Watching Drake play in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament last weekend reminded me of my freshman college days in Indiana, when this Iowa boy followed Drake in the NCAA tournament. It was …

Storm Lake lost some good people over the past couple of weeks. My old friend Bill Hott, age 74, passed away unexpectedly Feb. 11 after a long and impressive career in music. Bill and I …

When The Storm Lake Pilot began publishing in October 1870, it was a weekly newspaper. When The Storm Lake Times began publishing in June 1990, it was a weekly newspaper. Over the years, as …

The passing of banking scion George Schaller last week at age 85 marked the end of a long and distinguished life as one of The City Beautiful’s most prominent citizens. George was the …

Over the past few years there has been a huge increase of attention to math and science in our schools. That’s all well and good, but it seems like it’s been to the detriment of the …

I had gone years without suffering the indignities of the common cold, attributing it to superior genetics and clean living. Turns out I was just lucky. Last week it caught up to me. After …

Republicans campaign that they’re the pro business party that wants to get rid of regulations hindering the free flow of commerce. Actions by President Trump during the past two weeks have …

Service clubs, which used to be the backbones of community service, are fading into obscurity. We’re talking about groups like Kiwanis, Rotary and Lions. Plus fraternal societies that were …

Last week we regretfully announced that at the end of this month, the Aurelia Star will cease publication. We never really made money on the Star since taking it over about five years ago, but …

New York City began its new policy of congestion pricing this week, where motorists are charged a $9 toll to drive into Manhattan. The idea is to reduce the traffic that chokes the city’s …

Jimmy Carter, who was President from 1977-1981, passed away Dec. 29 at the age of 100. His funeral was held Thursday. He was the longest living former President in the history of the United States. …

If Iowa, particularly our western region, wants to keep our young people home and attract new business, we have to embrace the electric vehicles that are transforming transportation and lifestyle, …

Two of my favorite days happened this week: Dec. 25, Christmas; and Dec. 21, the Winter Solstice. The reason I like Christmas should be obvious. I like the Winter Solstice because it’s the …

Professor Grammar will provide my column this week. Because it’s Christmastime, it concerns the proper use of the word “gift.” In the past couple of years, gift has …

Color photographs in newspapers are common today. Each issue of the Times Pilot includes dozens of them. But when I started out in newspapers over 52 years ago, color news photos were rare. They were …

After winter gave me a good hard slap on the face this week, with the promise of more to come, I decided I’d find things to look forward to. First of all, there’s football. This …

This Thanksgiving we are grateful for the many generous people who, over the past century, have donated money to this newspaper’s Mr. Goodfellow fund so that kids can stay warm in the winter. …

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my modest fitness goal of walking at least two miles a day, most of it going to and from work. I received a lot of response from that column, including from …

Well, that wasn’t the election I was hoping for. The voters of America, in their infinite wisdom, returned to the Presidency a convicted felon, sexual predator, and self-confessed wannabe …

This column may upset more people than our endorsement of Kamala Harris, but I’m willing to take that chance. Here goes: I don’t like the black uniforms that Iowa State University …