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Iowa GOP legislation reveals biases

Iowa’s 91 House and Senate Republican legislators want to outlaw classroom discussion of topics like racism and sexism. Furthermore, Iowa’s GOP attempt to ban discussion of the slavery-oriented “1619 Project” book reveals their pro-white bias. Republicans’ effort to sweep racism and sexism discussion under the rug will cause long-term negative repercussions. Bruce Lear, retired Iowa teacher, contends when the Republicans prohibit “discussions of such issues as systematic racism, white privilege, lack of diversity, inequality in pay based on gender and LGBTQ ...

Thank you Marshall County leaders

Our society has been filled with unsympathetic political climates, divisive COVID 19 response debate, and circumstances in our lives that can bring us down and take many frustrations out on our leaders in government. Elected officials have signed up for answering to the public, taking their input and making the best decisions possible to protect the citizens, their pocketbooks and improve our neighborhoods, no matter what challenging circumstances that come our way. Our leaders in Marshall County are not the exception as they answer their call daily with honor and kindness. Marshall ...

Mental health is important, too

We are writing as members of Students Empowering and Leading (SEAL), a student-led philanthropy group from East Marshall High School. SEAL gives us the opportunity to not only better the lives of people around us, but also learn valuable lessons about life and leadership. Recently, we conducted a needs assessment to better understand the issues facing Marshall County. More than 300 people responded, 56 percent of whom were students. Respondents felt a number of issues were important including access to affordable health care, access to nutritious food, safe housing and clean up ...

Thompsons very generous to county

We wanted to share the timeline and history of the Old Fire Station with the patrons of Marshalltown and Marshall County. The Old Fire Station actually has two addresses, the north section at 107 S. First Ave. and the south section at 109 S. First Ave. Just to be clear if you are looking at the Old Fire Station from First Avenue, the north section is the previous four bays the fire trucks and equipment were stored while the south section was the offices. From this vantage point you don’t see the two bays on the south section which open to the west. On April 13, 2020, the City of ...

Do not penalize Marshall County Sheriff’s Office

Iread the recent article in the Times-Republican that explained the county will be facing a million budget shortfall due to repairs in the courthouse and due to lower revenue coming into the Marshall County Jail because COVID has reduced the inmate population. I was surprised to see the board is considering cutting the sheriff’s budget as part of its belt tightening strategy to overcome the budget shortfall. I was on two jail study committees to pass a bond issue to build a new jail - an unsuccessful effort in 1994 and one in 1999 that ultimately passed and led to the construction ...

Pandemic adversely affecting domestic violence survivors

There are several Super Bowl ads that I can remember from over the years. None more vividly, though, than one about domestic violence that aired in 2015. In it, you hear a survivor of domestic violence calling local authorities while the camera pans around a house showing nearly everything is knocked over and strewn about. But because the survivor isn’t safe, she tells the 911 operator that she’s ordering a pizza and he eventually catches on, understanding that the perpetrator is in the room. The ad was also timely, as there is often believed to be a spike in reports of domestic ...