Pine Knot News - A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news

A couple of decades ago, I wrote a book in which I talked about what it takes to be a good citizen in a representative democracy like ours. I thought the principles I laid out were timeless, but I... Full story

I don’t know about you, but I [wasn’t] inclined to make many predictions about the outcome of the midterm elections this year. There’s one prediction, though, that I think is safe: After the...

Now that this year’s primaries are over and general election campaigns are revving up, it’s time to take a step back. I know, it seems an odd thing to do when all the media attention is shifting... Full story

There are two especially striking aspects to the "Inflation Reduction Act," the sprawling climate-change/tax-reform/health-care legislation that just passed Congress and was signed into law by...

Watching the hearings held by the Jan. 6 committee as it delves into last year’s events at the U.S. Capitol and what lay behind them, I’ve been struck by what you might think of as the... Full story

Recently, a couple of reporters at The New York Times published an intriguing story about conversations between House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy and other members of his leadership team. It was... Full story

Having just watched a Supreme Court nominee supported by a comfortable majority of Americans draw just three Republican votes in the Senate, you could be forgiven for thinking bipartisanship in...