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Over the last two weeks I have visited dozens of farms and ranches and listened to hundreds of farmers on my second annual Eighth Congressional District Farm Tour. Agriculture in South-Central and Southeast Missouri is incredibly diverse. If fact, we grow everything except citrus and sugar. While the crops we grow and the livestock we raise are diverse, every farmer I talked to in the last two weeks brought up the same topic: the EPA war on rural America. No other federal agency pushes more intrusive and ineffective regulations on farmers than the Environmental Protection Agency. On the Farm Tour, the EPA’s proposed “Waters of the United States” plan was discussed numerous times. Back in April, the EPA announced it would

Labor Day means a lot of different things to different people. In the U.S., it's celebrated the first Monday in September. Officially, it is a celebration of the American Labor Movement. As with a lot of holidays, it had turbulent beginnings. It came about following the deaths of a number of workers during the Pullman Strike. President Grover Cleveland signed the holiday into law just six days after the conclusion of the strike. The strike, involving the nation’s railways, shut down much of the freight and passenger trains west of Detroit. Over the years, Labor Day is recognized as the symbolic end of summer. In high society, it was considered the last day of the year when it was fashionable

There is nothing more American than a small town Labor Day celebration. The 30th Annual Williamsville/Black River Fire Department Picnic will embody everything people think of when thinking of a small town, All-American event. According to Gene Bilbrey, chairman of the picnic committee, this year's event will have everything from a town parade, to favorite foods, to lots of entertainment. Friday Evening Friday’s musical entertainment will begin at 5 p.m., with Morgan Kirkman of Ellsinore. Also featured Friday evening will be Jordan Rayfield of Piedmont; Brandi Shearrer and Brooke Cathey of Williamsville; Brian Kirkman of Ellsinore; BreAnna (Bearden) Conner and McKenzie Miller of Williamsville; Heartland Quartet of Ellsinore; Richmond Quartet of Wappapello; and then square dancing at 9 p.m. Saturday

The Brothers Walker are coming to Poplar Bluff's Historic Rodgers Theatre, Saturday, August 30, at 7 p.m. They are hoping for a great crowd, first, because they love their audiences, and second, because they will be doing a video shoot of the performance. Who comes to a Brothers Walker concert? Well...everyone. “That's what we love about our audience,” explained Coty. “We will see everyone out there in the crowd from grandparents, to children.” It's really like an extended family, agrees Clinton. That is important, because the Brothers Walker say family has everything to do with their music careers. When you ask them about their musical “career”, they really have a hard time pin-pointing when their career began. “We started at

I try to remind myself not to spend too much time talking about the weather in this column, as I am not a meteorologist (witch doctor) and some folks won't see the printed version of this article for another week. The thing is though, as an outdoors-man, the only people that are as affected by the weather as much us are farmers, and maybe a bride-to-be on the precipice of her outdoor wedding! Although it's been so hot and humid you couldn't smack a mosquito without making a splash, the holiday weekend is alleging to bring a nice cool front, which should carry with it a big migration of doves. Unfortunately for hunters, and more unfortunately for farmers who are