If you wonder how open government laws affect you, think about these basics: The local taxes we pay. The roads we drive on. Even, sometimes, matters of life and death.
Access to information through public meetings and records helps us know about the decisions elected officials are making on our behalf. It allows us to ask questions, to speak out, to demand change.
After all, in our nation, government belongs to us.
On Sep. 16, 1862 Texans fought and died in a blood-soaked cornfield at the Battle of Antietam.
Never one to rest on his laurels, Gen. Robert E. Lee invaded Maryland six days after winning the rematch at Bull Run. His objectives, endorsed by President Jefferson Davis, were to bring that border state into the Confederacy and the enemy, whose morale was at an all-time low, to the bargaining table.
The Army of Northern Virginia crossed the Potomac on Sep. 5, 1862 and bivouacked two days later at Frederick.
Dear Rusty: I will be 65 this year and my husband is 72 (he retired in 2019 at age 66). I would like to retire and enjoy some time with him before he gets too much older. I do not want to have my benefits cut by retiring earlier, but I don’t see a way to be able to do that.
My benefit will be $1343 on my full retirement age (FRA). If I took half his retirement when he retired, it would be less than mine. If I take early retirement and he passes away before me, would I get his full benefit as his survivor, or will it be cut?
I’d never thought of naming my laptop. Now, I’m making a u-turn, deciding that it deserves a name: “Dolly.”
Hundreds of miles away from her for five full days, I can now warble with gusto, “Hello, Dolly. Well, hello, Dolly. It’s so good to have you back where you belong.”
With the repeal of Prohibition just around the corner, Texas Guinan bid farewell to New York City on Sept. 8, 1931 and took her “Too Hot for Paris” revue on the road.
Born Mary Louise Cecilia Guinan in 1884 on a ranch outside Waco, she was called Mamie by her immigrant parents. But rodeo fans dubbed the 14 year old “Texas.”
To channel their tomboy into more ladylike pursuits, the Guinans coaxed her into entering a national singing contest. The talented teenager won first prize – a two-year, all-expense-paid scholarship to a Chicago conservatory.
Dear Rusty: I would like to get an answer concerning taking my Social Security benefit soon and switching to my spouse’s benefit when he begins to take his. I am 64 years, 9 months old and my husband is 65 years, 7 months.
My benefit is low due to the fact that I did not work for about 25 years while raising our children. My benefit would be $573 at age 65. My husband’s benefit at age 67 will be $3,326.
My first question is: can I receive half of my husband’s benefit once he begins drawing his?
My time away from writing the last two months--for repairs, rejuvenation, re-connection and respite from the world of 24/7 caregiving--has been more than rewarding. Resulting are at least two more “R” words: Resumption and re-commitment.
Truly I have missed writing weekly. Perhaps you haven’t missed me, and perhaps I am viewed like the pesky youngster who vowed he’d leave home, marched away in morning hours, but by mid-afternoon, realized that he’d behaved badly.
Dear Rusty: I plan to stop working very soon. My health is not good. I am 66 years old, born in June 1959, so my full retirement age is 66 years and 10 months. My wife passed away in March 2024, and she was collecting SS benefits when she died. I have no dependent children. In general, what benefits am I entitled to? Signed: Unhealthy and Struggling
Sharon Tate’s houseguest rubbed the sleep from his eyes on Aug. 9, 1969 and asked the tall intruder who he was and what he wanted. “I’m the devil,” answered Charles “Tex” Watson, “and I’m here to do the devil’s business.”
Charlie Manson sent the 23 year old Texan and three young women to an address in Bel Air, California with orders to “totally destroy everyone in that house, as gruesome as you can.”
Dressed in black and armed with hunting knives, the quartet arrived at the gated estate around midnight. Only Watson carried a gun, a long-barrel .22 revolver.
Dear Rusty: I’m 64 and my wife is 62. If my wife starts her own benefit now, she will get about $700 on her own at 62. I will retire next year and claim Social Security when I am 65.
SSA says my wife can draw $1,100 under spousal benefits, so if she claims now will they give her spousal benefits of $1,100, or does she need to wait until I claim at age 65 to get the $1,100? Signed: Trying to Understand
