McEldowney Madness in Winchester!

Retired fire­fight­er and life­long Clark Countian Bryan Howard is run­ning for 2^nd District mag­is­trate, hop­ing to con­tin­ue serv­ing the com­mu­ni­ty he has called home since child­hood. Howard spent decades in pub­lic safe­ty as a fire­fight­er, EMT, and reserve deputy sher­iff, and says that expe­ri­ence gives him insight into coun­ty needs, espe­cial­ly EMS, fire pro­tec­tion, and jail fund­ing. He sup­ports study­ing a poten­tial merg­er of city and coun­ty fire depart­ments, oppos­es cut­ting ser­vices or rais­ing taxes,... 

In this reflec­tive essay, Misty Gay explores how mod­ern pub­lic dis­course often col­laps­es into assump­tions, defen­sive­ness, and iden­ti­ty-dri­ven reac­tions rather than gen­uine engage­ment. After read­ing com­ments on her pre­vi­ous piece, she noticed how quick­ly con­ver­sa­tions shift­ed away from ideas and toward per­ceived motives and polit­i­cal align­ment. Drawing on mem­o­ries of front‑porch con­ver­sa­tions from her upbring­ing, she argues that what’s miss­ing today isn’t agree­ment but attention—the will­ing­ness to stay with an idea long enough to understand... 

In a con­gres­sion­al dis­trict that Republican Andy Barr car­ried by near­ly two-thirds of the vote in 2024, Erin Petrey is run­ning this year as an unapolo­getic pro­gres­sive. “I’m the most pro­gres­sive Democrat” in the pri­ma­ry race, Petrey said Thursday night dur­ing a cam­paign meet-and-greet at the Clark County Public Library. “Right now, we’re see­ing a blue wave, but it’s also a pro­gres­sive wave,” and so now is the time to put pro­gres­sive poli­cies into action, she said. “We...

Drawing from ear­ly 19^th‑century records, this piece high­lights three Winchester res­i­dents who went on to shape com­mu­ni­ties far beyond Clark County. Silas W. Robbins became a respect­ed attor­ney and judge who crossed paths with Abraham Lincoln. James Dunnica helped build the ear­ly infra­struc­ture of Missouri’s cap­i­tal city, includ­ing the State House and pen­i­ten­tiary. William Vaughn rose from tai­lor to one of Kentucky’s most cel­e­brat­ed Baptist min­is­ters. Together, their sto­ries reveal how Winchester’s ear­ly cit­i­zens carried...