An especially repellant political race is about to fade from the headlines. It would have been less ugly had more politicians traded invective for wit. Humor can take the edge off while retaining the bite. "Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand," Mark Twain said. Clever retorts ...
I grew up as a child with a dad who was serving in the Air Force. I attended eight different schools in places ranging from Germany to Nebraska to California with a few others to boot, just to graduate high school. The most permanent home I knew was Marshalltown, where my grandparents, ...
The uproar over the Dan Sullivans stunt in Alaska is this year's most famous political dirty trick. The Department of Justice announced last Friday it is conducting civil and criminal investigations that include possible conspiracy to dupe Alaska voters because of two Senate candidates who ...
There is a simple way to assess how much Iowa governments think ordinary citizens deserve to know, and engage in the debate, when officials have an initiative they are eager to undertake. Call it the parking lot test. The recent whirlwind of economic events in Iowa suggests that this time, ...
This is the second in a monthly series of ARTicles highlighting the current exhibit at the Marshalltown Arts & Civic Center (MACC). Titled: Seeing Anew Part 11, the exhibit features roughly half of the works from the Fisher Art Collection, the other half which comprised the original Seeing ...
I've spent a lot of time over the last few days going back through Marshalltown's data center ordinance process. Not just the current ordinance. I went back through the Planning and Zoning packets, the different drafts, the public listening sessions, the meeting minutes and the changes that ...
