People Look Out for Each Other. It’s the Government That’s Letting Us Down.

| Mar 18, 2026 | Economy / Business|Food / Farming|HP Featured|Rights / DemocracyIt all started with Walter. A few years ago, my elderly dad asked if he could bring his new friend, Walter, to my house for Thanksgiving. Of course. Everyone is welcome at my table. My parents raised me to help others — one of my earliest memories is handing out care...

Rural America Needs to Band Together Against Corporate Greed

| Mar 4, 2026 | Economy / Business|Food / Farming|HP SubfeaturedLast year, John Deere announced plans to go 100 percent robotic by 2030. That’s right: in just four more years, the world’s largest tractor manufacturer plans to replace every corn and soybean farmer with robots. Farmers won’t own the machines, of course. Right now...

What Critics Still Get Wrong About Marijuana Legalization

| Feb 25, 2026 | Economy / Business|Environment / Health|Food / Farming|HP Subfeatured|Rights / DemocracyBy most measures, cannabis legalization is a resounding success for the 24 states (plus D.C.) that have implemented it. That’s why no state has ever repealed its legalization laws, and public support for the policy remains near all-time highs. Nonetheless, the policy...

Beware of AI Swill

| | Economy / Business|Environment / Health|Food / Farming|HP SubfeaturedGeorge Orwell spoke bluntly about the nefarious nature of advertising, calling it “the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket.” Even Orwell, though, would’ve been astonished by the cacophony of swill bucket advertising currently being blasted at us by Amazon,...

The Federal Retreat on Child Labor Enforcement Threatens America’s Children

| Jan 21, 2026 | Economy / Business|Food / Farming|HP Subfeatured|Rights / DemocracyJust when America needs stronger child labor protections, the Trump administration is seemingly abandoning enforcement altogether. A disturbing new analysis from Good Jobs First reveals that enforcement cases for a range of workplace violations declined by 97 percent...

If People Are Going Hungry, Why Can’t We Feed Them?

| Dec 3, 2025 | Economy / Business|Environment / Health|Food / Farming|HP FeaturedThe recent government shutdown was a stark reminder that 42 million people across the United States rely on federal food benefits. That’s 12 percent of the nation’s population that lawmakers and President Donald Trump threw under the bus, cutting off SNAP benefits in...