T he Southern Baptist Convention received a lot of media attention recently when it disfellowshipped two of its churches for allowing women to serve in the office of pastor. With more than 13 million members, the SBC is the largest mainline Protestant denomination in the United States.

H aving gone to bed later than I should have –as usual– I’d wanted to sleep later this morning. Alas, it was not to be. My day began with a call from Zack. He’d risen at 5 a.m. and thoughtfully not disturbed me. He’s been warned more than once not to talk to me before dawn in any but the direst circumstances / emergencies. I issued that ultimatum long ago after he woke me far too early to announce that one of the dogs had thrown up. Like that couldn’t have waited. I received today’s call at 8 a.m. When I answered, I immediately asked, What’s wrong?” This ain’t my first rodeo.

This summer at the Bosque Museum, we expanded our camp selections to include STEM on the Frontier. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education has been a big focus in schools over the past few years, so we gave our historical spin on it.

Capital Highlights T he first week of suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial in the Senate ended with his former lead law enforcement officer testifying an Austin developer alleged to have bribed Paxton constructed a “conspiracy theory” that federal officials altered a search warrant for his property, the Austin American-Statesman reported. David Maxwell, the former AG official, said real estate developer Nate Paul pushed Paxton to investigate federal law enforcement agencies probing his business.

A woman I follow on Facebook — Mary Doria Russell— recently retired from writing, after seven books. I wasn’t aware one could do that. Is retirement an option? Many successful writers treat writing as a 9-5 job, M-F. They forego other chores to descend into a world of their own creation. Artists do this as well. How do they manage it? Do they live alone, have competent, industrious, self-less and understanding partners— or employ full-time household help, gardeners, cooks, ranch hands, and personal shoppers?

T he Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has long since turned its back on traditional religion. Instead, it created its own religion called “Juche.” Historically, Koreans lived under shamanism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism.

A total of 774 new laws went into effect on Sept. 1, affecting Texans in many areas of their lives, the Austin American-Statesman reported. The new laws concern property taxes, registration fees and voting access, among other issues. Several have drawn court challenges from opponents.

R emember Covid? Does it ever seem like a bad dream – except for those who experienced a serious case / hospitalization or the loss of loved ones. I’m not minimizing the horrific effects. But sometimes I just can’t believe it happened.

R eligion, like almost everything else about China, is complex. It is officially a Communist nation of 1.4 billion people and, by definition, atheist.

Capital Highlights T he agency that operates the power grid for much of the state asked Texans to conserve energy use several times last week as the grid was beset with high demand and low wind-power generation, according to the Austin American-Statesman. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas has asked electric users to reduce energy use as the state continues to face a tenacious heat wave.