This is a tough time for truth. Politics, as I’ve mentioned before, is a dirty game, and all administrations lie, but eventually history will own the lies if the truth emerges. These days that …

College football is here once again, and fans are geared up to cheer on their treasured favorite(s). What stokes such ferocious lifetime loyalty to a bunch of guys playing a game for a few weeks …

Now that President Trump has single-handedly destroyed the biggest market for U.S. soybeans (China), and a bumper crop is on the way, the White House has come up with a big, beautiful plan to save …

I commend columnists who publish research-based and value-added (versus “my opinion”) op-eds on a daily or frequent basis. Submitting an occasional essay gives me time to ponder …

A recent change in climate policy by the Trump Administration threatens to change everything on earth — from the fast-warming planet itself to all the life on it. On July 29, Lee Zeldin, …

The challenges facing Iowa’s higher education system have been building for many years, and the impact on students is becoming increasingly severe. For far too long, we have seen a mission …

Tuition is too damn high. Higher education is so expensive that many Iowa students end up buried in debt before they even start working. More than 400,000 Iowans are still carrying student loan debt, …

The earth beneath Iowa politics shifted last week as Democrat Catelin Drey of Sioux City flipped a red Iowa Senate district, and word leaked that Republican US Sen. Joni Ernst of Red Oak would not …

We live in a militarized police state. Los Angeles is occupied by National Guard troops and Marines, against the wishes of local authorities and the duly elected governor of California (whose …

This weekend we celebrate Labor Day. It’s supposed to honor the hard-working men and women who empower America, but mostly it’s a day that marks the end of summer. Meanwhile, a lot of our …

A few weeks ago, journalist Phoebe Wall Howard reported about car buyers’ tech fatigue. It recalled a news article I had read a couple of months ago about a stripped-down drab gray pickup that …

Government regulates business to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public. That is the theory behind enacting and enforcing regulations, and it is a commendable mission. But, too …

Public libraries provide immeasurable benefits to their communities and are therefore a worthy investment for Alta. They not only enhance children’s reading skills, social skills and literacy …

A year ago this month, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, introduced the No Kings Act with 36 co-sponsors. With the Senate under Republican control, the bill did not …

At the age of nine when we moved to Storm Lake, it seems the fun of growing up got a supercharged lift. Yes, there were fun times in Ute, Iowa, where I was born, but here I never would have …

The Iowa Public Retirement System is the largest public retirement system in Iowa. There's been a lot of talk about IPERS and the recommendations by the DOGE committee. I have publicly said I do not …

First, a little Trump-USDA history. After U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers “published and funded objective analyses of issues such as climate change, the efficiency of food …

Please excuse my slutty self-promotion, but a book by Art Cullen will be released in late September. Dear Marty, We Crapped In Our Nest: Notes from the Edge of the World is scheduled to be …

Mike Porsch is a good guy. Straight and honest. Diligent. Friendly. Porsch has served as mayor of Storm Lake for eight years, and for eight years before that he was a city councilman. Porsch is …

I’m surprised at how many readers have asked me about my tomatoes this year. Actually, no one has asked me, and that doesn’t really surprise me. But I’ll tell you about them …