The Storm Lake Times Pilot receives hundreds of letters each year from our readers, most of which we publish as Letters to the Editor because they discuss topics of public interest. But we also …

Coming from relatively prosperous Iowa, I continue to be stunned by the scenes of grinding rural poverty when you get off the freeways and revisit Hwy. 61 or its cousins. Drive the edge of …

All of Iowa, and especially the flatlands surrounding Storm Lake along Buffalo Ridge, will benefit tremendously from a new energy economy built around renewable generation — wind, solar and …

“Impacts of Media” is a small ceramic artwork by Storm Lake High School senior Evan Anderson. A slit is cut across the top through which cards with different images may be inserted. “I made it …

Several years ago Kathy and I walked into a restaurant for breakfast in North Carolina. On the wall was a floor-to-ceiling plaque bearing a message about the origins of the Civil War. The …

As the Senate worked to finish up the legislative session, we discussed and passed dozens of bills to address a variety of issues. These issues are brought to us by constituents, departments or …

On Saturday afternoon, May 11, my oldest daughter, Morganne, will proudly don her regalia and walk across the stage at Carver-Hawkeye Arena to collect her well-earned bachelor’s degree. As the …

TV commentators have been yammering lately about inflation and interest rates as if they’ve never been higher. They missed the 1980s. I was working at the newspaper in Algona during that era of …

The events of the past six months in Israel and Gaza have me wishing it were possible to have just one more lunch with a friend who died four years ago. My friend was Jewish. In today’s …

Because some voters will believe anything I tell them, no questions asked, I, Donald Trump... ...promised voters “Mexico will pay for” my wall. (But you did — and swallowed all my promises …

Downtown master plans come and go with time. Each administration has one. We can’t recall who the mayor was when they put up metal canopies over Lake Avenue sidewalks. They were practical but ugly. …

We set out last week from Dubuque to follow the Mississippi River down to New Orleans. Adjacent river bottoms rich in fertilizer, freshly planted and exposed, were inundated from heavy spring …

At 4:23 a.m. on Saturday, April 20, we adjourned Sine Die (which just means final adjournment for the session). It was an early morning and a late night. There were a lot of broken hearts over …

The story of our National Weather Service is one of catching up and staying ahead. For more than 200 years, meteorologists, both amateurs and professionals, have steadily employed new scientific …

Perhaps the term “hidden gem” is overused, but the Buena Vista County Historical Museum truly is one.    On a recent visit to the museum, I found the exhibits to be far more …

I’m bleary and road-weary after a pioneering trek in an electric pickup truck to the Gulf of Mexico and back last week. We made it, no small feat. We being Tom Lentz of St. Paul, Mike …

Randy Feenstra has a republican primary challenger for Iowa’s Fourth District US House of Representatives.   Kevin Virgil grew up on a farm in O’Brien County in Northwest Iowa. He has …

A strange echo of immunity bounced around courthouses from Washington to Storm Lake last week. Donald Trump claimed before the US Supreme Court that he is immune from prosecution because he was …

From Ackley to Zwingle, probably no Iowan knows more about Iowa than Randy Evans, executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council. Randy came to Storm Lake Monday to speak to the …

Dick Davis, the California benefactor who supports the Zacatlan mural artists beautifying Storm Lake, delivered this message Sunday at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the muralists’ fourth public …