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 …

Tom Vilsack deserves a better exit interview than what he gave to Politico’s Jonathan Martin last week. Vilsack came across as irritated, which is familiar enough. The Democrats lost rural …

We should take some measure of hopeful relief that the City of Storm Lake and Buena Vista County have started talking about a settlement of their lawsuit over distribution of tax increment financing. …

Remember how they told you over and over that everyone is equal under the law? Not true. Donald Trump should be in jail but instead is about to reoccupy the White House. His sentence on 34 felony …

First chance I got following a tooth-pulling the Monday before Thanksgiving, I spat out that chunk of gauze and fired up a smoke. Then I checked instructions for post-extraction care: DO …

President-elect Donald Trump tagged Iowa’s three leading export customers — Canada, Mexico and China — with tariffs because immigrants and fentanyl are flowing into the United States. …

President Trump is said to like watching his advisors argue. He set up an apparent natural debate when rounding out his Cabinet by nominating former White House aide Brooke Rollins for agriculture …

Hang on snowflakes: If you think Iowa went crazy right the past few years, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Republicans widened their gaping majorities in the Iowa House and Senate. They …