You truly have one of the best community newspapers in the state. As a lifelong Republican I frequently disagree with some of your positions. Yet your observations expressed in “Silencing the …
Belle Plaine farmer Zach Lahn caught the nation’s attention last week talking up conservation agriculture with none other than Tucker Carlson, who was too far over the line for Fox News and is an …
Leading legislators bent on hobbling Iowa’s community newspapers so they can keep the public in the dark are lurching forward. A bill to eliminate public notices from newspapers cleared the Senate …
I hang up the phone, and it hits me again. Even with certain limitations on my time and wallet, I enjoy a lot of privilege in life. The person I spoke with is an alumnus of my workplace, Buena …
We all need reminders now and then. Some of us believe there is only one correct way to think and speak and act in these United States of America. But that is not true. Americans are not …
To public officials and political candidates of all stripes: enough already with the foul language. nnGovernment leaders since the founding of the United States have used off-color words. …
George Orwell’s 1984, a dystopian classic novel, is a staple in American high school English and social studies curriculums. 1984 is taught in 9th or 10th grade and used to introduce themes of …
House Ag Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson must not be a superstitious man. If he were, he would not have introduced the biggest bill of his congressional career, the “Farm, Food, and National …
The sixth week of the legislative session officially kicked off the rush toward the first major legislative deadline. The initial “funnel” deadline is this week, making it imperative to advance …
That damn socialist mayor out in New York threatened to hike property taxes by 9.5% unless he can ram through a wealth tax. Wait a New York minute: Property taxes on our humble metal shed along …
It will take an extraordinary amount of unity and discipline for Democrats to win an open US Senate seat in Iowa. Republican Ashley Hinson, a member of the House and former TV newscaster, will be a …
As a kid I used to watch ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” on winter Saturday afternoons. This was the era when stores were open long hours, the day of the week when farmers and their families came …
It’s funny how a government body can learn and teach an important civics lesson in the time it takes a student to go from kindergarten through 12th grade. In 2012, the Atlantic Community …
The works of William Shakespeare exist in the public domain. That means a writer can use, or copy, anything The Bard (1564-1616) wrote in his 39 plays, 154 sonnets, 3 long narrative poems, and other …
Punxsutawney Phil, the shadow-obsessed groundhog, and Glenn “GT” Thompson, the chairman of the House Ag Committee, have something in common: both reside in Pennsylvania’s 15th Congressional …
“The Rock Island Independents had a mighty fine line,” the Republican senators sang at the bar. “I may be right and I may be wrong but you're gonna miss me when I'm gone.” So they pushed …
Grandchild Number Three arrived in dramatic fashion — on greased skids, as it were. That baby wasted no time barreling into the world two weeks early. Talk about speedy delivery, but everyone is …
My ancestors trace their roots in America to before the days the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence. You may have seen my distant cousin, Joseph Hewes, in the massive …
Founded after World War I, the American Legion advocates for the unique needs of every generation of veterans, service members and their families. The American Legion Auxiliary mission is to support …
Standard majority rule now governs state income tax decisions in Iowa. The state’s constitution requires that five procedural steps be taken to change that. Three of those steps have already been …