ALDERMAN: Improving women's financial literacy

Are the 70 percent of the developing world's adult population with no formal bank account doomed to a life of economic uncertainty and financial illiteracy? If a woman's culture dictates that she should always put her family's financial needs ahead of her own, can she learn to set aside money for her own retirement without feeling guilty?

ROOKS: Having fun watching Chessy play

Howdy Folks; There are lots of folks that don't think feeding animals from the table is right. Well, while we were eating breakfast, one morning, having bacon and eggs. Oops! I dropped a piece of bacon, and Chessy was setting there.

WHITEHEAD: Is this the price of living in a 'free, safe' society?

Immediately following the devastating 9/11 attacks, which destroyed the illusion of invulnerability which had defined American society since the end of the Cold War, many Americans willingly ceded their rights and liberties to government officials who promised them that the feeling of absolute safety could be restored.

FEULNER: Red tape on the rise in America

"Do as I say, not as I do," goes an ironic saying worthy of Mark Twain. It's a phrase that is well-suited to the political field.

ROOKS: Preparing for a cold weekend

Howdy Folks, As I write this the weather is changing, this weekend (May 12) according to the weather station, will be in the upper 30 degrees. I wanted to take the walls of water off the tomato plants.

HUBBELL: Healthy Ohio walk is this week

Last call from the Adams-Brown Creating Healthy Communities Coalition to all Brown County walkers to take a fitness challenge to walk one mile in the ninth annual All-Ohio, Healthy Ohio Fitness Walk.

PETERS: When the earth moves under our feet

One of the most breath-taking geologic events is a major earthquake. In just a few moments, shaking of the Earth can result in billions of dollars of damage and thousands of lives lost.

TRIPLETT: The common art of courtesy

There are just some common sense, decent things that a man or woman can expect in life. But it seems much of that is going by the wayside.

ALDERMAN: How to trim your wedding costs

Weddings have always been big business, but I was shocked to see how expensive they've become in the 17 years since my wife and I got married. According to the annual Real Weddings Study, the average wedding in the U.S. now costs $28,427, and that doesn't even count the honeymoon.

PORTMAN: Working to close the skills gap

The weakest economic recovery since the 1940s continues, and for the millions of Americans who are still looking for full-time work, their own personal recession drags on.

WHITEHEAD: Pete Seeger: Changing the world one song at a time

Before the Beatles or the Rolling Stones, Jim Hendrix, Bob Dylan and others, there was Pete Seeger. With his five-string banjo in hand, Seeger helped to lay the foundation for American protest music, singing out about the plight of everyday working folks and urging listeners to political and social activism. In fact, Pete Seeger is one of the most important musical influences of the 20th century.

ROOKS: Learning about the 1930s Dust Bowl

Howdy Folks; Last week we saw a program on the television about the Dust Bowl in the 1930's. It showed how the dust would cover things up.

RICHMAN: Who 'radicalized' the Tsarnaevs?

If the Brothers Tsarnaev's bombing at the Boston Marathon is an argument against immigration, then Tim McVeigh's bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City is an argument against reproductive freedom.

HAMILTON: How politics has changed dramatically

When two senators recently got into a spat over whether the Boston Marathon bombings were being politicized, the news was everywhere within minutes.

CORNETET: Growing up with the trains

As a youngster growing up I was what I suppose you would call a "town boy." That is, however, if you counted Macon a town. Although our mail was occasionally misdirected to Macon, Georgia, the Macon I was born and raised in was in Brown County, Ohio.