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Columnists

AEA supports provide connections, support for area educators

Education is deeply rewarding—but at times, it can also feel isolating. Many educators spend their days making hundreds of decisions independently while navigating complex student needs, accountability pressures, and the emotional weight that comes with caring deeply about those they serve. ...

Chasing likes, not scholarship, elevates ‘6–7’ to Word of the Year

People made a terrible fuss when Dictionary.com named “6–7” its word of the year. Brain rot, people said. Language has gone to hell, others decried. Our children are illiterate, still more wailed. (My gripe is that “6–7” feels more like an idiom than a single word.) But ...

There are times to put down cellphones. Lots of times

The year opened with what could be one of the most horrifying videos of 2026. At 1:30 a.m. in a basement bar at a Swiss ski resort, flames started dancing on the ceiling. Instead of rushing upstairs to flee the room, many celebrants lifted their cellphones toward the blaze, eager to record the ...

Police video case is wrapped in important legal principles

It was Christmas Eve. The gifts were laid beneath the Christmas tree at the home of Merlin and Nelda Powers in Urbandale. But the family’s holiday celebration ended abruptly that day in 1968 when the Powerses’ 10-year-old daughter Pamela disappeared from the YMCA in downtown Des Moines ...

Forgetting those things which are behind

The year 2025 passed pretty quickly, almost in the blink of an eye. It began with tragedy as soon as January hit, with 14 people being killed in New Orleans when a driver rammed his truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street. A similar deadly incident happened in Las Vegas when an active-duty U.S. ...