Words matter. It’s why government agencies and private corporations pay big bucks to hire someone to tell their story. Call that person a communications director, or a …

A recent email from the Iowa attorney general’s office to Greene County assistant attorney Laura Snider is of great concern to Greene County’s attorney Thomas Laehn. That’s because it displays …

Greenland, again? Really? Apparently yes. Donald John Trump, President of the United States, on Jan. 9 vowed to take control of Greenland, an autonomous part of America’s NATO ally Denmark. In …

A few days ago a team effort by U.S. military, intelligence, and law enforcement personnel seized Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, and took them into American custody. …

In my column last week I discussed five of 10 people I much admired in 2025: Liz Cheney, Art Cullen, Jose Andres, Audi Crooks and Volodomyr Zelensky. Here are the other five (taking some license for …

The American writer James Agee, together with photographer Walker Evans, in 1941 released “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men,” a book documenting the lives of impoverished Southern sharecroppers …

Donald Trump’s second presidential term is nearly a year old now, and his Republican Party maintains control of both houses of Congress. Americans have had ample opportunity to weigh the pluses and …

Iowa State head football coach Matt Campbell’s decision to accept Penn State’s head football coaching position devastates Cyclone fans, gladdens Nittany …

What will you be doing in the year 2033? If you’ll still be younger than 67 years of age, there are innumerable answers. But if you’re 67 or older by then, chances are the Number One …

Most of the top leaders of both political parties converged on Washington’s National Cathedral a week ago to honor the memory of former Vice President Dick Cheney at his funeral service. As …

Thanksgiving gets short shrift these days. The Christmas commercialism colossus, burgeoning every year, now occupies a super-sized chunk of November that used to be the province of the …

By the time you read this column, it may be irrelevant. I hope so. But I doubt it. nnAssuming the federal government is still partially shut down by the column’s publication on Friday, Nov. 14, …

Kathy and I live in an old house in Jefferson (apparent construction year 1901). It’s the house my parents bought in 1944, and it was my childhood home. My folks sold it about 28 years later …

Interest in local elections in Jefferson this fall appears to be greater than usual. It’s a good thing. City council and school board elections in Iowa are held in odd-numbered years. In …

As I write this column on Sunday, October 12, the United States government is still shut down. Federal employee are not getting paid. No, wait, that’s not quite true. MOST federal …

Kathy and I returned last Friday from three days in the Black Hills, communing with two of my graduate school former housemates and their spouses. It’s a reunion that takes place somewhere in …

There’s a reason the phrase listing the Three R’s puts Readin’ first and Ritin’ second. To write competently, you first need to see how to do it. What you’re reading …

Last March, six months ago, Congress averted an impending federal government shutdown by reaching a bipartisan compromise, which extended the government funding deadline by six months, to the end of …

Another political leader killed, and another frustrating challenge on what to say, what to do. Charlie Kirk’s death resurfaces similar tragedies from our American past, both venerable and …

Why does Congress even bother to debate an annual budget? Every year members of the federal legislative body spend innumerable hours in committees and on the House and Senate floor debating …