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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. ...

Saying something

In the wake of so much violence in our culture and terrorism around the world, we are often enlisted as citizens to be watchful and report. “If you see something, say something.” It is time to apply this same vigilance to what is happening in the political landscape as the country counts down to caucuses, primaries, political conventions, and an election. I see a Republican candidate who is unfit to serve in office polling well above his rivals and who is expected to win the Iowa Caucuses in a few short days. It is time for all responsible Republicans to say something. Businesses, ...

SHIIP saves clients big money

SHIIP (Senior Health Insurance Information Program) completed its annual open enrollment on Dec. 7, 2023. Marshall County and Tama County SHIIP volunteers saw 1,410 clients during the seven-week period of open enrollment. UnityPoint Health Marshalltown sponsors the volunteer program for our area. Approximately 35 percent of the clients seen changed their drug insurance company for 2024. That change resulted in an approximate savings of $860,000 for our clients for their prescription drug plans. Thank you to our volunteer staff of counselors and schedulers. Our schedulers are: Betsy ...