You may have heard about the White House’s ideas for raising the birth rate, but let’s be clear: Far-right Republicans don’t really care about the birth rate per se because for one …

While we usually think of God as masculine, and not everyone believes this to be true, the majority of us believe it. When it comes to Mother Nature it would seem God is female. It is my fervent …

We hear so much about scams and how they can happen to anyone. Here’s a first person account by Storm Laker Rick Wimer, 80, about an incident that happened to him about two weeks ago. …

It usually takes a while for specific changes by the federal government to work their way down to the local level. But after about 100 days of President Trump’s second term, executive orders …

As much as all of us try to plan for any unforeseen circumstances in our lives, there are times when the unexpected happens and we need to re-evaluate our financial priorities. Such is the case when …

If you are one of the millions of Americans who pollsters say “voted for change” last November, boy, are you getting it now. As of this spring, for example, illegal border crossings …

Last week, the Iowa House unanimously passed House File 988, which allows Iowans to open tax-free interest-bearing savings accounts to pay for qualified catastrophic expenses. The bill defines …

We’re nigh onto 100 days since Donald Trump swore on the Bible, and he already has done enough political damage to give an opening to the downtrodden opposition in Iowa. Stocks and pension …

It sounded like the roof was going to rip off at 1 a.m. Friday. Ferocious straight-line winds knocked out power to some 6,000 households in Buena Vista County. When daylight broke we could see the …

Mary and I missed last Friday’s straight-line wind storm that caused considerable damage in Storm Lake. We were on our way to our daughter and son-in-law’s home in northwest Indiana for …

As we approach the second anniversary of a tragedy that shocked the people of Davenport and brought national attention to the issue of building safety, government secrecy continues to cloud public …

Time was, you settled down, got married, had kids. Many women were told that that was the natural order of things, with mothers staying in the home to raise their children. The only problem was …

Interesting that the anti-DEI Republicans have voted in favor of HF 516, which mandates that 80% of applicants accepted to dental and medical programs at the University of Iowa be Iowa residents or …

Iowa’s senior U.S. Senator, Republican Chuck Grassley, met with more than 50 of us from the Jefferson area here last Thursday morning. Unlike most Republican members of Congress these days, …

Last week we passed the Governor's Disaster Relief bill, SF 619 / HF 1012, the bill had a few changes from my update last week. Those changes include: Adds a limiting provision to the …

Longtime readers of this weekly effort may recall my affection for the word “woodenheadedness.” It comes from “The March of Folly,” Barbara Tuchman's 1984 book about …

With colleges under full frontal assault, whiskey purveyor and Beaver great Keith Kerkhoff regaled the Storm Lake United annual banquet with tales of facing legendary Football Coach Jim Hershberger …

Iowa could return to its moderate good sense with Gov. Kim Reynolds retired. For nearly a decade, Reynolds presided over declining school test scores, banning books in schools, shaming of gays, …

With the bankruptcy of Holzhauer auto dealerships in Storm Lake and Cherokee, it seems unlikely that the Ford brand will reappear in The City Beautiful, ending more than a century of Blue Oval sales …

A constitutional showdown taking shape in southern Iowa’s Decatur County could put taxpayers on the hook financially to defend the county’s efforts to silence a critic of public officials …