Columns

Competence Is Scarce Spring is here. After sliding into a correction, stocks rebounded in mid-April with three straight up days that prodded the S&P 500...

Mirror Mirror   Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the most enterprising school candidate of all? “Who’s asking?” It’s me, Crantz. I write the Pet Peeves...

The Federal Reserve Is Coming To Town The economy is expanding at a “modest to moderate” pace, according to a recent announcement by the Federal...

Real News Needed Stocks closed the quarter with a badly needed up day. Despite that last-minute boost, they still ended the third quarter down 7%...

By Adele Kopecky The hot water gushing into the dishpan prevented Marie from hearing Gino enter the apartment.  She started when he kissed her on...

Last week’s “Finding Meaning” column remembering the late St. Catherine’s Parish School was adapted to a front-page general interest story, thus no column. Sorry....

Chaotic Times There is nothing antiseptic or impersonal about politics. Each party is all about bipolar chaos. This transfers down to a societal climate of...

By Susan McNeal Velasquez My popularity has skyrocketed lately. I am getting missives from all over the country by men and women who seem to...

I’m very excited to go see the “Ring of Fire” at the Laguna Playhouse.  But a word to the wise, do not scream “fire”...

By Mark D. Crantz   Laguna Beach.  Another perfect day in Paradise, but oh no, there are the trolleys.  I know.  I know. Everybody likes the...

Perhaps one day we will look back on this period since 2008 wistfully, as the time we gained a new and better perspective. Discredited were the institutions we relied on to keep our country stable. The economy that depended on growth and building more outrageously expensive houses stopped making any sense. Personal tragedies abounded. Sad and frightening tales, losses of homes and jobs, were the result of an economic “adjustment.”

Editor, In response to Joanna Felder's “Bad News/Good News” letter of last week about the pedestrian traffic signal at LCAD, I could not agree more. The...

Coming Home   Thanksgiving. Slowing down. Letting down. Taking time off. Does the thought disturb you? You are not alone. We live in a culture that is...