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 …

Funnel Week is always a busy time for House policy committees, and that certainly was the case for the House Transportation Committee as they moved a number of proposals to the House Floor. …

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 …

Boomers who grew up in Storm Lake during the 1950s, 60s and 70s probably remember “Scooping the loop” when they were in high school here. For those of you from different generations, this …

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 …

In Tom Cullen’s article on the Storm Lake Legislative Forum, “Crowd Spars with Evans on Vaccine Mandates,” those challenging a bill aimed at eliminating vaccine mandates for school children …

On Friday, Feb. 22, 1980, I was in eighth grade at Storm Lake Junior High School and 14 years old. We had a home wrestling dual meet that afternoon vs. Spencer, which must have been rescheduled from …

It was disturbing, frustrating and sickening. But it was not surprising. And it’s happened six years in a row.  Behind closed doors, secretively and quietly, Iowa’s …

As we read story after story of heartbreaking cases of anorexia, it brings back memories of the early years of my life. We did not have television then but we had Kodak cameras. Looking at some …

As the legislature pushes through to the first funnel deadline on Feb. 20, we are starting to have more in-depth conversations on the budget and tax reform. The House, Senate and Governor’s …

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 …

Sen. Lynn Evans should be commended for trying to get a school budget number out as soon as possible as superintendents try to set their own budgets next month. Evans chairs the education committee, …

During a visit to the Chicago area over the weekend we attended the opening day of the Chicago Auto Show on Saturday. My son-in-law Branden and I needed something to do while our wives went shopping. …

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 …