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Veterans deserve the best care

The other week, I spoke at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Veterans Affairs Community-Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) in Marshalltown on my 36 County Tour. I had the opportunity to tour this incredible facility and speak with members of the community who assisted in making this project possible. Since the American Revolution, over one million United States service members have died in combat or from service-related injuries. Our brave men and women have laid down their lives to ensure that we live in the freest, most prosperous nation in world history. This is a debt that we ...

Volunteers always needed

Friday night I was late getting to the Harvest Market on 13th Street. Like, really late. By the time I pulled up, the Pork Tornadoes were on their last couple of songs, the food trucks were shutting down, people were leaving the show and the very-tired leaders and volunteers of the 13th Street Harvest Market were busy picking up the trash and garbage bags so as not to leave a mess behind. This got me to thinking. Councilman Jeff Schneider shared some disappointing information with me a while back. It seems that there is a nationwide trend of less volunteering in their communities, ...

Speeding

The article on speeding in town gets one response. Boloney. Last Thursday a car going at least 100 mph came by my house. Wednesday evening at 8:30 one went by at 60 mph. There are no cruisers running radar or writing tickets. Speeding on our street is every day, every night and in the night. We have been told we can’t have a permanent deterrent. No stop signs (that would cause pollution), no speed bumps and no radar. We who live on these streets know what’s not happening. I see cops in other parts of town. It may be a priority in some areas of town but not ours, in fact I ...

Carbon pipeline not in our best interest

The Fifth Judicial Court of McPherson County, Spink County, Edmunds County, South Dakota has offered Iowans a temporary reprieve by refusing to allow private industry to use public domain to claim land for the CO2 pipeline. We need to make this a permanent reprieve by pressuring Kim Reynolds and here hand-picked Iowa Utilities Commission to rescind all permits granted to Summit Carbon Solutions, LLC. The court of South Dakota ruled that the pipeline is not carrying a commodity and that the only entity likely to profit from the project is Summit Carbon Solutions. The CO2 will be stored ...

Facts on the U.S. budget deficit and income taxes

The US has a budget deficit because the government spends more than it receives. Deficits have continued in Republican and Democratic administrations. Deficits can be reduced by increased taxes or decreased spending or both. This letter provides facts about taxing only the wealthy. The definition of wealth in this letter is taxpayers reporting over $500,000 of Adjusted Gross Income (AGI). Tax statistics are not provided for taxpayers over $400,00 of AGI. US Budget Totals for 2021 (the latest year reported) 2021 US Receipts $4,047,000,000,000 2021 Outlays (payments) ...

Surprising endorsement

In Marshalltown, District 4 our Representative is Randy Feenstra. I’m not surprised if people don’t know that. He doesn’t talk to constituents, and he follows the national party establishment and corporate donors in their land grab for the CO2 pipeline. But some people are tired of that, including his Republican primary competitor, Kevin Virgil, who still has questions. Why isn’t he doing anything about Iowa’s high cancer rates, the number of children living in poverty, the disappearing family farm and the lack of mental health support? Since Rep Feenstra isn’t bothered ...