×

Local Columns

Dengler Domain: Caitlin Clark

Growing up, I was an Iowa State Cyclones fan through and through. Then I became a Northern Iowa Panther so being an Iowa Hawkeyes fan has never been on my radar. I will even root for the Drake Bulldogs over the Iowa Hawkeyes, but my stance has softened with Caitlin Clark. She is on ...

Dengler Domain: Weather 2.0

It has been a wacky spring. One day the weather wants to be 55 degrees and sunny, and the next day it wants to be 25 degrees and snowy. It is like a toddler at a candy store taking forever to decide. The last couple springs have been warmer than we currently sit at this point. There was no ...

On Nature: Energy Innovation

I am convinced that the way out of our climate mess is through the development of new technologies and processes that may be aided by the government providing funds for research and development. For example, I have read about a couple of emerging technologies that may help reduce our ...

Dengler Domain: Final Four

March Madness is here. With Iowa, Iowa State, and Drake making the NCAA tournament in both the men’s and women’s brackets, the state of Iowa has had a wonderful basketball year outside of my alma mater. The Panthers need to go back to the jungle. March Madness is a uniquely American ...

Dengler Domain: North Tama Swing Show

Playing football, basketball, track, and baseball and the relative success these teams saw due mostly to my teammates and a little credit due to me, taught me how to work as a team to achieve a common goal and other life experiences. Despite these successes on the gridiron, court, track, and ...

Dengler Domain: Farming

As the weather warms up and farmers pull the machinery out of the shed to make the final tune ups before planting, I am lucky, blessed, and excited to have this be my first year on my own farming. If you asked me when I was a kid playing my PlayStation 2 if I wanted to be a farmer, it would ...

On Nature: Alaskan Oil Drilling

In the recent State of the Union address, President Biden touted his commitment to reducing climate change, but there is concern that his administration is about to take a big step backward. The Bureau of Land Management is poised to approve the Willow oil drilling project in the ...

Dengler Domain: Opera House

If I were smart enough to make my own time traveling machine, the first place I would want to visit in Traer would be the opera house. To the those in the Traer Nostalgia Facebook group sharing photos of it, thank you. Thank you for all the other wonderful posts in this group. This opera ...

Dengler Domain: Informed

The tough part living in today’s world is knowing what is true and what is not. The way the social media economy and the news economy is setup in today’s world is to generate likes. Sometimes, a lie can spread around the world faster than the truth. The reason being is high quality ...

On Nature: Environmental Success

As we start the new year, it is good to reflect on the environmental successes of the past year. During 2022, there was one special event to celebrate, the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act that addresses climate change in a significant way. Many of the act’s provisions apply directly ...