It’s important now more than ever to shop local. Because of COVID-19, local businesses desperately need your help. Joel Klaassen Hillsboro

What is the price of a life? One million dollars? Ten million? What do you think? Today, we are faced with the incredible reality which forces us to decide just how valuable our lives are in comparison to the lives of other people living in our community, in our state, in our nation and around the world. A pandemic has […]

In the last month, I cheered for the last time, sat in class with my teachers for the last time, talked in the halls with my friends for the last time and walked out of my high school for the last time, all without knowing those would be my last times. I might not get a prom or a graduation. […]

It will be thirty years this May 24 that my dad died at Hillsboro Community Hospital of a massive stroke. If I live to April 10 this year, I will have lived longer than he did. I’m not planning to leave God’s green earth anytime soon, though.   If you’ve tried to trim your fingernails with a clipper and pretended […]

Dear editor, I’m writing to commend the Hillsboro Free Press, editor Laura Fowler Paulus, and Jenna Dickerson for the March 15 article, “Local Woman Makes Tough Decision.” It was community journalism at its best. Excellent! Like most Free Press readers, I don’t know Jenna Dickerson, but, oh my, I sure do admire her courage, her strength, her commitment the betterment […]

What a week it’s been. Daylight Savings Time, Friday the thirteenth, and Spring Break beginning, to say nothing of Coronavirus and all of its attendant mayhem. My social media has been overrun with constant updates of new cases, new guidelines from state and federal health departments, and endless photos of empty shelves around the nation. Still, I’m thankful on many […]

On April 16, 2009, we celebrated our daughter’s first birthday with a ladybug cake. A few days later, her pediatrician called, explaining that her hemoglobin levels came back “dangerously low” from a routine well-child check. He told us to pack a bag and head to Wichita to the hospital. By the time we were dismissed from that first stay, our […]

“I hope you know it is okay if your strength looks a little different in this season.” ~ Morgan Harper Nichols Rosalind Walter died last Thursday. She was the red-lipped, muscle bearing Rosie the Riveter, who stood as a symbol of women in the workforce and in the bigger picture, women’s independence. International Women’s Day happened to fall just a […]

I’m always on the hunt for easy recipes to feed a crowd, and as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I found a great cookie bar recipe that fit the bill. And then I forgot to take a photo before my crowd inhaled every last one. So, with the Super Bowl in my sights, I whipped up this recipe […]

As my last few games where I get to be a cheerleader quickly approach I am becoming more and more sad, but I am left with the best memories and experiences. I tried out for cheer at the end of my sophomore year, and these last two years I have never felt more fulfilled as an athlete. Cheer has brought […]