House Ag Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson must not be a superstitious man. If he were, he would not have introduced the biggest bill of his congressional career, the “Farm, Food, and National …

The sixth week of the legislative session officially kicked off the rush toward the first major legislative deadline. The initial “funnel” deadline is this week, making it imperative to advance …

That damn socialist mayor out in New York threatened to hike property taxes by 9.5% unless he can ram through a wealth tax. Wait a New York minute: Property taxes on our humble metal shed along …

It will take an extraordinary amount of unity and discipline for Democrats to win an open US Senate seat in Iowa. Republican Ashley Hinson, a member of the House and former TV newscaster, will be a …

As a kid I used to watch ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” on winter Saturday afternoons. This was the era when stores were open long hours, the day of the week when farmers and their families came …

It’s funny how a government body can learn and teach an important civics lesson in the time it takes a student to go from kindergarten through 12th grade. In 2012, the Atlantic Community …

The works of William Shakespeare exist in the public domain. That means a writer can use, or copy, anything The Bard (1564-1616) wrote in his 39 plays, 154 sonnets, 3 long narrative poems, and other …

Punxsutawney Phil, the shadow-obsessed groundhog, and Glenn “GT” Thompson, the chairman of the House Ag Committee, have something in common: both reside in Pennsylvania’s 15th Congressional …

“The Rock Island Independents had a mighty fine line,” the Republican senators sang at the bar. “I may be right and I may be wrong but you're gonna miss me when I'm gone.” So they pushed …

Grandchild Number Three arrived in dramatic fashion — on greased skids, as it were. That baby wasted no time barreling into the world two weeks early. Talk about speedy delivery, but everyone is …

My ancestors trace their roots in America to before the days the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence. You may have seen my distant cousin, Joseph Hewes, in the massive …

Founded after World War I, the American Legion advocates for the unique needs of every generation of veterans, service members and their families. The American Legion Auxiliary mission is to support …

Standard majority rule now governs state income tax decisions in Iowa. The state’s constitution requires that five procedural steps be taken to change that. Three of those steps have already been …

If growing corn is a religion among Midwestern farmers, its Vatican is somewhere in central Iowa. That fact was confirmed in late January when a Des Moines-based ag consulting firm released a …

As funnel week approaches, it is important that legislation begins moving forward, and we keep making progress on the issues Iowans have brought to us over the last several months. Last week the …

Rural Iowa schools are deeply committed to maintaining quality education, but they must continually navigate the fiscal pressures of shrinking enrollment and stagnant local tax bases. In some …

Kim Reynolds has occupied the spot as the most unpopular governor in America nearly as long as Terry Branstad wore a mustache in Terrace Hill. She ran up a whale of a deficit and is skedaddling after …

I used to read like a house on fire. Then cable TV appeared, and the banquet of classic movies lured me in. The internet continued to diminish my once-robust reading habit, and social media …

January ended with a notable week for federal courts because of the voices of its judges. Judges in Minnesota and Texas spoke with clarity in these troubled times. In between them, a longtime …

Laws and leaders that ban diversity, equity, and Inclusion (DEI) practices of public institutions, and even try to extend the ban to the private sector, argue that DEI potentially discriminates …