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Opinion

High turnouts validate elections

Columnists

Interest in local elections in Jefferson this fall appears to be greater than usual. It’s a good thing. City council and school board elections in Iowa are held in odd-numbered years. In both 2021 and 2023, out of about 3,100 registered voters in the city of Jefferson, only a little more ...

Medicare Advantage provider access

Your View

The current Medicare Advantage plan provider networks have changed for 2026. If you have a Medicare Advantage Plan in central Iowa, you may want to confirm that you have in-network access to every provider you want. Mayo Clinic recently dropped Humana and United Healthcare for 2026. They are ...

Dirty cars and dirty politics

Columnists

When there’s crime, I blame the criminal. But Dallas politicians blamed a business. Dale Davenport owned Jim’s Car Wash. But five years ago, after a shooting at the property, the city ordered him to shut it down. Why did they target his car wash? When I first investigated this ...

Absent facts and explanations, the rumor mills grind on

Columnists

As Iowans headed to the polls this week to elect local school board members, they faced an issue beyond the usual ones of taxes, student achievement, teacher pay, curriculum and enrollment. This year, school board and administrators’ performance and trustworthiness were front and center in ...

Washington could learn from us

Columnists

It was maybe a happy coincidence last week that while I was following the news about Trump’s soybean deal with China that I also happened to tune into the Iowa Farmers Union (IFU) weekly “lunch and learn” on Facebook. Amid so much uncertainty, not just for farmers but all of us in rural ...