CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - Have you ever thought about a statement of faith? Sometimes an independent church, or a Christian charity or a Christian business finds a statement of faith to be appropriate. Have you considered your personal statement of faith? It may be difficult to put into words. I've tried to write my ...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - I'm glad that King Charles has visited the United States to observe the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. At age 77 I find him charming, a thoughtful speaker, and funny. He is also alert and energetic for a man who is undergoing cancer treatment. Britain is not the dynasty...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - The five liberal justices on the state Supreme Court, clowns in robes, must have rolled their eyes yesterday. For a second time, a panel of lower court judges refused to redraw Wisconsin's congressional maps. Both panels of judges ruled that the maps are properly drawn as-is, and that, withou...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - Tonight's Wausau City Council meeting is worth following. It will give us an idea of how city government will be during the next two years. We'll learn a lot about the lay of the land. After this year's spring elections, Mayor Doug Diny proposed changes to the city's committee structure. He'd...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - Money is an imperfect tool after an earthquake. Most of the 75 houses that were damaged in Ringle were insured. Claims will be filed. Homes will be rebuilt. But there are other things that were lost that money can't replace. Wedding photographs. Gifts from your children's arts and crafts proj...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - There's a very heartfelt letter in today's Wausau Pilot and Review. A former drug addict says his program, Adult and Teen Challenge, will soon open a 15-bed treatment facility in Central Wisconsin. The full details were not shared in his letter. But this is the type of program that is badly n...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - If you've never been inside the Greentuck Turner fieldhouse at D.C. Everest, you should. It is - huge. It has a big, tall ceiling. Four athletic fields with artificial turf. It has locker rooms, conference rooms, simulator rooms (the golf simulator is particularly popular this time of year.)....

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - The community owes the Bridge Street Mission a debt of thanks. As of this week, they are the new site of Wausau's year-round homeless shelter. After months of construction, they opened on Monday. It's thought that Wausau has about 250 chronically homeless people. They are difficult to count. ...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - Here's something you may not know about how city government works. Most of the decisions are made at the committee level. The full city council votes on the recommendations of the various committees. Usually, but not always, committee recommendations are approved. If you're a council member ...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - The pictures of the damage from last Friday's tornado are awful. I remember the news coverage of the Joplin, Missouri tornado from May 2011. The randomness of it all was remarkable. In some parts of town one side of a street would be completely leveled. The other side of the street was untouc...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - What did Peter say when he first encountered Jesus? "Depart from me. I am a sinful man." Peter, an unsuccessful fisherman, believed he was unworthy to even be in the presence of the Christ. And, nonetheless, Jesus said "follow me." If Jesus had told Peter all of the things...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - At this week's city council meeting, Wausau alderwoman Vicki Tierney came up with a brilliant idea. She said that she'd be voting 'no' on every agenda item. It was the council's final meeting since the spring elections. Tierney said the newly elected members of the city council should make th...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - Who is the biggest gerrymander-er in Wisconsin? You might argue it's the Republicans who control the state legislature. After all, in Wisconsin the legislature, not a commission of retired judges, draws the maps. But you'd be wrong. The biggest gerrymader-er in the state is our governor, Tony...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) We westerners, Donald Trump included, don't understand Iran. We think they respond to and are motivated by the things that motivate us. Wrong. Iran is an apocalyptic religious theocracy. The devout Muslims in Iran believe that it is Allah's will that the world, as it has become, be destroyed. ...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - Lisa Rasmussen, Wausau's city council president, was unceremoniously voted out of office last week. She wrote her farewell letter, published last Thursday in the Wausau Pilot and Review. I have nothing personal against Lisa. We haven't talked in many years, but she's always been courteous to ...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - This is the only deathbed conversion story in the entire Bible. Two thieves were hung on crosse on either side of Jesus. The theft on his right said, "You are the king of the Jews? If you are, save yourself... and save us too. Come down from the cross." But the other thief on the le...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - The Wausau City Council needed new blood, and it got four new faces after Tuesday's election. To those four new faces, I would remind you of this: your friends and neighbors did not send you to city hall to raise their taxes. You are intended to be a brake on city spending, not an accelerant....

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - Our election for a state supreme court justice today is nothing short of a mockery. We have current justice Janice Protasiewicz to blame. When she was elected in 2023 she openly talked about being the pro-choice candidate. The U.S. Supreme Court had just struck down Roe v Wade and Wisconsin's...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - During his first term, Donald Trump signed off on the targeted killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. He was the leader of the Revolutionary Guard, and the mastermind of countless attacks on U.S. military bases and outposts. His hands were covered in the blood of Americans. Soleimani was...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - Of all the words printed in red in the bible, the things that Jesus Christ said, this, to me is the most incredible. "Father, forgive them. They don't know what they are doing." Those were Jesus' words, in agony, on the cross. How could someone, wrongfully sent to death, offer forgi...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays must be turning in their graves. Both were banned from taking part in baseball activities after they retired because they made public relations appearances for casinos. Mantle in Las Vegas; Mays in Atlantic City. Both played before the era of million dollar contr...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - General Douglas MacArthur's great comment about war is that "there is no substitute for victory." Stale-mates bleed the stronger side dry. Endless negotiations for peace gives the losing side time to regroup. Anything that prolongs the fighting needlessly costs lives. General MacArt...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - Khary Payton is a fine actor. He appeared for six seasons on The Walking Dead and had a recurring role on General Hospital. Robert Fentress is certainly an outstanding director. He directed Arnold Schwarzenegger, one of the worst actors ever, in Total Recall. I doubt that Payton or Fentress h...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - The way airlines treat their customers is... puzzling. Now the airlines have no control over the TSA lines at the airport. That's a government shutdown thing. But charging for baggage. That's ridiculous. People who travel, even for a few days, take a change of clothes and some personal items ...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - A lot happens during Holy Week: Palm Sunday, Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem. The clearing of the temple. The last supper. The betrayal by Judas. The arrest at Gethesmene. The trial before Pilate. The crucifixion. And the resurrection on Easter Sunday. Today I'd like to talk about th...