Reflecting on a very productive 2025 session of the 91st Iowa General Assembly, we accomplished a great deal! nnThis edition of the newsletter highlights some important legislation passed this year …
In 1976, looking for a summer job that would advance my career goals, I approached the director of the State Historical Society of Iowa to see if there were any special projects on the docket. As it …
With 2025 half gone, the cautious American ag economy, like the slowing U.S. economy, now tiptoes into its second half. Key U.S. ag markets quietly survived the raucous first half. For example, …
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 …
The United States system of government is one of the most complicated such mechanisms in the world. It’s a blessing and a curse. A blessing, because it disperses power. That’s what …
Peggy Noonan has been a right-leaning columnist for The Wall Street Journal since leaving the Ronald Reagan Administration as his primary speechwriter. Five of Noonan’s books have been New York …
Six months into my first job as pup reporter in the last century, I pestered my boss to transfer me from the green fields of north central Iowa to the story-littered streets of Washington, D.C. to …
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 …
Several dozen people gathered last Saturday in Monticello for a citizen workshop the Grassroots Iowa Network organized to get more everyday Iowans engaged in the political process. They spent …
I mowed the lawn last weekend. Temp was in the middle 90s, with heat index over 100. With a strong breeze, it really wasn’t so bad. But my mom would probably have said, “You don’t …
The United States Postal Service is on the brink of a self-induced collapse. The failed policies of the Delivering for America Plan have driven away customers through a combination of sky-high rate …
If you’re in charge of reversing American agriculture’s three-years-old-and-growing trade deficit, your list of options is as limited as it is unworkable. You can, for instance, …
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 …
People living in central Iowa received a wake-up call last week that should drag water-quality back in front of the state’s 3.2 million residents. Iowa’s largest water supplier, one …
What links Dwight Eisenhower, the Lincoln Highway and Greene County? nnLocal history buffs know. “Ike,” at the time a 28-year-old lieutenant colonel, volunteered to help lead an Army …
One of the issues that I have heard about most often and most consistently, throughout the past three years, concerns the carbon capture pipelines and the potential use of eminent domain to complete …
When you're 8 or 9 years old, you don't see the world as you will as a 50- or 60-year-old. Much of what seems perfectly ordinary to a child often becomes quite extraordinary with the passing of time. …