When Lindsey and I purchased the Kansas Publishing Ventures, which publishes the Free Press, over five years ago, we had no idea what we were in store for. Joel had approached us to buy him out after I asked his advice about our paper, The Clarion, and we felt like we would be fools to say no. Joel sold us […]

The debate over wind farms has entered Marion County like a wrecking ball. The debate isn’t something germain to just Marion County though. Reno, Sedgwick, McPherson, and right here in Marion County are all debating if these ‘farms’ should be put up in their backyards. While many people are yelling half-cocked facts and figures, the truth is the debate is […]

There is no denying the reporting done by the Marion County Record on our tax lien. I own 100 percent of it. My father taught me at a young age that no one cares about someone’s excuses, and I am sure no one would care about mine, either. We had poor accounting procedures that I oversaw, they popped their ugly […]

There is no good way to report on the ongoing saga of the Hillsboro Community Hospital and please an audience from the whole county. Some people want constant updates and facts, and to my dismay, others have asked us to just stop reporting about it at all as it doesn’t look good and isn’t positive. It’s true. There isn’t much […]

As a newspaper junkie and someone who has been interested in the business for quite some time, I love letters to the editor—even the one below, critical of our coverage (or lack there of) of Marion County’s many events. Mike is entitled to his opinion, and I am sure some agree with his assessments. I appreciate him sharing it with […]

Things are starting to look better for the Hillsboro Community Hospital now that a new group is handling the day-to-day operations as foreclosure hearings are being dealt with. No one can tell the future, but we are certainly hopeful that the hospital will remain open, will find a suitable buyer, and this mess can be put in the rearview in […]

Stories like the series of stories we are publishing about the Hillsboro Hospital’s financial troubles are never easy or enjoyable to write. It is never easy to find people to comment or give context to something that has people in the county both frustrated and afraid. Two paragraphs in and I haven’t even talked about the employees of the hospital which […]

I have grown to hate social media more and more every day. My general distaste for the product, no matter the format, isn’t how they work or how much of my time it takes up at work, but rather what it has turned people into. One of my favorite quotes is “The internet is the single best and worst thing […]

Recently I was asked to speak at an event hosted by the Texas Center for Community Journalism in Fort Worth, Texas. The event allowed me to get out of town for a few days, see my sister in Texas, and catch a basketball game while we were there. What the trip also allowed me to see was the Oak Cliff neighborhood […]

The holidays are a time when I spend probably the most time with my family. My aunt usually drives home from St. Louis, my sister drives north from Texas, and generally, there is a packed house in Buhler to greet me. I have never once thought about that not being the case for me until recently. My best friend lost his mother […]