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Hearing the voices of America

Columnists

January ended with a notable week for federal courts because of the voices of its judges. Judges in Minnesota and Texas spoke with clarity in these troubled times. In between them, a longtime Iowa federal judge’s voice fell silent after a quarter century of delivering justice, along with lessons in compassion, fairness and our shared history. Robert W. Pratt was 78 when he died last week. The Emmetsburg native was a U.S. district judge in the southern half of Iowa from 1997 to 2023. Pratt began his legal career working for Iowa Legal Aid, a nonprofit law firm that champions ...

Don’t abuse the word ‘protest’

Columnists

Alex Pretti wasn’t killed while “protesting.” This is a common description of what he was doing on a Minneapolis street the fateful morning when a confrontation with federal immigration agents ended in his tragic shooting. But if Pretti had been a mere protester, he’d very likely be alive today. Now that we’ve seen videos of an earlier struggle with federal agents and learned more about the organized nature of the anti-ICE resistance, it’s become clear that the better word for Pretti was agitator, or perhaps even operative. A protester, as typically understood, is ...

The Barker Bulletin: A scout is reverent

Columnists

Thursday of this week was Scouting Day on the Hill. As an Eagle Scout myself, it was my honor to provide the invocation for the House followed by the pledge lead by Troop 128 Eagle Scouts Keygan Angus and Peter Thomas. Heavenly Father, We come before you this morning with grateful hearts. ...

The Warme Wire: Week Three

Columnists

I set a new personal record this week at the Capitol, leading four Health & Human Services subcommittees in one day. The meetings were on three different levels of the building and covered a broad range of topics including encouraging a strong pipeline of PAs, improving utilization of subacute ...

2026 tax season delivers real relief for Iowans

Columnists

As tax season begins, families across Iowa are taking a closer look at their paychecks, refunds, and household budgets. After years of historic inflation and economic uncertainty, many families have tasked our government with correcting the economic failures of the previous four years. ...

Learing lessons from Minnesota’s fraud ring

Columnists

An audit found Minnesota paying millions of dollars for fraudulent child care services – nearly a decade ago! At that time, the state’s nonpartisan legislative auditor warned more needed to be done to combat child care fraud, including verifying attendance. Apparently, the state ...