THE TRIBUNE'S VIEW
Managing higher education
By HENRY J. WATERS III, Publisher, Columbia Daily Tribune
I’ve been offering unsolicited advice on how to run higher education in Missouri for about as long as anyone still paddling up this stream. In all this time, perhaps the most persistent unsolved question is how to herd the cats that are our state’s many and diverse institutions of higher learning.

JOHN DARKOW CARTOON

OPEN COLUMN
Democrats must focus on domestic issues
Editor, the Tribune: It seems to me that Democrats have lost the vision of the party and, in some ways, are becoming like Republicans.

OPEN COLUMN
Principal needs lesson in cultural differences
Editor, the Tribune: A friend forwarded the story about Nathan Warmack and what happened at his school dance when he tried to wear his kilt.

States careful not to burn through tobacco cash cow
By GEORGE WILL
Philip Morris recently got the Illinois Supreme Court to overturn a gigantic judgment against it in a suit that had originated in a place - Madison County, Ill. - few could locate on a map. The court’s ruling resulted in this Wall Street Journal headline: "Tobacco-Revenue Munis Get a Lift." This episode illuminates American governance today.

Hedgehogs, foxes set to go
By ELLEN GOODMAN
BOSTON - This is the week when wise men bearing gifts are replaced by wise guys bearing lists. The news is full of the best and worst, the ins and outs, the screw-ups and fess-ups of 2005, not to mention the predictions for 2006.

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