Opinion

Dear Editor: Last evening, I was thrilled to see several female monarch butterflies laying eggs on the milkweed plants in our summer campground on Mount Desert Island in Maine. Even though I spend the summers in Maine, my hometown is in Greencastle...

To the Editor: One of the things I love about rural Indiana is driving to work past lovely wildflowers, butterflies, birds and animals. That is what makes it particularly distressing to see all of that dying — leaving blackened plants and dying trees...

To the Editor: On Wednesday, July 31, Putnam County Special Olympics held a recognition picnic at Robe-Ann Park in Greencastle for the athletes and coaches who have successfully competed in year-round athletic trainings and competitions across the state...

I’ve been struck recently by news coverage of climate change and humans’ degradation of the planet. Two opposing themes keep appearing. One is the sense that, as individuals, there’s little we can do; the forces are too large. The other – and I think many Americans would agree with this ­– is that as citizens of the planet we have a responsibility to protect it and to pass it on in good shape to those who follow us...

Democracy’s premise is that ordinary citizens can make solid decisions on complex issues. But this basic principle and the structure of laws and practices erected over the centuries to safeguard it are being questioned as rarely before. It’s not just that political leaders in various western democracies seem to have little regard for the norms and procedures they inherited. ...

A few years ago, I was at a polling place here in Indiana where a long line of people stood waiting to vote. A woman recognized me and called me over. “Why is it,” she asked, “that you politicians make it so hard and inconvenient to vote?” I thought of this the other day when I read the news reports about presidents Trump and Putin meeting and jestingly accusing one another of election meddling. ...

To the Editor: I have been reading today about how the city was disappointed that U.S. 231, inside the city limits, wouldn’t be getting new overlay payment this year, and that they were concerned that the potholes would just get worse. The potholes that we have on U.S. ...

To the Editor: On behalf of the Putnam County Youth Development Commission, we wish to extend our heartfelt appreciation to our extraordinary community for the generous support of our inaugural PC Lip Sync Team Challenge. Words cannot begin to express how humbled we are to live in a community that embraces our mission of serving the children and families of Putnam County...