From the time big retailers began fleeing Fresno’s downtown more than 40 years ago, community leaders have chased just about every easy fix that’s been dangled in front of them to make downtown vibrant again. Instead of methodically building downtown as a destination for residents, they’ve fallen in love with out-of-town consultants, and the solutions they push to desperate cities.

Sometimes a trivial embarrassment can become a teachable moment. It was recently revealed that Harvard professor and U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren had self-identified as a Native American for nearly a decade -- apparently to enhance her academic

My friend is dying. He has a disease and his body will not sustain itself. No one knows how much longer he will live, first it was months, fortunately it now may be longer, perhaps years.

WASHINGTON -- Either President Obama has wings of Kevlar -- or he has the most incompetent scheduling staff in White House history.

Editorial cartoon by SW Parra - tribute obit for Maurice Sendak. June 10, 1928 - May 8, 2012. Sendak was author and illustrator of children's books. Most notably for the title "Where the Wild Things Are"

LYNCHBURG, Va. -- It wasn't exactly the belly of the beast Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney visited recently on a picture-perfect commencement day at "the world's largest Christian University," but his appearance was a test as to whether the conservative school, founded by the late Jerry Falwell, would embrace a devout Mormon. And Romney passed.

As my wife, Nannette, and I approach our 50th wedding anniversary, it is certainly time for me to acknowledge and salute the choices my wife made and her personal career sacrifices so she could be a stay-at-home mom when our children were young.