Sometimes work can be great medicine — which is a lesson I was reminded last week when I covered the Muleskinner Golf Tournament. As some of you might know, I got my first dose of COVID-19 three weeks ago. About a week after the Semoball Awards, I started noticing my nose and throat feeling a bit scratchy. At first, I thought (and hoped) that it was just allergies or maybe a summer cold...

As some of you might know, I went to Riverview Gardens High School in Bellefontaine Neighbors last weekend to shoot the Rams’ football game against Hazelwood East. It was a big deal, not only because it was my first chance to shoot a high school football game all season after being sick, but also because my dad played high school football at Riverview Gardens in the early 70s and my aunt and uncle graduated there...

Some of y’all might be wondering why I’m wearing a mask again. “Hey, isn’t the pandemic over?” some might ask. “Are you a liberal?” others might ask. Well, it’s a long story. Back in late June, I started feeling bad and realized I’d picked up a bug. No big deal — I just assumed I’d camp out on the couch and take it easy for a few days...

With students back in school for nearly a month now, there is more foot traffic and bicycle traffic on local streets and highways, especially during weekday mornings and afternoons. While walking or riding one’s bicycle is a source of enjoyment for many of us — not to mention a tradition for many schoolchildren — it is not without risks...

Over the years, former Three Rivers College men’s basketball coach Gene Bess has been a mentor and a friend to many people. I am honored to say I am one of them. Our friendship goes back more than 30 years to when I was a freshman at TRCC (as Three Rivers College was known back then). ...

As many of you know, I found out I had Type 2 diabetes back in November. It wasn’t a surprising diagnosis considering my almost lifelong battle with obesity and also because both sides of my family have a major history of the disease. When I wrote my December column, I also said I already had begun to make some major changes to my diet and to my life in general...

It’s hard to believe it has been a year since we lost Kyle Smith. It was a year ago on Sunday (March 12) when Donna Farley called me. I thought, it has something to do with work — maybe needing me to write about some breaking news that had happened that day, especially since I might have been on call that weekend...

In my long journalism career, I have covered several outstanding high school athletes. But there is little doubt one of the greatest high school athletes I’ve ever covered is Tyler Hansbrough. Now, Hansbrough is slated to be inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame Sunday, an honor he has earned — and then some...

With Martin Luther King Day coming up in a little more than a week, it is a good time to pause and reflect on where America stands when it comes to racial issues. In the 55 years since Dr. King’s death, I believe we have come a long way on racial issues — but we still have a long way to go...

I’m Mike Buhler, and I have diabetes I knew it was coming. When you’re very, very fat and have a strong history of it on both sides of your family, it is probably not a question of if you’re going to be diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, but when. For me, it was three weeks ago...

I’ll admit, I’m not a big fan of either the Philadelphia Phillies or the Houston Astros (my two favorite teams are the St. Louis Cardinals and the Boston Red Sox). That said, I’m actually kind of excited for this year’s World Series...

Over the last not-quite two years, I’ve talked about a lot of things in this space. But it seems a common topic has been the struggle to maintain my mental health during the pandemic and also while watching my grandmother’s decline and eventual passing...

As legendary author Mark Twain might have said if he was alive today, “The reports of the death of the community newspaper are greatly exaggerated.” For many years, we have heard that print journalism is going the way of the dinosaurs. We have heard that the public prefers to get its news from television, the internet or radio and that nobody is buying newspapers anymore...

Over the last few days, there has been an above-average amount of talk about Wyoming politics, primarily because of the Republican congressional primary between incumbent Liz Cheney and challenger Harriet Hageman. But that’s not what I want to talk about in this space today. I want to talk about another politician I had the privilege of getting acquainted with during my time in Wyoming...

My Grandpa Buhler was one of those quiet, unsung heroes — in part because he knew how to set an example. It started when he answered the call of his country in the 1940s to serve in the Pacific theater of World War II. Pop took part in several major battles, including Saipan and Okinawa. After the war, he got married and raised two daughters — then stepped up as a father figure to my two sisters and me when our dads were absent for big parts of our childhoods...

Having lost my grandmother, one of my mentors in the journalism field and a friend that I’ve known for more than 30 years since the beginning of 2022, I’ve gotten quite acquainted with the grieving process. One of the silver linings of that is that I’ve also gained some wisdom about the grieving process that I would like to take this space today to share with you...

It’s a complaint I’ve seen and heard many times: “I can’t read this article because they want me to pay for it,” or some variation of it. I think it’s human nature to want as many things as we can get for free, but when I think about it, I don’t mind paying a few dollars a month for a newspaper subscription — and you shouldn’t, either...

There have been many negative things stemming from the increasing nationalization of American politics. And while I could talk about many of them, I would like to take the space this weekend to talk about one of the biggest ones — the de-emphasis, if not outright ignoring, of state and local elections...

If it wasn’t for former Daily American Republic sports editor Kyle Smith, I probably would’ve never become a journalist. It was Kyle and former DAR editor Stan Berry that gave me my first newspaper job in July 2000. Despite the fact I had zero newspaper experience — and indeed, had never even taken a journalism class, not even in high school — they took a chance on me and hired me here as a sports writer. And I’m glad they did...

Death is a part of life. It is as certain as breathing. And whether or not you believe in an afterlife (which I do), it is also certain that when someone dies, we will not see them again in this life. I was reminded of that again just a few days ago, when my grandmother passed away after a long and hard battle with cancer...