Opinion

Each year, several respected surveys measure press freedom around the world. Freedom House’s Freedom of the Press Survey is probably the oldest. When did it start and what nations does it cover?

As I write, the river is rising. It’s not really reasonable to expect that it will reach the House and Senate chambers in the state Capitol. Still, without torturing the metaphor, I think we can say that a flood is a lot like a legislative session.

A Missouri River flood is a strange sort of disaster. Not like a tornado, which forms in an instant and destroys in seconds. Not like an ice storm, which leaves one guessing how much will accumulate and what the impact will be. Not like an earthquake, which comes with no warning and lasts but a moment.

I was scanning quotes on Bartleby.com on mowing grass, and this popped up.

Perfect. Because if one thing is going to test your persistence week after week after week after week, it is the persistence of grass to keep growing and growing and growing and growing.

There continues to be debate about whether both evolution theory and intelligent design theory are science. More discussion about the scientific method might be helpful to your readers.

I was intrigued with the announcement in the May 4 MU mass e-mail, Tiger Treasures Rummage Sale, which is sponsored by Campus Facilities. I think it’s a great idea that MU’s recycling coordinator is finding ways to do something useful with students’ castoffs, but I found the Salvation Army as the sole beneficiary very concerning.

Just heard that New College in San Francisco is beginning to offer bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Activism and Social Change.

Luckily I had gone outside and taken pictures of my early flowering plants and shrubs before the 20 degrees and below temperatures turned them all into brown and green mush.

It seemed strange to me last Saturday, when I found myself standing in the aisle of the lawn and garden center pondering whether I should plant a few vegetables in my flower garden. Let’s face it, except for a couple of tomato and green pepper plants, I haven’t done any serious vegetable gardening since my son went off to college more than 20 years ago.

The Missourian reported last week that the University of Missouri System Board of Curators has ordered each campus to carve 1 percent from next year’s budget to sweeten the pot for faculty salaries. For the flagship campus, that will come to about $4.2 million. (As the Missourian noted in one of those helpful little charts, MU’s budget is almost as big as the budgets of the three satellite campuses combined.)

Bill Ferguson isn’t giving up, it seems. He’s convinced his son Ryan didn’t murder Tribune sports editor Kent Heitholt in 2001, despite the verdict to the contrary by 12 presumably honest men and women.

There is one yearly ritual that I endure to ensure that spring is really here — and that is the annual garage clean up. My husband and I tackle the daylong task together.

Student rights? What are those? Imagine you’re a student at a local high school, wandering down the hallway and a police officer orders you to the ground while a drug dog sniffs you out. Is that abiding by student rights? A growing number of schools across the nation are subjecting their students to these kinds of actions. These schools are clearly violating their students’ Fourth Amendment rights.

Thursday, April 27th’s edition of the Missourian ran a piece titled “Changes Afoot for Diversity Bill,” which discussed the Emily Brooker Intellectual Diversity Act, also known as House Bill 213. The following passage is excerpted from the article. It states:

Where are all the bees going? These members of the insect family Apoidea with broad bodies and four wings are communitarian colonists that gather nectar and pollen.

If you are going to maintain your sanity, you may need to take some down time. It’s vacation time, even if you spend it at home.

If you were at last Sunday’s performance of “Romeo and Juliet” in Jesse Hall, as I was, I’m sure you spotted right away, as I did, the obvious parallels between that classic and the long-running show that is on stage again this week down in the City of Jefferson. Of course, I mean the “Great MOHELA Shuffle.”