Working in a newsroom, specifically our newsroom, every day we hear 911 dispatchers handing out emergency calls to our fire departments and ambulances. Some are less emergent than others. Not every day is filled with fires or disasters, but every single day you will hear a call for an overdose. Some days more than one. It is a near guarantee.

In a rare event, law enforcement raided a local newsroom in Marion, Kansas, carrying out equipment, computers, cell phones and files.

They also raided the publisher’s and the owner’s home.

Using statistics from the Department of Labor, The Wall Street Journal reports that real hourly wages during the Biden presidency have declined.

When Joe Biden took office in January 2021, the average hourly wage adjusted for inflation was $11.39. Now, 29 months later, it stands at $11.03, a 3.16% decline.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” On July Fourth, we celebrate much more than our independence from Great Britain. Our Founding Fathers risked their lives and reputations in the American Revolution to establish a government based on universal, permanent principles of justice.”

Last year, the Legislature passed a public notice bill (HB 7049) that went into effect Jan. 1. The new law gives counties the option to place public notices solely on their own government website and dispense with any such notice in the traditional format — newspapers and newspaper websites.

It still surprises me that one of the biggest stories of last year in Florida was Gov. Ron DeSantis vs. Disney and that DeSantis not only won, but he crushed them. Earlier this month, we got our first look at what the changes to the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the special district created in 1967 and signed into law by then Gov. Claude Kirk Jr. The district created a special taxing district for the Walt Disney World Resort and allows it to oversee its own development without outside approval from county or municipal governments.

It’s hard for me to believe, but I have lived in Northwest Florida for more than 20 years now. I moved down here from Indiana back in November 2002. At the time, my best friend and his girlfriend, now his wife, moved to Okaloosa Island to take jobs at some local newspapers. I wasn’t happy at the newspaper I was working at, so I put in my notice and moved down here with the intentions of being a beach bum for a year or two before I expected to move back to Indiana and figure out my next career move.

We live in a strange time in American history. Despite all the advances we’ve made medically, scientifically and technologically, we seem more divided as a nation than we have in a long time.

A recent kerfuffle over residents’ right to speak at a nearby county commission meeting got us thinking about public forums and their place in our representative democracy. It started when new Santa Rosa County Commission Chairman Colten Wright, at his very first meeting in charge, announced he was moving the public forum from the beginning of the meeting to the last spot on the agenda.

We! We believe! We believe that we can win!

(At least, we hope we did….)

We’re writing this the day before the United States’ men’s team plays Iran with a berth in the knockout round of the World Cup at stake. Look, America’s not a soccer country – not yet. Many curious onlookers and casual fans complained vehemently about the Yanks’ 0-0 tie against England’s Three Lions the day after Thanksgiving, days after a 1-1 draw against little Wales in their first group-stage match.