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Inside Education: Opening doors to the future: How AEA career supports connect students to life

What if school didn’t just prepare students for tests, but for life? Across our communities, that question is turning into action. Through work-based learning opportunities supported by Central Rivers AEA, students are stepping beyond the classroom and into the workforce. What they are discovering is transforming their futures. Central Rivers AEA partners with 30 school districts to help students explore careers through job shadows, internships and work experience. These aren’t just “extras” – they are essential experiences that help students answer the big question: ...

Democrats be warned: Trump knows your weak spots

Sure, the “No Kings” marches drew millions rightly protesting Donald Trump’s assaults on our democratic institutions. But Democrats must dig deeper and ask how Trump could actually win another term after trying to overturn the 2020 election results with a violent attack on the Capitol. It wasn’t as though most Americans adored him. Gallup’s approval rating for Trump on election eve was a sad 46%. Trump carried the 2024 vote by playing the Democrats on three issues that aggravate even moderate Americans. They are open borders, the demonization of law enforcement and racial, ...

To make America healthy again, break up Big Ag

President Trump has systematically broken virtually every promise made on the campaign trail to court health-focused voters. His most recent walk-backs on pesticide reform are a cruel insult to the idea of “making America healthy again.” Among other controversies, he issued an executive order to boost the production of glyphosate, a toxic pesticide linked to cancer. And he’s repeatedly sided with Bayer in a Supreme Court case that will determine legal immunity from health-related lawsuits for pesticide manufacturers. Voters of both parties are hungry for a new path ...

Bible truth or tradition: “Today you will be with me in paradise”

“And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”” Luke 23:42-43 ESV A few years ago I asked a local Pastor about what happens when we die. The only verse that he referenced was Luke 23:43, referring to Jesus’s answer to a criminal hanging next to him on a cross. The Pastor said that as believers when we die, we go immediately to heaven to be with God and Jesus. I thought to myself if that were true, I would want to be next in line. But, is that really what the Bible ...

District 53 Newsletter from Rep. Dean Fisher

The legislature has finished week 11 of the session, we are busy working on bills sent over from the Senate and preparing appropriations bills for the final weeks of the session. Nearly every year during the session we deal with legislation that to one degree or another seeks to end the requirement that local government notices be published in the local newspaper, opting for publication on local government websites instead. While discussing just such a bill with some of our small-town newspaper owners they made an interesting observation. Readership in that paper increased by 150% in ...

The Warme Wire: Week 11

Week 11 at the Capitol brought an important step forward in stopping financial scams in Iowa. I was proud to floor manage House File 2232, which passed the Senate with bipartisan support. This legislation focuses on preventing financial exploitation, particularly for seniors, in the life ...