Last week, the House passed bills on work requirements for Medicaid expansion and food eligible for nutrition assistance. HF 948 requires the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services to …

Medicaid looks to be one of the big corks Congress hopes will help plug an estimated $4.7 trillion flood of red ink that accompanies tax cuts Republicans plan to pass this spring. They’re …

There are few comparisons — maybe none — in American history to what President Donald Trump proposes for takeover of Greenland by the United States. Trump refuses to rule out …

Not even the judges know for sure if the courts can hold up against a full-on assault over the next four years. They could use some fortification. Top law firms that once crossed The Donald are now …

Willis Hamilton was a great lawyer. He was a fearless advocate who was smart and took command of the facts. He was practical but liked to swing for the fences and often   knocked it out with …

Last week reader Rick Davis, Laurens native now living in San Antonio, Texas, asked if anyone remembers the Jags, a rock band from Storm Lake in the 1960s. Our friend Bill Turner came to the …

As the president, governors and legislators elevate the stress and anxiety in higher education in the United States by seeking to change how colleges and universities operate and what they teach, the …

Brooke Yonge, from Derry, New Hampshire recently went to vote in a local election and was prevented from doing so. New Hampshire now requires proof of citizenship to vote, and Yonge didn’t have …

It takes courage to stand for the right course of action. It takes more courage to do something about it. John F. Kennedy’s 1956 book “Profiles in Courage” details the actions …

The Department of Education, like so many things in the way of Trumpism’s wrecking ball, is not being dismantled for a reason so much as for a feeling. It is a bureaucratic entity, and …

The Social Security program is 89 years old. Seventy-two million Americans currently receive a monthly benefit. Some 185 million Americans pay into the system and plan to receive benefits someday. …

On June 4, 2024, an op-ed I penned (Project 2025’s threat to democracy) was published in The Fulcrum, a national bipartisan social media platform. It received over 74,000 views and landed as …

At the Storm Lake forum last Saturday, House File 572 was brought up multiple times. I had heard very little about this bill prior to the forum. There are thousands of bills floating around the …

The old hometown is proud of Storm Lake St. Mary’s alumnus Ben McCollum, 43, who was named head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes men’s basketball team this week. We’re deflated for Drake, …

It may seem kinda nutty, professor, but RFK2 believes that just letting the flu ravage henhouses while we stand by and breathe it in may be the way to go. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins …

It makes us nervous when legislators commit themselves to historic property tax reform. If they knew what they were doing, the taxes on our humble offices would not be shooting through the tin roof. …

After my recent column that mentioned I played in a rock band in high school, I received this from a Times Pilot reader. MY NAME is Rick Davis, age 80, a native of Laurens, now living in San …

Uh-oh. Trump is hearing voices again. And the voices are telling him to do something truly stupid. As he puts it, “There is a lot of talk about the Postal Service being taken …

I have a ten-month-old grandson (and another grandson on the way), and as I watch him crawl and make new sounds, it’s sometimes overwhelming to consider all the time and effort he (and his …

Of all the startling foreign adventures President Donald Trump has proposed in recent weeks, the American takeover of Gaza takes the prize as the most bizarre. Who does he think he is? More …