Democrat, Republican, Independent or other. When voting, however, and regardless of party affiliation, are politics and common sense mutually exclusive? Yes or no. Not really certain? As a means to …

An elderly man from Alta died after a vehicle hit him while he was walking in the Walmart parking lot. The driver was Latino. No charges had been filed; the incident was under investigation. …

Sad news for us old gray Panthers that St. Mary’s will throw in the towel and participate on the public school teams in any sport, Tornadoes now. Our Uncle John Murray was the coach back in the …

We were bummed last week by the announcement that St. Mary’s High School is ending its athletic program after a century of competition. Beginning this fall the former Panthers will compete as …

Pete Hegseth is trying to diminish the contributions of women in the military, and that’s putting it delicately. The ACLU was more blunt when it said, on one of their webpages, that Hegseth wants …

Novelist Charles Dickens poked his quill pen at government bureaucracy 175 years ago with his accounts about a fictionalized department he called the "Circumlocution Office.”  …

Daydreaming is a universal pastime. What would I do if I won the lottery? What far-off places would I visit? Is this the year the Hawkeyes win the NCAA football playoffs, and the St. Louis Cardinals …

Nearly 30 years ago I began a business relationship with China. I never imagined those years would sharpen my appreciation for the greatness of America and help me understand how our nation became …

With the 2026 election approaching, Governor Reynolds and Attorney General Bird have unveiled a new priority: cracking down on Medicaid fraud. That comes as a big surprise to those of us who know the …

Journalism has many traditions. One of the oldest is adding “-30-” after the last paragraph of a just-completed story to alert the editor of “the end.” Old-timers say it was adopted from the …

As rural populations age and decrease, providing health care requires unique solutions to attract health care workforce and ensure a stable business model. We are not only focusing on helping …

Rob Sand spent a lot more time talking open primaries and ranked-choice voting than he did water pollution or cancer during a packed town hall event in Storm Lake last week. Who needs political …

Iowa’s pork consolidation started in earnest about 50 years ago when swine started to move indoors. In 1976, Iowa had an estimated 60,000 hog farms producing 15 million head. Today, according to …

“The Odyssey” is one of the most-hyped movies in years. We’ve been hearing about it for months, and it finally opened last weekend in Storm Lake and across the nation. The three-hour epic …

In his first stab at the presidency, DJT’s rallying cry was “Build the Wall”, and it was an effective campaign to stoke fear of “other” people. The man who would later become the 45th …

When District Judge Adria Kester studied at the Drake University Law School, she must have opted out of the “Law of Holes” coursework. I have written before about the first Law of Holes, in …

On June 26, I gave a presentation on media literacy at Iowa Boys State. During each of my eight presentations, I asked the audience two questions: Where do you get your news, and do you trust it? …

I have always thought that the lasting and enduring postage stamp of the Storm Lake public education system in the 1970s and 1980s, was its four elementary schools: North, South, East and West. From …

I want to invite everyone to join me on Aug. 11, at 5 p.m. at the Expo Center in Spirit Lake for the Dickinson County Sizzler for a supper and presentations by many candidates for the Nov. 3 …

One fist of iron, the other of steel If the right one don’t get you then the left one will — from “Sixteen Tons” as sung by Tennessee Ernie Ford That’s the challenge the …