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Concerned about HSB 542

In Iowa, we have a new director of our Department of Education. Her name is Mackenzie Snow. Prior to coming to Iowa in June of 2023, she had worked for the Virginia Department of Education for fourteen months. The focus throughout Ms. Snow’s career was as a longtime advocate of state-funded private school scholarships. Snow has no classroom experience, and an undergrad degree in political science. It will be Ms. Snow’s new responsibility to oversee all of Iowa’s special education services and a massive transition, if HSB 542 is passed as is. This bill includes raising new ...

A conscious effort

Congratulations to South Korea for finally joining Western civilization in banning dog meat trade. When will we be taking the next civilized step of banning all animal meat trade? Whatever makes dogs more deserving of life and liberty than cows and pigs? But there is more. According to the United Nations, meat and dairy use 83 percent of global farmland and account for 60 percent of agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions? Last, but not least, the current Netflix hit series “You Are What You Eat” should convince any doubters that getting more civilized is actually good for our ...

A brief response to Gov. Reynolds

A brief response to Gov. Reynolds’ State of the State address. It was delivered in her predictable style with arguments for policy change that leave me scratching my head. Her words, “In the face of intense pressure to keep the status quo, we passed one of the boldest school choice programs in the country, kicking off a national revolution”. Why is she praising the passing of a bill which she admits was not popular and faced majority public opposition? Why do we need to start a “national revolution?” Shouldn’t our focus be here at home and what is good for us? AEAs are ...

Response to T-R article Sat., Dec. 30

Federal judge Stephen Locker okays sexually explicit material and the right of teachers to discuss LGBTQ lifestyles in elementary schools. School President Mike Beranek of Iowa Education Association and the ACLU along with other groups praise the ruling. In my opinion, the judge and these other groups showed lack of moral character. The judge should know that all speech is not protected, like racial slurs, religion in schools and you can’t yell “fire” in a crowded movie theater if there’s no fire. The judge could have added filth and sexual immorality to the list of unprotected ...

Thank you for Emergency Food Box contributions

On behalf of the Emergency Food Box Board, I want to say thank you to the residents of Marshall County for their support during 2023. The EFB is run by an all-volunteer staff. None of the donations are used for salary. Donations are used for food, building maintenance, and physical things needed to carry out the EFB mission, which is to provide food for those in our community who are hungry. As everyone realizes the cost of food has gone up. The community has responded with food and monetary donations to meet the needs. To achieve its mission to provide food for those in need, the ...

Sacrificial waters

Eminent Domain is the right of governments or their agency to take private property for the public good with just compensation. It‘s been used to take homes for building roads, city lots for development, tribal lands for highways & railroads, farmlands for pipelines … even with work done by private corporations. Safe drinking water has been a highest priority for us all, so why aren’t all our waterways and their adjoining banks given Eminent Domain protections to serve this incredibly critical public good? We have politely ‘asked’ farmers not to pollute our water for decades. ...