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After more than four years as publisher of the Weatherford Democrat, Jeff Smith announced plans to retire Nov. 3.

After much consideration, my wife and I have decided it is time for a major change in our lives, Smith said. The decision to retire was based on a combination of things, but family played the largest part.

Ive got sons and grandkids on both coasts and now Ill have the freedom to spend more time with them.

Smith started his career in advertising sales in the yellow page industry. After 15 years with Trader Publishing he moved into the newspaper industry as the Automotive Advertising Manager with the Fort Worth Star Telegram in 2006.

He joined CNHI, the parent company of the Weatherford Democrat and Mineral Wells Index, in August of 2008 working on their digital sales team as the automotive specialist.

In 2011 he became the companys Director of Training and Development working with the organizations sales teams.

In April of 2013 Smith was named senior publisher of the Weatherford Democrat and its two sister publications, the Cleburne Times Review and Mineral Wells Index. In addition to those responsibilities he was also named the Regional Sales Director, overseeing the sales activities of the 12 CNHI papers in Texas.

CNHI has been wonderful to me and my family, providing us with several great opportunities, Smith said. I am very grateful to them. It has also been one of the great experiences of my life to operate these newspapers.

The managers and staff in all three locations are terrific. They are loyal, dedicated and hardworkingin what has increasingly become a challenging environment.

Throughout his 30-plus years in newspapers, Smith has seen many changes in the industry.

Much has been written about the future of newspapers and even in the relatively short time that I have been here we have seen drastic changes in how news is consumed, he said. Five years ago, 25 percent of our online traffic was mobile ... now it is 75 percent. Upwards of 50 percent of consumers claim they get their news from social media. Our industry will certainly have to adapt to these trends because it will continue to evolve.

Regarding the current climate and opinion of the news media, Smith said the Democrat and Index are not immune to the criticism.

We have fielded our share of complaints regarding both our opinion page and our hard news coverage, he said. It seems more and more that people only want to read or hear what supports their personal opinion. Because of the extreme polarization it has become much more difficult to strike a balance that is acceptable.

I am very proud of our local news coverage, Smith continued. While many of the things we uncover are uncomfortable for the community to learn about, it is our job to report what we find. You can expect that to continue. We take our watchdog role very seriously.

Those guiding principles sometimes will come at a cost, Smith said.

More than once we have lost advertising dollars because a story hits a little close to home. It is unfortunate that some customers cannot separate the two but it happens and it is certainly their prerogative to do so. That risk is always present but will not deter us from our purpose of reporting accurate and necessary information to the good people of Weatherford and Parker County.

As the news industry continues to evolve and reinvent itself, community newspapers will continue to play a vital role in a city like Weatherford, Smith said.

Smith has also observed the growth and advancement of Parker County during his tenure.

As a community, Parker County has grown and we are absolutely in a position to rapidly go to the next level, he said. Theres strong leadership here, especially in the business community. I think that will position the county positively for the growth to come.

Were no longer a sleepy little county.

The development of the papers Community Advisory Board will help the Democrat to evolve along with the community, Smith said.

Im proud that weve initiated a community advisory board... thats the first step toward becoming more relevant in the community.Our advisory board members have been candid yet supportive in our role here.

Staff members have also played a large part in supporting him, Smith said.

Ill miss them ... everybody works really hard, he said. Ive watched our editorial staff mature and become better writers.Our sales staff, business office staff and circulation are very dedicated, in spite of the everyday challenges they face.

Im not sure I couldve lasted this long without the people in this building.

While Smith may be retiring from the newspaper industry, he will not be idle, and plans on maintaining the community connections he has made, including involvement with Careity Foundation and membership with Rotary Club of Weatherford.

[Careity and Rotary] are some of the finest people I have ever had the pleasure of being involved with, he said.

On the business end, Smith also planson developing a consulting firm that will allow him to use his skill set in the medical revenue industry.

I am cursed with a high level of energy so doing nothing just wont work, Smith said. This new business will allow us the freedom to spend more time with family.

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Democrat publisher Smith to retire - Weatherford Democrat

COUNCIL BLUFFS Theresa Greenfield of Des Moines has announced she will seek the 3rd Congressional District seat in Iowa.

Greenfield, 53, becomes the fourth candidate in the Democratic primary. Rep. David Young, a Republican, currently holds the seat.

Im running for Congress because Iowans know it will take Iowa values mixed with a heavy dose of can-do common sense to overcome the problems we face here and in Washington, Greenfield said in a statement.

Greenfield worked for more than a decade as an urban planner before becoming the president of developer Rottlund Homes of Iowa in 2007, her campaign said. She is now the president of Colby Interests, a Des Moines real estate firm.

Greenfield grew up on a farm in Minnesota near the Iowa border. She attended Iowa Lakes Community College, Iowa State University and Mankato State University in Minnesota. Greenfield said she would fight for workers and their families, working to provide opportunities and well-paying jobs, along with health care that is available and affordable.

Greenfield joins a primary field that includes others involved in Democratic causes in years past: businesswoman Cindy Axne of West Des Moines, writer and web series host Heather Ryan of Des Moines, and psychiatric rehabilitation practitioner Paul Knupp of Des Moines.

The Democratic primary for the seat is scheduled for June 5, 2018. The 3rd District covers the southwestern quadrant of Iowa, including Pottawattamie, Mills, Fremont, Page, Montgomery and Cass counties.

Go here to read the rest:
Fourth Democrat enters the race for David Young's seat in Iowa - Omaha World-Herald

For the six years they ran the House before President Donald Trump arrived on the scene, Republicans voted repeatedly -- more than 50 times -- to either fully repeal, defund or in some way undermine Obamacare. On Capitol Hill or back home, they railed against the law, pledging to gut it -- if voters would only hand them the fillet knife.

And then, after some convincing, voters did.

The simple promise, launched years ago, to "repeal Obamacare" was the first, crucial error. Not because it wasn't a winning message, but because it was, in a way, too good. It was simple and clear. But there was no open reckoning with the downside and little apparent planning for the day it became possible. Clawing back welfare programs is never politically popular. For those who insist on trying, common sense says plowing ahead without a stress-tested alternative will only complicate matters.

A look back at recent comments from Republican officials on the front lines of the fight offers some telling suggestions. At the root is a very simple matter of conservative orthodoxy and the possibility that Republicans, newly empowered by Trump's election, appear to have read into his win a broader mandate than voters actually offered. That shouldn't come as a shock. Both parties tend to make too much of their presidential fortunes.

But Republicans on Capitol Hill set to work in 2017 with little more than a series of talking points -- the kind that seemed more in line with Reagan-style convervatism than Trumpism. Right off the bat, the idea of providing better access to medical care, which would be shifted back in the direction of the open market, emerged as a central theme of their pitch.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, during his confirmation hearings in January, telegraphed the strategy. Skirting skeptical Democrats' cross-examinations, he promised to work with Congress to assure "every single American has access to affordable coverage." During an earlier round he said all Americans should "have the opportunity to gain access" to it.

But access does not equal coverage. Asked on CBS's "Face the Nation" how many people might lose coverage under the House plan, Speaker Paul Ryan said the number of uninsured would likely rise, but sought to frame it as a symptom of well-exercised "individual freedom."

Facing pressure from both moderates jolted by a fierce opposition and hardliners who still preferred full repeal, Ryan pulled the initial bill. A tweaked version designed to convert Republican holdouts would pass, narrowly, about a month later.

Over time, Republicans began to back off the "access" proposition, but never seemed to agree on a new direction.

Senate Republicans promptly trashed the House legislation and set about writing their own.

But there was another problem brewing. Congressional GOP messaging about what the final product would deliver ran up most rudely not against Democrats' objections, or protesters at town hall meetings, but the most powerful Republican of them all: the President. Throughout his campaign, Trump promised, vaguely but consistently, that his health care plan would cover more people and -- crucially now -- not mess with Medicaid.

"That ought to be the goal -- repair, replace, whatever the words are people use today," he said. "The question is, (is) there something that can be done, and I await that conclusion."

Continue reading here:
Why the Republican health care message is floundering - CNN International

Miami Herald

In Cuban-majority House district, Republican rivalry spills into court Miami Herald The Republican primary for a Cuban-majority Miami House district has turned into a political slugfest more bitter than the strongest cafecito. It's a race marked by allegations of dishonesty and attacks on the candidates' Cuban ties. The contenders ...

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In Cuban-majority House district, Republican rivalry spills into court - Miami Herald

Poland's former president Lech Walesa, a democracy hero, has been hospitalized with heart problems in his Baltic coast home city of Gdansk, his son said Saturday.

Jaroslaw Walesa told The Associated Press via text message that his father was feeling "unfortunately weak." It was not immediately known when he could be discharged from the heart diseases ward of the Gdansk University Clinic.

The 73-year-old Walesa on Thursday attended a speech by President Donald Trump in Warsaw. He was booed by many in a crowd that supported the current government, which criticizes Walesa's role in Poland's politics.

Walesa strongly criticizes the government, saying its policies threaten democracy and hurt Poland's ties with the European Union's leading nations.

On Monday he had been expected to lead a demonstration against monthly observances that the ruling populist party holds in memory of President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others killed in a 2010 plane crash in Russia. The head of the ruling party is Kaczynski's twin brother, Jaroslaw, who is Poland's most powerful politician.

Walesa says the monthly observances are used to rally support for the ruling party.

The protest planned for downtown Warsaw will proceed even if Walesa cannot attend, said another pro-democracy activist, Wladyslaw Frasyniuk.

Walesa in 1980 led a massive strike against Poland's communist authorities, giving rise to the Solidarity freedom movement. Solidarity peacefully ousted the communists from power in 1989, ushering in democracy.

But Kaczynski claims that the transition included a secret deal that allowed the communists to retain some influence and wealth.

Link:
Poland democracy hero Lech Walesa hospitalized, said 'weak' - ABC News