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Data centers

Before the memories of summer are gone, I want to thank the city for the beautiful plantings around downtown, I hope they will be well cared for, honoring our nation’s 250 birthday with such a wide variety of activities and celebrations and putting a great face forward for our town in welcoming RAGBRAI riders, I heard such favoring comments from riders who were from all over! Great job city leaders, employees and volunteers! Now a fourth thank you to the city’s zoning commission for sponsoring an evening to listen to the facts and concerns regarding data centers. I know very little ...

A note of gratitude

On behalf of Iowa River Hospice, I want to extend our deepest gratitude to our sponsors, our donors, our teams, our volunteers, and our local communities who supported our recent fundraiser golf tournament. Because of your incredible generosity, we raised a remarkable $38,000 to benefit our Days of Care program. A special thank you goes out to everyone who supported our lawn mower raffle, which alone brought in $10,689. This raffle would not have been possible without the extraordinary generosity of the Heddens family and Central Iowa Farm Store. We cannot thank them enough for ...

Not a dream, but a nightmare

This is not a dream — it is a nightmare. He tells us that if we elect a Democrat we are voting for communism — a very evil thing. Then he ridicules Zelensky on national TV, but he literally puts out a red carpet for Putin. He refused to give Zelensky the weapons he needs to stop the Russian carnage. He proposes a treaty that gives Putin everything he wants. But the icing on this frightening cake is that he now blames Zelensky for being partially responsible for high gas prices. Zelensky is the "bad guy" because he is attacking Russian oil facilities. Let us remember now — ...

The values of District 52

Dear Editor, Last election season for District 52, Republican big money ran out Representative Sue Cahill through negative ads in which her policies were misrepresented as scary, and unlike the values of District 52. Thus, David Blom was elected. I wrote to him about my concerns about the nitrates in Iowa’s water and our high cancer rates which killed my brother, but I got no response from him. I wondered what values he represented in Des Moines, but instead of using his political ads to inform us about what he accomplished, he is again on the attack. I looked on Ballotpedia.org ...

The courage to say no

It occurred to me recently that one good thing has come out of the unfortunate manner in which local entities have tried to sell Marshalltown to data center developers: It has brought the community together. It has given us a common cause to fight together. I’m surprised and impressed to see how many people are showing up, speaking out and not backing down. I’m grateful to be a part of a community that has the courage to say no. I’m proud that so many people think our land, our resources and our quality of life are worth more than a promise of a handful of jobs and some potential ...

The turkey countdown has already begun

Thanksgiving may still feel far away. For the turkeys destined for Thanksgiving tables, it is not. The turkeys many plan to eat on Thanksgiving, have just been born. Long before families write shopping lists or debate who is bringing the mashed potatoes, millions of turkeys are being raised by an industry designed to turn living animals into holiday products as quickly and efficiently as possible. They are only a few weeks old and they will be slaughtered before they’ve lived even six months. By Thanksgiving, their story is already over. But ours does not have to follow the same ...