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 …
We’re walking across the Iowa Women of Achievement Bridge over the roiling muddy river in downtown Des Moines when Sarah Booz says she is bailing if the midterm elections go sour. She has …
It isn’t often that over 1,000 Iowans will gather on a summer’s Monday evening to learn about nitrogen, phosphorous and water. Something is in the air. People filled Sheslow Auditorium at …
Dolores came down from the attic with a handful of albums from a collection of hundreds and the suggestion that we should get rid of them. Dylan. Van Morrison. The Allman Brothers. The Stones …
Chuck Grassley has a case of the fleas from sleeping with dogs. The senior Republican senator from Iowa intimated at a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting July 30 that President Trump had hurt …
Water quality and cancer are emerging as central issues in Iowa politics, and should lead the debate in the 2026 midterm elections. More people are paying attention to our polluted water and the fact …
Getting old is serious business. Rochester is booming off the boomers. I was fortunate enough to pay a visit to the Mayo Clinic last week and see a man about my bum. The Gonda Building gleams in …
Iowa may be lagging last in economic performance, but we are Number One in hogs. Eggs too. Celebrate that we have the most polluted surface water on the continent. On some things we will not be …
Central Iowa is under mandatory water conservation orders because of high nitrate levels in the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers, the primary drinking water sources for Des Moines and its suburbs. A …
Just to be clear: No amnesty, no sir, no how. That’s Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins after President Trump bopped into the Iowa State Fairgrounds to say this about undocumented ag …
President Trump came to the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines on July 3 ostensibly to set the stage for celebrating the USA’s 250th anniversary next July 4. Trump indicated that the Iowa …
Rob Sand pines for the days when you could safely take a dip in the Upper Iowa River near Decorah. He is not so sure it is safe for his sons, 9 and 11, and that says a lot about the state of the …
Within a month, Iowans born in Storm Lake could have their birthright citizenship revoked, allowing the government to deport them anywhere it chooses. Iowa is among 28 states that did not join a …
Brother John and I decided to see the USA in our Chevrolet, so we hopped in our Equinox EV and buzzed through the Great Plains and the Rockies and the Mojave Desert to Long Beach like generations of …
One of our visions of Hell involves Iowa PBS running programs about the British monarchy in a constant loop interspersed with episodes of Antiques Roadshow. We joke. We love public broadcasting. We …
Eminent scientists reported in the eminent journal Nature last week that a crop catastrophe is ahead thanks to a warming climate. No kidding. Can you hear an echo? Corn yields could drop by …
As rumors swirled last week that immigration agents would raid Storm Lake meatpacking plants, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins got on the horn to President Trump to call off the dogs. “She …
We’re on the road again with cinematographer Jerry Risius, not quite gypsies, trying to find out what grinds Iowa’s gears. Jerry and I toured the state from Alleman to Algona making …
Martial law was imposed last weekend on Los Angeles when President Trump ordered in the California National Guard to disband lawful protests over the deportation of Latino immigrants. The military …
The woman on the phone from the Mayo Clinic was growing exasperated as she ran through how to sweep up my medical records. “So, you got the CT scan in Storm Lake? And the hormone therapy …