Congrats to the winner of your annual cover art contest! One detail I noticed that wasn’t mentioned in the copy that ran alongside the artwork was the artist’s byline which included his middle …

Mark Twain would have loved this. The story goes that Twain, arguably America’s greatest writer and humorist, was the originator of the witticism “Figures don’t lie, but liars do …

State and local officials in Nebraska are giving Tyson the business after the giant meat packer announced plans to shut down the Lexington beef plant and put 3,200 people out of work. Tyson …

A backhoe blocks the end of the driveway this sunny Monday morning as water rushes down Irving Street. It’s not deja vu. The backhoe was in the same spot last winter when the water pipe broke. They …

For a lot of families today Christmas season begins at Thanksgiving (or before) and lasts until the Epiphany, Jan. 6. Not at the Cullen homestead on Geneseo Street when I was growing up. We …

I grew up hearing and reading the King James Version of the Bible, and even though the language was sometimes archaic and difficult to understand, its sentences were beautifully constructed. Poetic …

Even prior to moving to Storm Lake my dad, Leonard, was always a fisherman. When we lived in Ute, you would find him and yours truly at Blue Lake, Lake Okoboji or some small river in the surrounding …

The American writer James Agee, together with photographer Walker Evans, in 1941 released “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men,” a book documenting the lives of impoverished Southern sharecroppers …

I became a widow at age 38 when my son was 7. Solo parenting is hard, but thanks to the Affordable Care Act I’ve been able to work part-time from home in a way that makes our lives work pretty …

Well, John, your Christmas story was an easy read until Holy Communion. Then, I started getting nervous. What was up with John? Clearly, John was not feeling well. You elicited genuine …

Iowa is a national leader in wind production, and that leadership has brought real benefits to rural counties like Adair and Howard. As local governments work to stretch limited budgets to keep …

Recently, the following was provided by the Iowa Attorney General’s Office: Scammers often target older Iowans, exploiting their kindness and good will. These schemes can take many forms, such …

2025 was arduous and is good to have behind us. The fever might have broken. Trump was raving mad on TV last week, almost spitting into the camera. This just days after saying that he doesn’t …

Time for me to heap some praise on the Storm Lake Times Pilot to express my appreciation for a very high quality newspaper. The reporting achieves high journalistic standards, unlike so much of …

For too long, higher education in Iowa has drifted from its core mission: preparing a highly skilled workforce and anchoring talent in our communities. This next legislative session, we have a clear …

There was so much blarney and puffery flying around the Cabinet Room during the Dec. 8 White House farmer/ rancher gathering that it became impossible to tell fact from fiction. For example, in …

Roughly 43% of U.S. adults identify themselves as politically independent. However, according to Gallup polling, only around 7-12% of Americans are considered “truly” independent, which means …

What makes freedom of speech so difficult to understand and accept? That question came up at Sunday’s discussion at the Des Moines Valley Friends Meeting. The Friends invited me to speak at …

Donald Trump’s second presidential term is nearly a year old now, and his Republican Party maintains control of both houses of Congress. Americans have had ample opportunity to weigh the pluses and …

I’m not what you’d call a church-goer. My attendance at structured worship services is spotty, with all due respect to spots. When I go, I go out of respect for family, but, when it comes to …