Last week I stopped in Wisconsin Rapids, WI, to visit friends, and they reminded me that the Verso paper mill was slated for closure at the end of July. The closure is now history. As I think about that news, it causes a lot of sorrow. Not unlike the sorrow that I have felt many…
La Crosse Tribune Opinion Page, 7-19-2020 The COVID-19 virus is cruel. It causes illness and death. It disrupts our economy, leaving families with strained finances. Parents don’t know what to do about children returning to school. Stress levels are high. This is all hard. Possibly we are not even paying attention to the cruelest part…
La Crosse Tribune Opinion Page April 12, 2020 In the world of COVID-19, everything looks different and some things stay the same. As our communities respond to the threat of a virus infection, we experience fear. We are uncertain about what to do to protect ourselves and all the people that we love and want…
December 22, 2019, La Crosse Tribune For three years, President Donald Trump and his administration have undone our national institutions and structures of democracy. In 1776, there was no middle ground for independence from tyranny. “Give me liberty or give me death.” In 1863, there was no middle ground for the abolition of slavery. A…
December 27, 2018, La Crosse Tribune It is not so hard. Our elected representatives in Congress could place the good of our entire country ahead of self-interest and destructive partisanship. Our representatives could write good legislation to keep our governmental services funded. If the president decides to veto their legislation, the Congress could override his…
June 19, 2018, La Crosse Tribune On Father’s Day, as Americans across our land take a moment to celebrate our appreciation for fathers, I am dismayed beyond words by my government’s treatment of children at our southern border. What can possibly strike deeper in a father’s fiber than a man’s drive to seek security and…
May 18, 2017, La Crosse Tribune Our White House appears to function as a political Ponzi scheme, and our president operates as a skillful confidence man. As the weeks pass, every audacious story gets superseded by yet another. Before any story can be investigated to discover its truth or lack thereof, another more audacious story…
March 18, 2018, La Crosse Tribune As a critical care pediatrician, I have the heart-wrenching experience of caring for children who die in childhood. I know how indescribably painful this tragic loss is for parents, families and our communities. We experience a deep-seated need to give and nourish life and to see our children thrive…
July 6, 2017, La Crosse Tribune It was 241 years ago that our nation’s fathers declared independence from English aristocratic rule. One of the bedrocks for the success of this experiment in self-rule was the existence of a free and protected press that could inform people to be able to govern themselves. Today we need…
May 23, 2017, La Crosse Tribune We can ask what is more important, sick care or health care. When we feel generally healthy and expect to remain so, it makes a lot of sense to think about purchasing health insurance designed to help out on the rare occasion of a large unexpected expenditure for major…