Opinion

MY PERSPECTIVE, Gary Damron

In the Old Testament there's an early reference to a garden. "The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Genesis 2:8-9).

GUEST COLUMN, Shannon Francis, 125th District Representative

I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to the members of the SCCC chapter of Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) for visiting me on the last day of the session. The success of our community hinges on our youth, and PTK members exemplify the best among them.

Phi Theta Kappa’s mission is to recognize the academic achievements of community college students and provide opportunities for them to grow as scholars and leaders. The organization focuses on increasing recognition and opportunities for student engagement among its members. PTK understands that self-efficacy and student engagement are closely tied to student success, and it seeks to connect with and support as many students as possible, including adult and traditional students, full- and part-time students, dually enrolled students, and those attending entirely online.

GUEST COLUMN, J. Basil Dannebohm

Lately I’ve been receiving letters from readers urging me to weigh in on a rumor that on April 20, Mr. Trump will enact Martial Law. Experience has taught me that much like worrying, speculating on rumors is generally a poor use of one’s time. If recent days have proven anything, it’s that the president is going to do whatever suits his mood at that moment, and the action will be met with little to no resistance from either the left or the right. Which begs the question: If he does invoke Martial Law, what can any of us do about it?

RYCKMAN RECAP, Ron Ryckman, 38th District Senator

The final — Week 12 — of the 2025 Legislature was called our “Veto Session” for a reason: the Senate overrode 15 of the bills rejected by the Governor, along with 33 line-items removed from the budget — a combined total of 48 — in a 24-hour period alone, during the process setting some sort of single day record.

In between Caucuses and Floor action, we also squeezed in a Judiciary hearing on confirmation of an appointment and returned to approve more than a dozen remaining conference reports. The House — for its part — only managed to restore half of the stricken budget sections, but still, it was not a good couple of days for the chief of the Executive Branch. As the most veto-issuing and overridden governor in the past 50 years, even some who had helped her get elected were starting to wonder whether this “middle of the road” business to which she subscribes is all it was cracked up to be. As one observer jokingly remarked, “Isn’t that where all the accidents happen?”