Breaking News

Columnists

Be weather aware: Why Severe Weather Awareness Week matters for Marshall County

Every spring, Iowans are reminded that severe weather is not a question of if — but when. From tornadoes to flash floods, high winds to lightning, Marshall County Iowa faces a range of hazards that can disrupt lives and damage property. That’s why Severe Weather Awareness Week, March 24–28, is such an important time for all of us to pause, prepare, and plan ahead. Here in Marshall County, we understand the impact severe weather can have. Many of us remember the 2018 tornado and the 2020 derecho, both of which left lasting scars on our community. Those events taught us that ...

St. Patrick’s Day pranks

St. Patrick’s Day is one of my favorite “Special Occasion Days” like April Fools and Friday the 13th. I like to play pranks on these days. Actually, as I write this, it is Friday the 13th. Hmm, what kind of a prank can I pull today? Last year on St. Patrick’s Day I had an appointment with my oncologist in Iowa City. At previous appointments, one of his questions, along with any swelling of lymph nodes, weight loss/gain, etc., was any rashes? I had never had a rash, but it being St. Patrick’s Day, I thought a nice green rash on my abdomen would be just the ticket to get his ...

District 53 Newsletter from Rep. Dean Fisher

This week, Iowa House Republicans in the Ways and Means Committee passed House Study Bill 596, our property tax bill. The committee amended the bill to reflect the feedback we’ve gotten from Iowans and it includes pieces from the Senate Republicans’ and the Governor’s property tax proposals. There are several major components of the updated bill. There is a cap on revenue growth at 2%, with new construction revenue not included in that limit, ensuring that cities and counties are still incentivized to grow. This component includes exceptions for schools and the debt levy. The ...

Des Moines hides details of costly settlement with police chief candidate

City leaders in Des Moines are making it difficult to understand why they selected the new police chief, considering how they have imposed a code of silence about their recent $975,000 payout to one of the candidates who did not get the job. The payout and, even worse, the sealed lips are just another example of how common sense and good government suffer whenever public officials refuse to detail how and why they spend taxpayer money. This textbook example of misplaced priorities began in 2024 when Des Moines Police Chief Dana Wingert announced his retirement after nearly a decade ...

Haymow hoop dreams

March Madness has begun and I can truly say this is my favorite time of the entire year. I grew up with a love of basketball that began in the early 1970’s on our small hobby farm located 30 minutes south of the state capital in Madison. Our large gambrel style barn was a working barn that housed sheep, black angus cattle, chickens, a couple of mutts, several cats, and dozens of bats that would emerge from the rafters at dusk. It also had mice, one of which ran up my pants leg when I was throwing bales of hay down the chute. The barn was large and had a cavernous haymow. The haymow ...

Rural America needs to band together against corporate greed

Last year, John Deere announced plans to go 100 percent robotic by 2030. That’s right: in just four more years, the world’s largest tractor manufacturer plans to replace every corn and soybean farmer with robots. Farmers won’t own the machines, of course. Right now they can’t even repair a machine because the software is only licensed to them. (And with consolidation, they don’t own their choice of seed, fertilizer, pesticide, or herbicide. And they don’t have much choice where to sell what they grow, either.) More time off from driving the tractor sounds pretty good ...