Breaking News

Opinion

Telling a story

Your View

There was a time in human history when all we knew was what we learned, by listening to stories. This past Memorial Sunday, our pastor emphasized the importance of telling stories. Not only the Bible's story about the Kingdom of God, found in Matthew 28, but our own personal story. It appears that God meant for people to spread His truth by word and deed. Some time ago, I did my story from birth to the present day. That is ninety years of events that are wrapped around what God has done in my life. I think the old teaching system might have been a good pattern. At that time, all ...

A positive American outlook

Your View

So, I will preface to say that I myself, have many views that could be considered by some to be, questionable, argumentative, leaning one way, or another. Or that my opinions may not matter because of mistakes I made, and so on. By saying this I mean that we all know someone that is offended by something, or sometimes, Everything. Unfortunate but accurate. But, I would like to say the loud part put loud. That regardless of division, we are witnessing a renaissance of truth about the USA, and American culture that should be a win for us all, regardless of division or who is reporting ...

Marshalltown is negotiating before it sets the rules

Columnists

At Monday night’s council meeting, one thing was clear: Marshalltown is a city that makes decisions under pressure. Across multiple topics, the conversation kept coming back to the same reality. We have limited budgets, tight timelines, and a need to move forward with the information we have. That approach makes sense in the short term. But it gets harder when we apply that same mindset to decisions that could shape the city for the next 10 or 20 years. That is why the data center discussion mattered. The debate was not really about whether Marshalltown should be open to ...

Pete Hegseth's vaccine policy backfired

Columnists

An influenza outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas has sickened almost 160 people in the past few weeks and might have even killed one person going through basic training. If it wasn’t already clear why Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to eliminate the military’s universal flu vaccine mandate was an exceptionally bad idea, it should be now. Hegseth announced the policy change in April, and since then, fewer than half of Air Force trainees have opted to get the shot. The vaccine does not provide perfect protection, but it reduces infections, lessens the severity for ...

The World Cup has always welcomed the world. Not this time.

Columnists

The 2026 FIFA World Cup has begun on American soil, the first time the United States has hosted the tournament in 32 years. In exchange for the privilege of hosting the Cup, and the enormous revenue it generates, a host nation is generally expected to welcome visitors for the games. Previous ...

Hero Street defines American patriotism

Columnists

As Americans celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday with parades, speeches, fireworks and other patriotic traditions, much attention will focus on familiar symbols of our history — monuments, battlefields, historic landmarks. Yet Independence Day also lets us reflect on lesser-known ...