Category Archives: News

Town investigation underway after Fowler trustee accused of racist social media comments

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The town of Fowler has commenced an investigation into Trustee Shaun Luttrell after he was accused of racist comments on the Rocky Ford Word of Mouth Facebook page on Friday.

Editor’s Note: This story was reported in February 2025.

The town of Fowler has commenced an investigation into Trustee Shaun Luttrell after he was accused of racist comments on the Rocky Ford Word of Mouth Facebook page on Friday.

“Your just mad Google took it off the calendar,” Luttrell said in a comment under a post celebrating Black History Month.

The original post, shared by Rocky Ford resident Daeja Jones, was a collage of Black activists Fred Hampton, Huey Newton, Malcolm X, Khalid Muhammad, Marcus Garvey and Stokely Carmichael.

Superimposed over the collage was the message, “A moment of silence for those who made the ultimate sacrifice.”

Luttrell’s comment about Black History Month being removed from Google calendars garnered dozens of disapproving replies.

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Two Pieces Are Available in Georgia’s Emerging Writers Anthology

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I’m excited to announce that Georgia’s Emerging Writers has officially released! In this anthology for up and coming writers, you can read two stories by me: Adventures in the Land of Not-America, nonfiction, and a fiction piece titled Appetizers. Consider purchasing a copy to support myself and other emerging writers and publications! Thanks to everyone who has already purchased a copy. It means a lot.

Purchase your copy at Amazon or Z Publishing House’s website.

 

 

Changing Climate Impacts our Environment and Economy

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Oliver Manufacturing sits on the outskirts of La Junta, Colorado, in what’s known as the Arkansas Valley. From our offices, one can watch the wind carry tumbleweeds across the dry plains or spot summer storms developing on the horizon. We always hope for those storms to drift our way, bearing with them refreshing rains, but they rarely do. It’s something that I long ago came to accept about the region I grew up in. And yet, every year seems to swelter more than the last. Read more

Farmers Upset as Trade War Finally Unfolds, USDA Considers Subsidies

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As US soybean farmers feel the weight of Trump’s trade war, the president’s staff considers dipping into federal Treasury funds to shield them from Chinese retaliatory tariffs.

Consideration to use Treasury funds comes at a time when the national debt is fast approaching record highs. By 2019, the federal budget deficit is expected to reach $1.1 trillion.

The US deficit is soaring toward such a perilous high thanks in part to the 2018 Republican tax cuts.

Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue says that the USDA is considering the use of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) to subsidize farmers. Further details have yet to be revealed.

Some farmers don’t necessarily want a short-term fix to the president’s problem, but a long -term solution instead.

“I just don’t like the idea of the government coming up with some balm to spread over wounds that are self-inflicted. It seems to be a huge moral hazard problem,” USDA chief Joseph Glauber reportedly told The Financial Times.

Concerns stem from Chinese retaliations to the president’s tariffs, which went into full effect at 12:01 a.m., Friday, July 5.

Trump Cites Puerto Rico’s Debt, Threatens to Revoke FEMA

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nasa_irma_puerto rico

Rarely can political issues be fairly described as “black-and-white.” As with many facets of life, there’s no singular answer to questions about healthcare, tax reform or gun control.

There isn’t just one right approach to improving public education. There isn’t just one correct way to handle illegal immigration, or diplomacy. These are nuanced issues with wide-ranging courses of action to consider, and they are always further complicated by the furious slurry of competing opinions and perspectives.

Puerto Rico’s current crisis, however, is not one such issue.

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Covfefe for Kathy

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Kathy Griffin was shunned by CNN, Macy’s and the Internet earlier yesterday for a grotesque video which depicted Kathy holding Donald Trump’s severed head. Outrage was nigh immediate, garnering pissed off tweets from the Right and Left alike.
This whole issue is ridiculous. Here’s my thing: this wouldn’t be news if South Park had done the same thing.
I’m not sure if that makes it okay as satire in general. Perhaps it’s because South Park is animated, and everything is so hyper exaggerated and cartoonish that gore and violence depicting celebrities and public officials — in satire — is easier to accept. But why is that the case? Maybe it isn’t okay at all! But maybe it is… as long as you are funnier than Kathy Griffin.
Which is not all that difficult.
What I found more interesting about the news that day was Trump’s hilarious typo, “covfefe.” It first ushered confusion. In quick pursuit came memes and laughter, from Trump supporters and dissidents alike. The apparent spelling blunder was trending with the best of tweets by noon that day, with Twitter users sharing their own clever (and some not-so-clever) #covfefe jokes.
Even President Trump joined in the fun. He demonstrated a nigh unprecedented ability to poke fun of himself when he addressed the typo later that night (3:09 a.m. late, to be precise). “Who can figure out the true meaning of “covfefe” ??? Enjoy!” reads his tweet.
Yes, it was a fun moment in an otherwise worrisome and “unpresidented” first term. Fun, at least, until Reality came slinking back from the shadows of the collective unconsciousness and back into the center of everyone’s minds, ringing a bell and shouting about “implications.”

Let’s Talk About the Freakin’ Panama Papers

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The Panama Papers controversy is a crazy phenomenon. It is arguably the best example of the power of information technology. The Panama Papers is the single largest data leak in human history. The Panama Papers consist of 2.6 terabytes of information—to put that into perspective, I Googled how many gigabytes were in 2.6 trillion terabytes, and Google didn’t even answer me. The next largest offshore data leak is just less than a quarter of its size, which itself is slightly larger than the infamous Snowden leaks. Read more