As Chair of the Local Government Committee in the Iowa House, I am often asked: Where should decision-making power reside? I believe the answer lies in the principled balance that local entities should lead on local operational needs, but the state must ensure consistency when constitutional ...
I am writing to share my view on data centers and because I believe Marshalltown has an important choice in front of us. And I believe we should choose opportunity. For generations, Marshalltown has been a community that makes things. We have built products that are used across the country ...
American democracy succeeds by trial and error. Our history is littered with flaws and mistakes, corrected and amended, re-broken, and fixed again, often thanks to citizen input. That is why local government – bottom up, grassroots democracy – provides the best opportunity for ...
For many people, the words “chronic absenteeism” were never heard when they were growing up and going to school. Whether you attended school in the United States or another country, going to school and taking attendance were simply part of the process. Today, chronic absenteeism has become ...
Succession planning and public celebration typically accompany executive retirements. They provide for an orderly leadership transition and public acknowledgment of a job well done. So, two simple questions arise whenever top government employees leave their jobs in hastily announced ...
A man who worked in the cafeteria at my husband's workplace disappeared. My husband talked to him each time he stopped in for lunch. One day, my husband noted how happy the man seemed. He told my husband it was because he had his final green card interview with immigration the next day. My ...
