The produce man in the grocery store smiled and nodded as the vendor walked past on Inauguration Day with the greeting: “Can’t you feel the freedom this morning?” We could mainly …

This happened just last week: Cargill agreed to pay $32 million in a settlement over a lawsuit alleging price-fixing on turkey products. In a separate matter, meat processors JBS and Perdue agreed to …

For real, not joking, listen up: Joe Biden thinks that big money might be in charge. “I want to warn the country of some things that give me great concern. And this is a dangerous concern. …

Gov. Kim Reynolds took a small-bore approach to her Condition of the State address this week. The top issue identified by statehouse Republicans is property tax reform, which she barely noted. Its …

Iowa is among the richest places in the world. We have the soil, the water and abundant energy generation. We should be first-rate, but we are not. We used to be the best. We were Number One in …

Come home, all you expatriated Iowans in Los Angeles before the wildfire consumes you! Flee to safety! Get real: Iowa is not that safe anymore. Check your home insurance bill, and wince …

The Aurelia Star will be forced to cease publication Feb. 1 because of the loss of public notices from Cherokee County. The Cherokee County Board of …

We lost a great one when Paul Struck died on Monday at age 78. Our sympathies go to his wife, Darla, and family. The editor of the Cherokee Chronicle Times will be missed dearly. He was a wit. A …

Buena Vista County will spend more than $1 million to rehabilitate the Storm Lake Marina after agreeing to take over operation of the facility from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which …

People are talking about Iowa’s alarming cancer rates, but they need to turn up the volume. “We have to start getting loud with our elected officials about doing something about …

The only certainties in life are death and promises by Republicans to do something about property taxes in Iowa. So it goes again this year. House Speaker Pat Grassley said it’s the top issue …

Fast-moving mutation and spread of avian flu to humans should set off alarms and be met with an all-out effort to protect health and a reliable, safe food supply. Unfortunately, there is a prevailing …

If you’re reading this, there is no avoiding 2025. It can’t be that bad. 2024 wasn’t the greatest, may old acquaintance be forgot. People poking in indiscreet places, a lot of that, …

Congress extended the farm bill for another year as part of a spending deal approved last weekend that avoided a government shutdown. The five-year farm bill should have been approved in 2023 but has …

If you look under the tree, the gift of being plopped down in Storm Lake, Iowa, is readily apparent. Bear with me here, it’s Christmas you old grouch. It’s cold. For sure. …

Storm Lake is fortunate — blessed, if you will — that the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 12 takes such a prominent place in our holiday schedule. Mexicans, especially, venerate …

Iowa’s Kim Reynolds joined 25 other Republican governors last week to declare that they will use the National Guard and local law enforcement to ship out immigrants. It’s dishonest but …

It’s a week before Christmas, which means it is time for that Annual Holiday Letter and a good shot of freezing rain. Last Christmas Dolores and I both came down with Covid. Bah humbug! …

Public reaction to to the assassination of a health insurance executive in New York was as shocking as the murder itself on a sidewalk outside a hotel. The suspected assassin, Luigi Mangione, 26, has …

Bird flu is back, if it ever left. It was unfamiliar to most of us back in 2015, when it wiped out five million chickens at Rembrandt and hundreds of thousands of turkeys. Two commercial poultry …