer loaded with cuc…

In 1988, American economist Robert Klitgaard boiled down corruption into a simple formula:

The Editorial Board has already penned an editorial about Katie Williams, the 2008 Altamont High School grad who was banned this week from competing in the Ms. America Pageant. She says it’s because of her conservative political views, and outspoken support of President Trump. Pageant offici…

Democrats need to find a new leader for the Illinois House of Representatives and the Democratic Party of Illinois if they want to change the culture of bullying and harassment in Springfield.

Because of the investigation led by three University of South Florida researchers, and because of exemplary journalism by the Tampa Bay Times, we now have an intensely discomforting but welcome enrichment of American literature. It requires artistry to write beautifully about children suffer…

It’s been a while since I’ve opined on any religious and political events that have happened in our state and country over the last several months. Despite it being a busy summer for me, I’ve still been keeping watch and managing to take it all in, the good and the bad. However, there’s been…

Illinois Governors are to prisons as peanut butter is to chocolate. The two just seem to go together. Whether former Governor Rod Blagojevich’s prison sentence is commuted or not, (I don’t believe it should be) one thing is for certain – Illinois’s long history of political corruption and in…

Israel prides itself on being the only democracy in the Middle East, and this is true. The Israeli democracy is a very vibrant one that encompasses a wide spectrum of opinions and ideas. This is the reason why most parties do not get a majority in the election and any prime minister has to f…

In a recent editorial concerning legalized recreational marijuana ("Our View: Let’s All Ponder Pot Regulations," Aug. 15, 2019) the opinion of the Daily News editorial board read, “We have no more problem with the legalization of the recreational — and responsible — use of marijuana than we …

Gov. J. B. Pritzker has proposed a graduated income tax for Illinois (higher rates for higher incomes), which prompts these fundamental questions: How should society allocate wealth? How should government redistribute it? And, of course, should we vote for or against the graduated tax at the…

[rose] Winner's Circle roses for Kyle Husted of Altamont, who had a downright dominant day at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield Thursday, winning four of the 12 races that day. In the third race, he picked up his first win, driving Fox Valley Exploit to a 1:55.3 finish. His second win c…

Back in '49, two high school girls were on the square tearing each other’s hair out. It was quite a fight; lots of screaming, scratching and whatever else girls’ do when they go at each other.

In 2002, a friend’s eight-year-old daughter, Brianna Caddell, while sleeping in her bed, was fatally shot with an AK-47 assault rifle. The shooter, a drug dealer who had beef with another drug dealer, fired on the wrong house in Detroit, spraying it with two dozen rounds.

About one-third of Kankakee residents live below the poverty line. The city is also home to one of the highest crime rates in the state.

I was at a community meeting where we were planning how to give some helpful devices out to members of the community. As we planned, some of the people began to say, “I don’t have one of those things, give one to me first.” I remarked to the person sitting next to me, “This is why communism …

[rose] EDN senior reporter Dawn Schabbing this week reported that Effingham is still working to quiet trains coming through the area. It's just taking a while. The City of Effingham’s quest to silence train horns throughout the city will take longer than anticipated. But city officials hope …

Recent discussions about religion in the public square and about rural vs. urban values in conflict have led me to reflect about the generational gap which separates the life experiences of my childhood from those of today’s youngsters, such as: being a grade school student at Effingham’s We…

A recent news release caught my eye. The headline read, “Tourism officials tout revenue generated by travel." (Effingham Daily News, Monday, Aug. 5, 2019, Page A3.) City Tourism Director Jodi Thoele was quoted, "Effingham looks forward to attracting visitors as we continue to work hard to de…

[thorn] A Neoga man was rescued from a thorny situation on Friday when fire and ambulance crews quickly freed him from being trapped between the tire and the platform of his utility tractor. Alan Baker, Neoga assistant fire chief and paramedic, said a relative passing by the accident on a ru…

Gov. J.B. Pritzker joined TV mogul Dick Wolf in Chicago Thursday to celebrate the extension of Illinois’ film tax credit program until 2026.

“Get me rewrite!” So went the popular image of the rewrite editor at the other end of the line from the reporter breathlessly dictating into the phone.

At the convenience store in my rural town, there is a new “wall” of plastic boxes filled with colorful lottery instant-game tickets, right on the counter, crowding my effort to check out; you can’t avoid them.

It has been a disappointing couple of weeks.

From time to time we all find it interesting to reflect on the "good old days." I hope you may find this little article of some interest. It happened before I was born, and was told to me by my mother, Blanche (Wyckoff) Funk, many, many times. It proved to be a learning experience. Thank you…