We’re on the road again with cinematographer Jerry Risius, not quite gypsies, trying to find out what grinds Iowa’s gears. Jerry and I toured the state from Alleman to Algona making …

Martial law was imposed last weekend on Los Angeles when President Trump ordered in the California National Guard to disband lawful protests over the deportation of Latino immigrants. The military …

The woman on the phone from the Mayo Clinic was growing exasperated as she ran through how to sweep up my medical records. “So, you got the CT scan in Storm Lake? And the hormone therapy …

Joni Ernst is a US senator because she understands Iowa voters and speaks their language, cynical as it is. She castrated pigs. Gonna make ’em squeal in DC. Roast and ride a hog. Wear bread …

“Not sure, we’ll have to wait and see” is a typically Midwestern way of declaring Hell No. What’s the weather have in store? Not sure, we’ll have to wait and see. …

Unless the senate steps in and imposes order, Congress is on track to cleave the coalition that has supported the farm bill and permanently weaken the crop safety net. The Big, Bad Bill passed the …

Round and round the circular conversation goes, right down the drain between my neighbor and me: “I like that DEI ban.” Okay, I can work with that. We can just call it something …

One must marvel at the incompetence that just gaveled to an untimely close in the capitol. With a stranglehold on all branches of government, Republicans failed to deliver on their priority — …

If Democrats only had taken Iowa’s counsel, Pete Buttigieg or Bernie Sanders probably would be president today. I mean, if Joe Biden could beat Donald Trump … “That thought …

Iowa senators proved sensitive to public pressure when they exempted private colleges from punishment for offering diversity programs. They had thought about pulling Iowa Tuition Grant funding from …

My buddy Walt Bradley of Algona asked me why we came back here from college in Minnesota over 45 years ago. That’s easy: Family. It’s the only reason. Walt was an art major who …

What a gorgeous Saturday in early May as Buena Vista University sent another class out into the world. Storm Lake was picture perfect. Most of these eager Beavers would like to burrow into a place …

Iowans do not like change. It might be our strongest attribute. Sen. Chuck Grassley has been in politics since 1959. Terry Branstad holds the national record for longest tenure as governor. A third …

Solar panels create 31 times the energy from an acre of land that corn does in the form of ethanol, according to research coordinated at Cornell University in New York. Put another way: If solar …

We’re nigh onto 100 days since Donald Trump swore on the Bible, and he already has done enough political damage to give an opening to the downtrodden opposition in Iowa. Stocks and pension …

It sounded like the roof was going to rip off at 1 a.m. Friday. Ferocious straight-line winds knocked out power to some 6,000 households in Buena Vista County. When daylight broke we could see the …

With colleges under full frontal assault, whiskey purveyor and Beaver great Keith Kerkhoff regaled the Storm Lake United annual banquet with tales of facing legendary Football Coach Jim Hershberger …

Iowa could return to its moderate good sense with Gov. Kim Reynolds retired. For nearly a decade, Reynolds presided over declining school test scores, banning books in schools, shaming of gays, …

It’s never been easy as a Democrat in Northwest Iowa. They are few and far between. Back when Dad ran for legislature from Buena Vista County on the Kennedy ticket in 1960, they burned a cross …

It came too late and is too little but at least we finally have an education funding bill to present for Gov. Kim Reynolds’s signature, allowing 2% growth for local school districts. Sen. Lynn …