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Opinion

Dengler Domain: Iowa State Fair

Local Columns

While the Winding Stairs Festival is an important festival all must attend, there is a slightly bigger event in Iowa which also brings people together. It is the Iowa State Fair. Whether it is attending concerts at the grandstand, looking at or showing the animals, or trying the newest and ...

A promising future: Ag and solar

Editorials

Freedom has fueled generations of farmers, allowing them to change their practices to fit their family needs. A relatively new farming option is to host renewable energy projects like wind or solar, which provide direct financial benefits while allowing the surrounding land to still be used ...

Q&A: Iowa State Fair

Editorials

Q: What are your favorite traditions at the Iowa State Fair? A: There’s something for everyone at the historic Iowa State Fair that runs through August 18, from food and entertainment to livestock exhibits and family friendly contests. I’ve enjoyed attending the state fair every year ...

Dengler Domain: Winding Stairs Festival

Local Columns

Another year, another successful Winding Stairs Festival in the books for the community of Traer. In an effort to do things differently this year, I made the trip for both Friday and Saturday. Double dipping on Friday at Lost Island Theme Park during the day while night-capping at the Winding ...

On Nature: New Energy Source

Local Columns

What is over four miles long, is full of dirt and has a potential power output of 50 megawatts? This is not a trick question but a unique idea to reduce our carbon emissions that even those who don’t care about global warming can appreciate. It is an energy-storage-by-rail project that is ...

Iowa’s Native Son: Celebrating Herbert Hoover

Editorials

On August 10, 150 years ago, Herbert Clark Hoover was born in his family’s two-room cottage in West Branch, Iowa. Hoover’s parents were among the village’s early settlers, traveling by covered wagon in search of America’s promise on the prairie. As the only Iowan elected to the White ...

Petal Pusher: Lisianthus 101

Local Columns

“You make me dizzy Miss Lizzy…the way you rock and roll!” They are unbelievably gorgeous and Lisianthus is by far the hardiest flower that I grow – let me explain… I found one of the Lisianthus blooms I’d cut the day before lying on the ground in the high tunnel, looking as ...

Challenging the power of corporate meatpackers

Editorials

Family farmers I know say we’ve been under the thumb of corporate ag bosses and the big meatpackers for too long. Political affiliation doesn’t seem to matter – they all agree something needs to be done to make our agriculture markets more open, fair and transparent. And right now, ...

Q&A: Bipartisan Victory for Kids

Editorials

Q: What’s included in the online safety legislation adopted by the Senate 91-3? A: In the first update to internet safety legislation in a quarter century, the U.S. Senate passed historic bipartisan legislation on July 30 designed to hold Big Tech accountable, stop child exploitation, rein ...