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Barker Bulletin

Columnists

It’s the week before funnel! It’s the week before the first legislative funnel deadline. Most House bills must pass a full committee by the end of next week in order to stay alive. This was a busy week full of subcommittee and committee meetings as we work to make sure our priorities advance. I look forward to reporting which of my bills survive the first funnel after next week! Tobacco and Cancer Iowans have been loud and clear that they expect the legislature to take action regarding cancer in our state. And as a healthcare professional who happens to be a legislator, I feel ...

Parallels and patterns: George Orwell’s 1984, Hitler’s Nazi and Trump 2.0

Columnists

George Orwell’s 1984, a dystopian classic novel, is a staple in American high school English and social studies curricula. 1984 is taught in 9th or 10th grade and used to introduce themes of totalitarianism, propaganda and censorship. Likewise, studying Adolf Hitler’s accession to power in 1933 whereby Nazi’s set out to reconstruct German society is taught in the 11th or 12th grade in America’s school systems. All voting-age Americans are knowledgeable of Donald Trump’s attitude, opinions, values, actions, beliefs, behavior, practices and policies. Hence, as a result of ...

Flock and local control

Your View

I spoke at a recent City Council meeting about the Flock camera contract not because I distrust our police, but because residents deserve to understand how systems that collect data on everyone are governed once they’re in place. I recognize that the Marshalltown Police Department has credited these cameras with generating investigative leads, and I don’t dispute their usefulness. But usefulness alone cannot be the standard for systems that collect and store broad public data. Flock Safety emphasizes that customers control routine data sharing, and I take those statements at face ...

Financial Aid Awareness Month: Why our community must rethink access to college

Columnists

Every February, we celebrate Financial Aid Awareness Month with tips on the types of financial aid students can use to pay for school and the tools needed to navigate financial aid. Those lessons matter. But if we stop there, we miss a more complicated truth: many students are not struggling because they lack discipline—they lack the time and resources needed to thrive in education. For parents and community members in Marshalltown, the question is not whether our young people can succeed in college. The question is whether they have access to the knowledge, resources, and pathways ...

District 53 Newsletter from Rep. Dean Fisher

Columnists

This week the House introduced House Study Bill 696 dealing with welfare reform. This bill aims to protect the integrity and sustainability of Iowa’s public assistance programs so it can provide proper care for the Iowans who really need it. It does this by empowering disabled Iowans. It expands eligibility for the Medicaid for Employed Persons with Disabilities program from 250% of the Federal Poverty Limit to 300% FPL, allowing more disabled Iowans to qualify and to accept raises and promotions without fear of losing Medicaid coverage. It also excludes pension accounts from income ...

Atlantic school board teaches a lesson in accountability

Columnists

It’s funny how a government body can learn and teach an important civics lesson in the time it takes a student to go from kindergarten through 12th grade. In 2012, the Atlantic Community School District won a lawsuit to keep information secret about disciplinary measures taken against two employees who conducted a strip-search of five girls to try to find $100 another student reported missing. Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady wrote a dissent in the case, noting that “transparency in government surely will be thwarted” by those who can “quell public discourse and end ...