Silly me. I thought it was Jared Moskowitz who got Kristi Noem fired. You know Jared Moskowitz, don’t you? He’s the Florida Democratic representative who, in February, asked Attorney …
The offices of the Des Moines Register’s opinion staff were mostly empty when my telephone rang late one afternoon about 15 years ago. The guard at the lobby security desk said two men were …
Kathy and I attended a Greene County High School performance last Saturday evening of Anastasia the Musical. It’s based on the animated film Anastasia, about the Romanov princess who, according to …
Are you a Military Veteran searching for a way to continue your honored service to our community? I encourage you to consider an opportunity to volunteer with the local Veterans of Foreign Wars …
When something breaks on our farm, my first instinct is the same one my father had, and his father before him: figure out what’s wrong, fix it, and get back to work. That instinct is bred into …
For the past 14 months, Americans of all political persuasions have witnessed how Trump’s ICE-related actions have involved aggressive detention and demonization of immigrants and minorities. …
If you grew up on a farm, you know that milk cows show up to be milked, horses return to the barn to be fed and, like clockwork, chickens return to roost every night. In fact, chickens are so …
Fog set thick outside while serotonin ran thin inside on this early March morning of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) in Iowa. If I had the gumption I would go jump in the lake. It only gets worse …
The world bears less of a burden with Iran’s supreme leader and his ruling junta dead in the rubble. Israel and the United States joined forces to decapitate the leading sponsor of terrorism in the …
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote that the very rich “are different from you and me.” While that quote comes from a short story, his novel, The Great Gatsby, fully embodies that observation. We …
When it comes to the First and Fifth Amendments, I’m a Jeffersonian Jeffersonian. The amendments are two of the ten in the Constitution’s Bill of Rights. Thomas Jefferson didn’t write …
March is when most people’s thoughts turn to spring and most farmers start looking forward to another productive year of growing food, feed and fiber. Until then, though, there's weather to …
Last week was the seventh week of the legislative session. We are past the first funnel and the week was filled with floor debates. Last Monday we passed SF 2219 with a vote of 46-0. This bill …
You truly have one of the best community newspapers in the state. As a lifelong Republican I frequently disagree with some of your positions. Yet your observations expressed in “Silencing the …
Belle Plaine farmer Zach Lahn caught the nation’s attention last week talking up conservation agriculture with none other than Tucker Carlson, who was too far over the line for Fox News and is an …
Leading legislators bent on hobbling Iowa’s community newspapers so they can keep the public in the dark are lurching forward. A bill to eliminate public notices from newspapers cleared the Senate …
I hang up the phone, and it hits me again. Even with certain limitations on my time and wallet, I enjoy a lot of privilege in life. The person I spoke with is an alumnus of my workplace, Buena …
We all need reminders now and then. Some of us believe there is only one correct way to think and speak and act in these United States of America. But that is not true. Americans are not …
To public officials and political candidates of all stripes: enough already with the foul language. nnGovernment leaders since the founding of the United States have used off-color words. …
George Orwell’s 1984, a dystopian classic novel, is a staple in American high school English and social studies curriculums. 1984 is taught in 9th or 10th grade and used to introduce themes of …