opinion

Diamonds to Dr. Edwards Memorial Congregational Church in Edwardsville for again hosting their St. David’s Tea this week, an event that celebrates the church’s rich Welsh heritage and brings together folks of all ages to laugh at a few jokes, sing a collection of songs in both English and Welsh, and savor copious amounts of home-made bread and Welsh cookies with tea or coffee. This year the featured entertainment was “Changing Habits,” a collection of exceptionally high-spirited women from Gate of Heaven Church in Dallas who start out singing in black habits as religious sisters but morph throughout their performance into top-hatted formal wear, feather-in-cap marching band members, veiled brides with bouquets, and —for a broadway medley — play characters like Annie Oakley, Dolly Levi, Little Orphan Annie, and Nelli Forbush. The latter, from the South Pacific, had a head of faux suds (cotton balls) with little figures of men she could yank out and toss. Great fun, great food and a great tradition.

America’s military men and women engage in a widening war with Iran (though some seem to find it hard to use the word “war”). Oil and gas prices seem in flux, as does the stock market. Communities try to figure out how to respond to the demand for data centers. A federal crackdown on illegal immigration seemed to slip from front burner to afterthought — yet talk of converting massive warehouses to detention centers increases. And what, exactly, is going to happen with tariffs?

You know the old lament —so old it’s a trope, a teen movie cliche, a stereotype.

For the first time in decades, the federal bureaucracy is getting smaller.

“In this business, turnover is a way of life. There are a lot of radio nomads, but that kind of life isn’t for me” — George Graham, in 2022 article marking his 50th anniversary as a WVIA-FM employee.

The season of illegal fireworks has already begun and will hit full boom this week, prompting our annual plea: If you absolutely feel you must set off explosives, especially the airborne variety, be courteous and responsible.

GARDNERS — Sam Cooper had just trekked 7 miles through a rain-sodden stretch of the Appalachian Trail when he sat down outside a little country store in Pennsylvania to take on its ice cream challenge.

Oscar Sunday is finally upon us. We’ve counted down every film to win Best Picture, and we’ve even ranked each of this year’s Best Picture nominees. The only thing left to do is to offer some predictions in every category at this year’s show. I suspect that I’ll miss in a few categories, but I think this is one of the more secure ballots I’ve submitted. With that kind of confidence, I’m bound to miss more than ever. But, as always, I’ll give it my best shot.

In this sixteenth and penultimate part of my retrospective Oscar Outlook, I’ll be eliminating the two best winners released during my lifetime, and three films featuring iconic movie villains.