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Opinion

Supreme Court spikes an excuse for hiding public comment

Editorials

The Iowa Supreme Court gave citizen engagement and accessibility to public meetings a much-needed boost Friday (May 16) in an appeal of a lawsuit against the Iowa City Community School District. The district’s practice of posting full videos of school board meetings on the internet for ...

District 53 Newsletter: May 22, 2025

Editorials

The 2025 legislative session is over, we adjourned “Sine Die” in the early morning hours of Thursday, May 15, after a 22 hour marathon session. This has been another historic session, there is so much to write about, but so little space in these newsletters. I will touch on a few key pieces ...

Brass Tacks from Rural Iowa: This is not what democracy looks like

Editorials

When I saw the news about the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice (Iowa MMJ) receiving an intimidating letter from state Rep. Charley Thomson of Charles City, it brought back memories. Recent memories and feelings of what I experienced late last year when I received a letter from Summit Carbon ...

Dengler Domain: Adapting

Local Columns

While driving by the North Tama school building recently, I saw the new addition being constructed on the northeast-eastern side of the school. The wave of construction will help push the school forward. This is like all the other additions to the school which have been made over the years. ...

Q&A: National Police Week

Editorials

Q: What is National Police Week? A: Since 1962, U.S. presidents have proclaimed the second week of May as National Police Week to pay tribute to the men and women who put on the badge to serve and protect their community. As Americans go about their daily lives, law enforcement officers put ...

National Farmers Union Week of Action

Editorials

Members of the Iowa Farmers Union (IFU) traveled to Washington, DC, recently to participate in the National Farmers Union (NFU) Week of Action, advocating for a unified farm bill that addresses critical issues facing farmers and rural communities. At a time of unprecedented uncertainty in farm ...

Dengler Domain: Douglas Avenue

Local Columns

For those who do not know, Douglas Avenue and the road it turns into, Euclid Avenue, is one of the major thoroughfares of the Des Moines metro. Douglas runs from the western part of Waukee, turning into Euclid in the middle of Des Moines, before ending on the east side of Des Moines at the road ...

Q&A: National Nurses Week

Editorials

Q: What is National Nurses Week? A: Efforts to honor and celebrate nurses in the United States first got underway during the Eisenhower administration. In 1974, President Nixon issued a proclamation to honor the expanding role nurses were taking on in the health care system, such as nurse ...

Dengler Domain: Grocer Reinvestment Grant Program, HF 1032

Local Columns

It has been a while since I have written about it, but the Robinson-Patman Act is one of my favorite laws. It prevents price discrimination. This means a truckload of potatoes that is being delivered to the grocery store in Traer is the same price as the truckload of potatoes being delivered to ...

On Nature: Monarchs Threatened

Local Columns

One of the anticipated events of spring is the arrival of migrating monarch butterflies, but in recent years their number has declined greatly. Much of this loss has been caused by a great reduction in the abundance of milkweeds, the required food of monarch larvae, as a result of intensive ...