“These are the times that try men’s souls.” Is it an overstatement to suggest that Thomas Paine was describing our own times? An understatement? Clearly, circumstances have …

Somewhere along life's highway most of us learned to balance a checkbook. This task usually involved a pencil, the back of a used envelope, and some basic math. Today, however, a click or two in a …

On July 25, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave a radio address to 125 million Americans in which he coined the term “first 100 days.” Today the 100th day of a presidency is …

Iowans do not like change. It might be our strongest attribute. Sen. Chuck Grassley has been in politics since 1959. Terry Branstad holds the national record for longest tenure as governor. A third …

Solar panels create 31 times the energy from an acre of land that corn does in the form of ethanol, according to research coordinated at Cornell University in New York. Put another way: If solar …

Give Gov. Kim Reynolds credit for consistency. When it comes to wanting to hide details of possible misstatements or misdeeds, she treats Lutherans and atheists alike. Soon, Iowans may learn …

I am having difficulty understanding that Cherokee County would limit the amount of acres for solar panels. It appears that there is not a reason but just that you are opposed to them. Solar panels …

L.A. Wescott Post 2253 wishes to thank all who supported their annual Easter Egg hunt on April 19. A special thanks to those who donated items for hygiene kits for homeless veterans. Your generosity …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

One of the first orders of business for each new Congress is securing committee assignments. Lawmakers are assigned to committees to divide up the work. This allows members to dive into policy areas …

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, …

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 …

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, …

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 …

It’s called “collective punishment” when an entire group or community is sanctioned for an act of one member, or a few of them. It’s a form of bullying. The punished group …