We’re seven weeks from the midterm elections. Mail-in and absentee voting has already begun in some states. Voters are starting to pay more attention to the candidates and to the parties they …
Attorney General Brenna Bird recently traveled with the Quad City Back the Blue Flight to Washington, D.C., where participants visited the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. Bird rightly …
It’s so noisy out a fella can scarcely hear himself think. You may seek refuge in the back yard listening for the songbird, but the hedge trimmer has a job to do. The dog barks at the hedge …
Last week was tough for Zach Lahn, the Republican candidate for governor. The ground trembled a bit when the Iowa Farm Bureau political action committee did not endorse the self-described Belle …
Gloria Steinem died recently, and all sorts of writers and journalists memorialized her, which was fitting. One of the first things I thought, when I heard that she died, was to recall her trenchant, …
This week the United States and its people are soberly remembering the stunning terrorist attacks that weaponized jetliners to kill thousands of people in the American homeland on September 11, 2001. …
As another Iowa football season gets underway, local football fans have plenty of reasons to be excited. In recent years, Northwest Iowa has proudly watched athletes like Adam Timmerman and Cooper …
Driving through rural areas like Northwest Iowa this time of year brings a hidden danger: tall cornfields at intersections create dangerous blind spots. Those “walls of corn” make it impossible …
Iowa’s midterm elections remind us that all politics is local as clean water and cancer emerge as prevailing issues, unique from other battleground states. Sure, stupid, it’s the economy. …
Reason and process prevailed when the Cherokee County Board of Supervisors last week reversed a moratorium on battery storage for renewable energy development. This will allow the Smith Brothers of …
The Advertising Guide, which has been published weekly for nearly six decades in the Storm Lake and Cherokee trade territory, is switching to a monthly schedule beginning now. This free …
I bank locally — except that’s not completely true, and it might not be true for you, either. I recently stopped at the bank during lunch, but after I left, the teller had a question and left …
In recent weeks, people from Cherokee, Des Moines and Ottumwa have contacted the Iowa Freedom of Information Council with concerns about the refusal of local officials to share documents distributed …
By the shores of Gitche Gumee, By the shining Big-Sea-Water, . . . — from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Song of Hiawatha” Kathy and I are spending a few days at the beautiful …
It’s 36 counties covering 21,546 square miles of Northwest Iowa. It’s the largest congressional district in Iowa, but often overlooked, neglected and forgotten by politicians and pundits of every …
Proposed data centers are drawing justified concern over water and energy use. But Iowa has faced a similar resource issue for decades with far less scrutiny: ethanol plants. For better …
Ready or not, here it comes: They’re automating the packinghouse. Marble Technologies of Lincoln, Neb., uses artificial intelligence to eliminate human labor (and error) in packaging for …
President Trump toys with tariffs at our expense. He slapped a 50% tariff on Canadian goods and services despite a standing free-trade agreement. At the same time, Trump waived tariffs and cut a deal …
A couple of weeks ago, a local 53-year-old dad died. Two days later, a 59-year-old dad died. Both men had daughters who were my daughter’s classmates. Add to that, the father of two dear friends …
A series of ads on TV over the last few months haven’t tripped my trigger. I have finally figured out why. In those ads, an older guy with a trimmed white mustache tries to teach middle-aged …