Anecdotes favorable to American law enforcement abound. They tell of neighborhood residents protected from criminality, businesses safeguarded, and of society’s lowest being grabbed up and accorded the harsh justice their crimes merit. (I love it when American justice lands hard on ...
As I write this, another snowstorm is bearing down on our fair city. As usual, our dedicated city departments will be hard at it, clearing the snow on our 166 miles of roads so you can go about your day with the least amount of disruption. Yes, I said that right, 166 MILES of roads in Marshalltown. 16 hour days and nights are not uncommon. It takes teamwork between departments plus dedication per snowfall to make it all work. I contacted Heather Thomas, our City Engineer, for some details. This is from Heather. Public Works has a variety of larger equipment that we use to plow snow ...
When a new community space opens, a ribbon is cut, or a long-envisioned project becomes a reality, it can often feel like an “overnight success.” I keep a sticky note taped to my computer screen that reads: “10-year overnight success.” It’s a daily reminder that meaningful and impactful community change doesn’t happen instantly — it happens steadily. What we celebrate in a single afternoon is often the result of years of conversations, planning sessions, fundraising, setbacks, persistence, and belief. It reflects ideas and dreams formed long before the public ever sees ...
As I write this, we are in our final hours of “funnel week.” In order for our individually filed bills to be available for floor debate they must be passed by their respective committee by Feb. 20. That deadline creates a flurry of activity as we press to get our individual bills through their subcommittees and through the full committee. Several of the bills I’ve filed have passed the funnel deadline, including a bill to give courts greater subpoena powers over online transactions by those that are behind on child support, a bill to make it illegal in Iowa to give an employer a ...
Wrapping Up First Funnel Week While the first funnel week of the session comes to a close, the house has worked this week to get all the proposed legislation finalized and through, especially Senate File 2201, making an agreement on supplemental state aid for K-12 schools in the house. Commerce HSB 691: This bill, brought to the committee by Representative Charley Thomson, allows for landowners to receive compensation for damages done and continued yield losses due to pipelines of all types (natural gas, hazardous liquids, etc.). This bill also allows landowners to file land ...
It was disturbing, frustrating and sickening. But it was not surprising. And it’s happened six years in a row. Behind closed doors, secretively and quietly, Iowa’s Senate Republicans once again killed a bill that would improve, and possibly save, the lives of nursing home ...
