OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Secret meetings
The Arkansas House of Representatives failed the good people of Arkansas last week by passing along to the Senate the most threatening attack ever on our vaunt…
The Arkansas House of Representatives failed the good people of Arkansas last week by passing along to the Senate the most threatening attack ever on our vaunt…
Readers know how I have often written lately about the increasing dangers to human well-being that large dogs can (and do) pose in Arkansas and across the nati…
My initial thoughts after learning about the Discovery Channel's "Naked and Afraid" were along the lines of, "good grief, these desperate cable channels will s…
How satisfied are you with where life has taken you? The subject came up in discussion with friends last week. Before that I'd never given it much thought.
The ongoing revision of Rep. Mary Bentley's once-defeated House Bill 1610, which caters to protecting special interests over the people's right to fully unders…
"Precious memories, unseen angels, sent from somewhere to my soul ... in the stillness, of the midnight, precious sacred scenes unfold ... precious memories fi…
The notoriously leaking North Arkansas Board of Regional Sanitation (NABORS) landfill, capped by the state nine years ago for serial violations and leaking lea…
I was on the back deck at home enjoying one of those rare warm afternoons in early March, listening to birds visiting and chimes dancing in the breeze.
We've allowed ourselves to become so divided as a nation that we can't even agree on how much sunlight at what hour to allow into our days as the seasons chang…
GOP House Bill 1519 with seven sponsors and co-sponsors would prohibit Arkansas municipalities from banning a breed or breeds of dogs a town's elected leaders …
Three important and necessary bills filed by Sen. Alan Clark of Lonsdale have been introduced in the Arkansas Senate. Each are needed to strengthen our Freedom…
The Buffalo River Watershed Alliance is legally challenging the 2021 U.S. Forest Service finding that there would be no significant impact from its decision to…
What are your biggest fears? It appears from surveys our country has a slew of them.
Singer-songwriter Toby Keith once asked actor Clint Eastwood how he stayed so active and seemingly youthful at 88 years old. Eastwood's response: "I just get u…
Our state thankfully has many vibrant and active small and midsized communities that serve their citizens and visitors well in many ways.
Unrestrained pit bulls belonging to San Antonio owners who were not held accountable for their dogs' previous biting attack did it again last week.
Deborah Goff of Springdale wrote last week following my column about the choking death of David Cains after eating while under the control of staffers at the B…
If your community is anything like mine in Harrison, there are many homeless mothers who can benefit enormously from receiving a leg up on regaining hope at a …
Those who follow this block of paragraphs in the newspaper three days a week know how taken Jeanetta and I have been with Dr. James Suen at the University of A…
Christine McAuliffe loved her 42-year-old brother Davie Cains as much as a younger sister could adore a sibling, even though a severe intellectual disability h…
James Dean Walker, a man whose controversial case occupied much of my reporting for the Arkansas Democrat during 1984-85, has died at age 82 following an illne…
Dr. James Suen, the acclaimed ENT surgeon and author at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences who removed the squamous cell cancer from my neck seven…
I'm worried about you if you weren't as proud as I was to be an Arkansan after listening to Gov. Sarah Sanders deliver her rebuttal to President Joe Biden's pr…
Several readers have written to ask my thoughts on the Communist Chinese "weather/spy" balloon that floated for days through the midsection of our homeland las…
What say we have some fun with a change of pace this morning (gosh knows I could surely use some after the year I've "enjoyed")?
Mike Masterson is taking the day off. A version of this column was originally published Nov. 5, 2005.
Kenneth M. Phillips is a different breed of lawyer. The California-based author and attorney specializes in holding negligent dog owners legally accountable fo…
As I try to resurrect something remotely close to the life I had a year ago, before that squamous cancer cell became trapped by the lymph node and began to gro…
It took almost 13 years for a federal court to finally rule that our state's poultry growers have been contributing significantly to the pollution of eastern O…
Come take a ride with me on the rambling, free-thought express this morning as I steer head-long into the most critical question behind our existence, one even…
It's become my belief that if one keeps pounding at the gate to the Tabernacle of Truth long and hard enough, with enough determination, it finally will be ans…
It's good to see my favorite "bulldog" attorney, Joey McCutchen of Fort Smith, has remained busy during my adventures into cancer surgery.
A 20-year-old Louisiana man was charged with negligent homicide after allowing his pet mountain lion to roam unrestrained in his Baton Rouge neighborhood until…
Miss me yet? Thankfully I survived, valued readers, and much, since the moment they slipped the mask on my face and asked me to breathe deeply, has been a cont…
Mike Masterson is taking the day off. A version of this column was originally published April 17, 2008.
Editor's note: Mike Masterson is taking the day off. The original version of this column ran Dec. 31, 2013.
The recent Arctic blast across much of America sounded a wake-up call for owners of electric vehicles (EVs) in frigid temperatures, according to an essay initi…
If I made it through surgery yesterday, I'm face up this morning on what I hope is a brighter day in a recovery bed at the University of Arkansas for Medical S…
The relatively clueless among us who still need convincing evil thrives on this troubled planet need look no further than the horrendous story of a deceased bo…
A senior at Bergman High School set a record last month by becoming the first student in the 48-year history of North Arkansas College at Harrison to earn an a…
On Christmas Eve, Jeanetta and I agreed the greatest thing we had to be thankful for this year was having our 12-pound Benji still beside her in the chair afte…
Editor's note: Mike Masterson is taking the day off. The original version of this column was published Dec. 18, 2010.
Because one smiles ear-to-ear and rings the bell symbolizing the end of 35 grueling radiation and seven chemotherapy sessions aimed at knocking out a squamous …
It appears the crumbling, long-ineffective dam that forms Lake Bella Vista will finally be torn down, allowing Little Sugar Creek to return to being a free-flo…
Editor's note: Mike Masterson is taking the day off. The original version of this column was published Dec. 21, 2014.
I'd forgotten how much fun a wedding and reception can be until last week when Kenda Leigh McCroskey, Jeanetta's middle of three daughters, tied the knot with …
Among my favorite courses at the University of Central Arkansas in 1970 was a Philosophy 101 class with Dr. Patrick Murray, who later would leave academia to b…
Three months removed from brutal radiation and chemo treatments for a squamous cell cancer trapped by a lymph node in my neck, I had a remarkably vivid dream t…
We all understand that being charged with a crime doesn't necessarily mean one is guilty. In fact, I've been deeply involved with several cases over the years …
With Christmas around the corner, I decided today to give my grandchildren, Elizabeth, Trenton and Keirston some unsolicited advice from their grandfather who …