Is local news readily available in your town? Do reporters still cover your school board and other municipal meetings? The State of Local News Project at Northwestern University documents the changing local news landscape across the country. Our latest report shows that where you live and how ...
With a $9.48 million grant from the Energy Improvement in Rural or Remote Areas (ERA) program, Montezuma, a town of 1,400 residents, is paving the way for rural communities and serving as a model for the future of local energy systems in Iowa. The Montezuma microgrid project, a partnership ...
We have finished week 13 of the session, but we are continuing to pass policy bills, including bills that have come back from the Senate with amendments, as work on the budget continues. Senate File 2391, known as the Meat Integrity Act, is a bill to establish fair labeling standards on ...
Greetings friends and neighbors! We’re moving closer to the end of this year's legislative session in Des Moines. Last week was a mix of appropriations and tax policy committee meetings, consideration of gubernatorial appointees in the full Senate, and debate of some policy bills in the full ...
No problem is so big that we can’t run from it — or at least avoid thinking about it. That’s human nature. There are many concerns that should command our attention but do not. Too often, we hope or assume a serious problem will go away or will spare us. In the aftermath of the Covid ...
Climate change is complicated science, and climate models bear that out. Relationships are not a smooth line and there is much variability in the projections. This variability is often seized on by climate deniers instead of looking at the overall picture. When you do, it is clear that carbon ...
As planting season arrives or has arrived for some in the field, it is an exciting time. The maximum yield potential starts now, and optimism abounds. With planting comes new plans, whether it is a new chemical program, a new trial, or a new seed. If you stay the same, that is fine, but a ...
Greetings friends and neighbors! We’re working our way into the final stages of the legislative session now at the Capitol. One of the tasks we worked on this week in our committees in the Senate was to consider the confirmation of the governor’s appointments to state boards and commissions ...
As I write this column, Senate File 2340 has been passed by both houses of the Iowa legislature, and is making its way to the governor’s desk. If she signs – and she almost certainly will – Iowa will have criminalized unauthorized immigration, putting enforcement in the hands of local ...