If you’re reading this, there is no avoiding 2025. It can’t be that bad. 2024 wasn’t the greatest, may old acquaintance be forgot. People poking in indiscreet places, a lot of that, …

Fast-moving mutation and spread of avian flu to humans should set off alarms and be met with an all-out effort to protect health and a reliable, safe food supply. Unfortunately, there is a prevailing …

Congress extended the farm bill for another year as part of a spending deal approved last weekend that avoided a government shutdown. The five-year farm bill should have been approved in 2023 but has …

It’s a week before Christmas, which means it is time for that Annual Holiday Letter and a good shot of freezing rain. Last Christmas Dolores and I both came down with Covid. Bah humbug! …

Silence demanded In order not to get sued or put in jail, we will refrain from commenting on Donald Trump suing The Des Moines Register and Ann Selzer, who conducted the Iowa Poll that showed …

Public reaction to to the assassination of a health insurance executive in New York was as shocking as the murder itself on a sidewalk outside a hotel. The suspected assassin, Luigi Mangione, 26, has …

First chance I got following a tooth-pulling the Monday before Thanksgiving, I spat out that chunk of gauze and fired up a smoke. Then I checked instructions for post-extraction care: DO …

President-elect Donald Trump tagged Iowa’s three leading export customers — Canada, Mexico and China — with tariffs because immigrants and fentanyl are flowing into the United States. …

Hang on snowflakes: If you think Iowa went crazy right the past few years, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Republicans widened their gaping majorities in the Iowa House and Senate. They …

Having simmered and frothed all week, it came bubbling out fast on the Friday night capping election week at the alma mater’s homecoming reunion: “The (manure) is hitting the fan, …

President-elect Trump reiterated his intention to deport every undocumented immigrant to their country of origin as he named Thomas Homan his “border czar” on Sunday. Trump made mass …

On this the morning after the most dynamic presidential election in our lifetime, we probably still don’t know who won between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Unless, that is, the Iowa Poll …

It doth restoreth my soul that Kamala Harris posted a three-percentage-point lead over Donald Trump in The Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll on Saturday night. Iowa has not lost its good …

This newspaper always has published institutional editorials that reflect the views of the owners and editors. Many believe that editorials are an anachronism, that you don’t need to interpret …

If it ain’t one thing it’s another: prostate cancer (it’s the best cancer) with a shot of hot-flash hormone, macular degeneration, an enlarged aorta and a wobbly, cracked lower …

Donald Trump is a felon. A fraud. An abusive pervert. So say the juries and judges. Trump may be mad, or at least senile — did you see him ambling around to the Ave Maria on stage in …

Avian flu has jumped to mammals. More dairy workers are reporting the illness. In California, a major dairy producer, up to a third of the herds may be infected. Pasteurized milk is reported safe to …

Morning breaks crisp as the soybeans come in. They’re shooting geese and dragging in docks. We’re not even a month out from a presidential election. Our politics is being reorganized, and …

What comes after Nov. 5? Most Americans and the betting markets believe that Kamala Harris will win the election. She’s even close in Iowa. No matter what happens, we need to find center …

It’s easier to house hogs than humans in rural Iowa. You can put up a confinement just about anywhere you want. If the neighbor finds swine a nuisance, good luck making your court claim pay …