Al Charlson is a North Central Iowa farm kid, lifelong Iowan, and retired bank trust officer.

I sympathize with Iowa Republican legislative leaders as they wrestle with the realities of trying to reform property taxes. House Appropriations Committee Chair Gary Mohr’s comments from December 2025 tell the story: “What we learned last year is it’s a whack-a-mole game, which we didn’t all know – meaning if you do this with property taxes, it has an effect over here we didn’t think about.”

Guess what – the moles are still popping up! This is nothing new – the property tax system is complicated to begin with, and our history of trying to “reform” it has added layer upon layer of complexity.

Adam Shriver is Director of Wellness and Nutrition at the Harkin Institute for Public Policy and Citizen Engagement. This essay was first published on his Substack newsletter, Canary in a Cornfield.

Earlier in the year, I wrote a response to some of Republican State Senator Ken Rozenboom’s comments in the Senate Agriculture Committee where he made some interesting claims based on his recent trip to the Netherlands. I pointed out that, contrary to his claims, nitrates have been a very serious issue in the Netherlands for decades and that the European Union had a different way of representing nitrate concentration in water, which was the only plausible explanation I could think of for his claim that nitrates levels in Amsterdam were far higher than what we saw in Iowa last summer.

On April 1, Rozenboom delivered some remarks on the Senate floor that indicated more confusion about the science around nitrates. (He may have been triggered by Democratic State Senator Janet Petersen’s comments the previous day; she asked Rozenboom if a bill allowing boats to display blue lights would be the water safety bill the Senate will consider this year.)

Rozenboom claimed the connection between nitrates and cancer is a “myth,” suggested Republicans had been making great progress on Iowa’s water problems since 2017, and said that if you are really worried about nitrates, you should look at the amount of nitrates in spinach.

You can find the full video of his comments and the responses at this link but I’ve pulled out the relevant sections. Here’s the first relevant clip:

Tiffany Allison is the founder of the Soaring Hearts Foundation. A survivor of domestic violence, victim advocate, and public speaker, she has received multiple awards for her leadership including a Congressional Medal of Merit and Guardian of Victim Victims’ Rights Award.

With domestic violence at an all-time high in Iowa, why is the Senate tabling a bill that would help protect victims and their pets?

It’s been three weeks since Majority Leader Mike Klimesh placed Senate File 2099 on the unfinished business calendar. The Iowa House unanimously passed the companion bill on felony animal cruelty in early March, but still no vote by the Senate. Under current Iowa law, acts of animal torture are still treated as misdemeanors, making Iowa the only state that has not elevated animal torture to a felony.

Felony level accountability matters because it can create earlier intervention points before violence escalates to human victims. It also strengthens prosecution in cases involving stalking, assault, and domestic violence. When we fail to take animal abuse seriously, we fail victims and survivors. When we act early, when we hold offenders fully accountable, we create opportunities to interrupt cycles of violence before they become fatal. Animal torture is violence. Protecting animals is protecting people. Full stop.

Herb Strentz was dean of the Drake School of Journalism from 1975 to 1988 and professor there until retirement in 2004. He was executive secretary of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council from its founding in 1976 to 2000.

A contrast between President Harry Truman and our would-be King Donald Trump is relevant and overdue because of the need to hold Trump accountable by the courts and the voters — given the failure of Congress to rein Trump in. For that, thanks go in part to Iowa’s U.S. senators and representatives, who support the reign of Trump whenever push comes to shove and promote his endorsement if seeking election.

So here is a contrast that leads to a look at our situation in the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.

I find a lot of reasons to admire Harry Truman — almost as many as I find to loathe Donald Trump. On the one hand, maybe it’s because of time spent in research at the Truman library in Independence, Missouri. Reading hundreds of letters to and from Truman during his years in office and having access to resources that tell you about the man. Perhaps the key impression for me is how Truman distinguished between the Office of the President, which merited respect, just shy of worship, and the person in the office, who was fair political game.

Former Des Moines Register assistant sports editor Ira Lacher writes about the games and business of sports for various newspapers and magazines.

More than two decades ago, Jerry Seinfield laid it on the line for sports fans.

“Loyalty is kind of a hard thing to justify in the end,” the comedian, referring to professional athletes moving from team to team, told David Letterman in 1994. “Every year, it’s different guys, right? … You’re rooting for clothes, when you get right down to it. I’m rooting for an outfit. That’s what it’s come down to. I want my team’s clothes to beat the clothes from another city. Laundry. We’re screaming about laundry here.”

By that definition, regardless of how the NCAA refers to “student-athletes” at March Madness sites, too many Division I basketball players are merely paid professionals, shuttling from team to team via the transfer portal like passengers changing flights at hub airports. According to the online college basketball stats service SRCBB, just short of a third of players on this season’s men’s Elite Eight rosters – 38 out of 120 – had transferred at least once. 

Wayne Ford is the executive director of Wayne Ford Equity Impact Institute and co-Director of the Brown and Black Forums of America. He is a former member of the Iowa legislature (1997 through 2010) and the founder and former executive director of Urban Dreams.

There are moments when an issue that has existed for years suddenly becomes visible to everyone at once.

Not because it is new—but because it can no longer be ignored.

Conversations begin to happen in public, decisions begin to affect daily life, and attention turns quickly toward what appears to be the immediate cause.

But what we are seeing is often not where the problem begins.

Jason Benell lives in West Des Moines with his wife and two children. He is a combat veteran, Dallas County supervisor candidate, and president of Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers. This essay first appeared on his Substack newsletter, The Odd Man Out.

“Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

The battle over schools is not something we should take lightly or view as a blip in a partisan battle. This is a generational challenge, which threatens the very existence of our state and our country.

The arguments between public and private schools with voucher programs has taken up a lot of space in Iowa’s political discourse, and for good reason. With hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars going to private religious institutions and years of underfunding public education, we are seeing an attack on the very institutions that have made the United States and places like Iowa even possible.

Xavier Carrigan is a Democratic candidate in Iowa’s third Congressional district.

I appreciate Bleeding Heartland’s analysis of ballot access challenges in Iowa’s 2026 cycle. There are real lessons there for candidates, especially around timing, margins, and understanding the rules.

I want to be clear on one point up front: I understood the rules.

I spent significant time making calls, asking questions, and working through the requirements to ensure I was operating correctly. Like many candidates, I also had to navigate inconsistent or unclear guidance at times, and I worked through that as responsibly as I could.

Where my campaign differs is not in whether I understood the process, but in how I chose to approach it.

Bill from White Plains is an Iowa lawyer and political observer with a keen interest in promoting candidates with the character required by the positions they seek.

Alexander Pope mocked literary critics of his day with his comment, “For Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” The literary references in his 1709 piece, “An essay on criticism,” are lost to time and the short attention span of most people in modern life, but that line endures.

Putting aside the hideous 1997 romantic comedy starring Matthew Perry, the line endures because stupid people are no less stupid in 2026.

Last week, State Representative Eddie Andrews stepped up to become the latest in a long line of idiots, hoping to become the leader of his party and this state. He is helping to pave the way for a brainless stiff from northwest Iowa to win the Republican party’s gubernatorial primary in June.

Adam Zabner represents Iowa House district 90, covering part of Iowa City.

Last May, when Iowa Republicans passed the health and human services budget for the current fiscal year, I asked the bill’s floor manager, State Representative Ann Meyer, a simple question. What would happen when U.S. Representatives Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Randy Feenstra, Zach Nunn, and Ashley Hinson voted to cut federal health care funding?

Iowa Capital Dispatch reported at the time:

Randy Evans is executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes openness and transparency in Iowa’s state and local governments. He can be reached at DMRevans2810@gmail.com. This essay first appeared on his Substack newsletter, Stray Thoughts. 

City leaders in Des Moines are making it difficult to understand why they selected the current police chief, considering how they have imposed a code of silence about their recent $975,000 payout to one of the candidates who did not get the job.

The payout and, even worse, the sealed lips are just another example of how common sense and good government suffer whenever public officials refuse to detail how and why they spend taxpayer money.

This textbook example of misplaced priorities began in 2024 when Des Moines Police Chief Dana Wingert announced his retirement after nearly a decade leading the department.

Bruce Lear lives in Sioux City and has been connected to Iowa’s public schools for 38 years. He taught for eleven years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association regional director for 27 years until retiring. He can be reached at BruceLear2419@gmail.com 

Everyone at one time or another has been driven crazy by a backseat driver, sometimes sitting in the front. “There’s a stop sign.” “You’re too close to the curb.” “That car is turning.” “Slow down.” 

There are three general reactions, and none are productive. The driver may nod and ignore, begin to second-guess themselves, or explode, making the remainder of the ride resemble a “red wedding” from “Game of Thrones.”

Second-guessers like to make sure other people are doing things the same way they would do it. When that happens, everyone wants to shout, “If you’re so good at it, why didn’t you do it yourself?”

Ben Nizzi is President of Ironworkers Local 67 in Des Moines.

In more than fourteen years as a member of Ironworkers Local 67, I have never seen our union make an elected official a dues-paying member. Not once. Until now.

A few weeks ago, Ironworkers Local 67 welcomed Iowa State Senator Zach Wahls into our union. This is the first time in our history we have extended this honor to an elected official. I want to explain why, because it speaks to Zach’s character and why Iowa workers need him in the U.S. Senate.

Steve Peterson is a former teacher from rural Winneshiek County.

Decorah has a long tradition of strong public schools. But budget shortfalls have eroded what our school can provide for our students and our community. In our case, fewer elementary teachers already mean larger class sizes for our youngest students. But I fear the worst is yet to come. 

Districts across the state are grappling with how to deal with a decade of underfunding and a more than $300 million a year voucher program that siphons off public money to fill the balance sheets of private schools. 

Cuts don’t discriminate–rural, urban, or suburban. Our public schools are in trouble. And the pain is being felt across the board. Once again, the Iowa legislature failed our public schools this session, approving yet another meager 2 percent increase in state funding per pupil, which fails to keep up with rising costs. The shortfalls that follow have forced a record 200 districts–or two-thirds of Iowa’s schools–onto a “budget guarantee” that ensures school districts with declining enrollment will see only a 1 percent increase in yearly funding, even as costs rise well beyond that figure.

It’s that time of year: days are getting longer, the weather is getting warmer, and transparency advocates are celebrating open government and freedom of information.

To mark Sunshine Week, I decided to examine how open the Iowa House and Senate are to the public and the news media. I’ll compare how each chamber handles access to proceedings, with some tips on how to follow meetings or debates at every stage of the process.

While the internet has generally made it easier to track the legislature’s work, there’s room to let much more sunshine in. The House and Senate have each adopted some practices the other should follow, and could take inspiration from other states to get Iowans more engaged with lawmakers’ work.

Jason Benell lives in West Des Moines with his wife and two children. He is a combat veteran, Dallas County supervisor candidate, and president of Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers.

The latest slate of legislative attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and education betray the seriously myopic view of Iowa Republicans. They might as well amend the state motto or flag to include the phrase “flyover country.”

This isn’t simply a matter of disagreement or a partisan grievance against particular things we may like or dislike. The facts and historical record show diversity has made the United States and states like Iowa strong and a good place to live. This extends beyond cultural touchstones and witty phrases and goes right into the heart of the Iowan economy and social interactions.

Al Charlson is a North Central Iowa farm kid, lifelong Iowan, and retired bank trust officer.

This week the U.S. Senate has been debating the SAVE America Act, which the House approved on February 11. The SAVE America Act is one snowflake in the blizzard of legislation President Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans are desperately pushing to protect us from the imagined threat of hordes of non-citizens overwhelming our elections.

The SAVE America Act “builds on the framework” from last year’s SAVE Act; Issue One explained the differences between the two bills here. That post also covers the “Make Elections Great Again” or MEGA bill, which House Republicans introduced in late January. Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa’s first Congressional district was one of the original co-sponsors.

I’ll admit that bill’s name reminds me of going to the store with toilet paper on the shopping list. How can there possibly be that many variations of toilet paper? MEGA is one of the newer choices adding to the confusion. Anyway, let’s talk about voting.

Despite Iowa’s rightward shift over the past decade, our state is shaping up to be an important 2026 battleground. For the first time since 1968, we have open races for governor and U.S. Senate in the same year. Two of the four U.S. House districts are among the top Democratic targets nationwide. President Donald Trump’s approval rating may be underwater in Iowa, and Democrats are poised to nominate well-funded candidates for state and federal offices.

History tells us that midterm elections often favor the party out of power. Nevertheless, the Iowa landscape is much better for Republicans now than it was during the 2018 election cycle, when Fred Hubbell came within 3 points of winning the governor’s race and Democrats won three U.S. House seats.

It’s time to revisit a topic I explored last June. The GOP’s massive voter registration advantage still makes it hard to construct a winning scenario for Democrats in Iowa’s statewide races—even if Trump’s many failures drive down Republican turnout.

Nick Covington is an Iowa parent who taught high school social studies for ten years.

From the Shriners’ Iowa Corn Song to Grant Wood’s American Gothic, Iowa has long been characterized (and caricatured) to the world by our greatest domestic output—and I’m not talking about corn, soybeans, or eggs. I’m talking monoculture.

It’s rare to find the cultivation or domination of a single species, a monoculture, in natural ecosystems. Visit any of Iowa’s state parks and you’ll find their beauty is in direct proportion to their biodiversity, monoculture’s opposite. Biodiversity tends toward balance, resilience, and sustainability as interdependent species of flora and fauna protect each other from diseases, pests, and overcompetition. It’s a messy and imperfect process that often requires a human touch, but when a lack of biodiversity undermines mutual resilience, the ensuing ecological collapse can lead to devastating consequences.

Triggered by blight which rotted a monocultural food source, for example, thousands of Irish families fled the Potato Famine and settled across Iowa and the Midwest. Decades later their descendants watched dark clouds of topsoil blow away during the Dust Bowl, caused in part by overfarming wheat, a monoculture that replaced what were once thousands of miles of hardy Great Plains.

Today, from waving rows of golden corn tassels to the golden dome of the statehouse, Iowa’s political monoculture threatens the ecological, economic, and social diversity of our state, undermining our interdependence and resilience. And it’s killing us.

Herb Strentz was dean of the Drake School of Journalism from 1975 to 1988 and professor there until retirement in 2004. He was executive secretary of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council from its founding in 1976 to 2000.

Talk about being a slow learner! It took me 75 to 80 years or more to recognize that our national anthem’s ending was not a proclamation, declaration, or a boast about the United States being “the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

But there it was in the text for the national anthem on our TV screen. The line about being free and brave ended with a question mark, not an exclamation point or even a modest period: “…the land of the free and the home of the brave?”

I even checked the lyrics of the Star-Spangled Banner, to make sure Francis Scott Key penned a question on September 18, 1814, and the ? was not a scurrilous punctuation, stuck in by someone protesting the state of our nation. The accuracy of the question mark was confirmed, of course.

Many readers may wonder — as I do — how could a person have missed the ? for all these decades, through singing the national anthem hundreds of times.

Linda Schreiber writes commentary on selected political or legislative issues.

Big promises, but no appropriations

At the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace, President Donald Trump announced that nine member countries had pledged $7 billion toward rebuilding Gaza — and that the United States would contribute $10 billion.

There is one glaring problem: Congress has not appropriated a single dollar for this commitment.

Under the U.S. Constitution, the power of the purse belongs to Congress. No matter how boldly announced, a $10 billion commitment does not exist without legislative approval. Yet the president presented the pledge as if the funds were already secured.

That is not diplomacy. That is theater.

Bruce Lear lives in Sioux City and has been connected to Iowa’s public schools for 38 years. He taught for eleven years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association regional director for 27 years until retiring. He can be reached at BruceLear2419@gmail.com 

We’ve all probably been trapped in a no-win situation. There’s no way out. There’s no good choice.

That’s often called Hobson’s choice. It was supposedly named after a 17^th century stable owner named Hobson who had a corner on the market and forced customers to choose the horse closest to the door or take no horse at all.

Customers had no real choice. They could walk or pay good money for a bad horse which Hobson always located closest to the door.

Hobson’s choice is depicted by the cartoon bully scowling, doubling his first, and shouting, “Do you want to get punched in the stomach or face?”

No choice, just an ultimatum.

The majority party in the Iowa legislature has trapped public schools in a no-win situation. It’s Hobson’s choice at its worst because it isn’t about a broken-down horse, it’s about the futures of public school students.

Randy Evans is executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes openness and transparency in Iowa’s state and local governments. He can be reached at DMRevans2810@gmail.com. This essay first appeared on his Substack newsletter, Stray Thoughts. 

We all need reminders now and then.

Some of us believe there is only one correct way to think and speak and act in these United States of America. But that is not true.

Americans are not who we are because we are the same. Americans are who we are, and our nation has long been a shining beacon, because we are all different and were brought together by that freedom to be different.

One occasional reader of my stray thoughts suggested I republish the following column from 2017, which remains relevant today.

House File 2676 may not be the most harmful of the 80-plus bills the Iowa House approved last week. And language allowing pharmacists to dispense ivermectin without a prescription may not be the most harmful provision of that so-called “Make America Healthy Again” bill.

But the brief Iowa House debate about ivermectin on March 3 illustrated how conspiracy theories—once confined to fringe elements of the conservative movement—now drive the mainstream Republican agenda.

Wally Taylor is the Legal Chair of the Sierra Club Iowa chapter.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources recently issued its 2026 draft of impaired waters. This is a requirement of section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act. Every two years states must list the water segments that do not meet water quality standards. This year the DNR evaluated 1,100 water segments and has listed 723 of those segments as impaired. That means that two-thirds of the water segments evaluated do not meet water quality standards.

The impaired waters list containing those 723 water segments are supposed to have total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) prepared. A TMDL calculates how much pollution can be discharged into the water and still meet water quality standards. The TMDL also includes a Water Quality Improvement Plan that proposes the path to bringing the water into compliance with water quality standards.

The problem with the Iowa list is that there are numerous water segments that have been on the list since 2006 and 2008, with no TMDL having been prepared. Some of those waters on the list since 2006 and 2008 are designated as Outstanding Iowa Waters pursuant to Iowa’s antidegradation policy. These waters are entitled to extra protection.

Jack Hatch is a former state senator and was an author of every health care reform bill in Iowa from 2003 through 2014.

Health care is not a privilege. It is not a reward for good luck, good jobs, or good timing. It is a basic right. And in Iowa, health care, as an issue, has always been understood best when we remember that simple truth. There is another truth: health care is too expensive, in Iowa and across the U.S. 

For decades, our state has shown that when we lead with fairness, openness, and shared responsibility, we can build systems that work. Iowa passed meaningful health care reforms prior to the Affordable Care Act. We created bipartisan commissions to make policy. We listened to consumers, providers and other stakeholders. We debated publicly. And we acted with courage.

That tradition expanded children’s coverage to become the state with the highest percentage per capita for children covered by insurance in the nation as listed by the Kaiser Family Foundation (now known as KFF) in 2013. We led when we modernized health records. We led when we built patient-centered care. We led when we believed that health care reform required public conversation, not private contracts.

Dean Lerner served Iowa as an Assistant Attorney General for sixteen years, Chief Deputy Secretary of State for four years, and about ten years as Deputy Director, then Director of the Department of Inspections & Appeals. He then worked for the CMS Director of the Division of Nursing Homes, and the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa. He is a graduate of Grinnell College and Drake University Law School.

During his interminable State of the Union address, President Donald Trump referred to waste, fraud, and abuse. Of course, such mention was opportunistically political, containing recurrent condemnations of the Somali community, a favorite target of our president’s vile rhetoric. 

While waste, fraud, and abuse is a worthy topic and should be condemned and eliminated, a more introspective approach would have better served our nation.

Governor Kim Reynolds drew criticism in 2018 for accepting free flights on private planes belonging to campaign donors and a longtime state vendor. Her plane travel came under scrutiny again this week.

Des Moines Register reporters Phillip Sitter and Tyler Jett had the scoop on February 24: for the past year, Reynolds has periodically flown on a state-owned plane, purchased with federal pandemic relief funds she allocated to the Iowa Department of Public Safety in 2024.

Reynolds told reporters on February 26 that occasional air travel allows her to use her time more efficiently. To justify spending COVID-19 relief money on the plane, she and her staff have also claimed the 14-seat Cessna 208B Grand Caravan augmented the Iowa State Patrol’s “aging fleet” with “more sophisticated equipment and technology to accommodate a broader span of use for law enforcement.”

But documents I obtained through public records requests show the Iowa State Patrol already had a smaller plane equipped with similar advanced technology, such as thermal imaging and de-icing capability. That Cirrus SR-22 was no obsolete aircraft; the Department of Public Safety used a state appropriation to buy it new in 2021.

Rob Sand is Iowa’s state auditor.

As a father, my top priority is protecting my kids. When a child is placed in foster care, their safety and well-being become the state’s responsibility. Tragically, the state of Iowa failed to protect Sabrina Ray, killed by her adoptive parents in 2017, and her siblings from abuse and torture.

Because of that failure, the state paid $10 million in 2023 to settle lawsuits brought by Sabrina’s two surviving sisters. I voted on those settlements because, as auditor, I am a statutory member of the board that makes these decisions. I supported those settlements not just to help those children and their families, but because I believed it would lead to real, meaningful reform to Iowa’s foster care and adoption system.

A key part of that settlement – and a key reason I supported it – was the creation of a child welfare task force. Its mission: to examine what went wrong, make recommendations on how to improve the system, and most importantly, prevent future tragedies. Its members included professionals directly involved in Sabrina’s case — a police officer, a paramedic, a prosecutor — as well as the families who adopted Sabrina’s sisters.

But that’s not what happened.

Randy Evans is executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes openness and transparency in Iowa’s state and local governments. He can be reached at DMRevans2810@gmail.com. This essay first appeared on his Substack newsletter, Stray Thoughts. 

It’s funny how a government body can learn and teach an important civics lesson in the time it takes a student to go from kindergarten through 12th grade.

In 2012, the Atlantic Community School District won a lawsuit to keep information secret about disciplinary measures taken against two employees who conducted a strip-search of five girls to try to find $100 another student reported missing.

Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady wrote a dissent in the case, noting that “transparency in government surely will be thwarted” by those who can “quell public discourse and end controversies over employee misconduct with no public scrutiny by simply announcing discipline has been imposed.”

For the past nine years, Iowa’s Republican-controlled legislature has given Governor Kim Reynolds a free hand. GOP lawmakers allowed Reynolds to spend billions of federal dollars provided through the CARES Act and American Rescue Plan with no legislative input.

They approved most of the governor’s signature proposals, expanded her power to hire and fire officials, and allowed her to set agency directors’ salaries with no constraints.

Neither chamber’s Government Oversight Committee has investigated any alleged malfeasance or mismanagement in the Reynolds administration, such as the governor’s questionable spending of pandemic relief funds on her staff’s salaries, or the tens of millions of dollars wasted on a no-bid contract for Workday.

Now, in the tenth year of Iowa’s GOP trifecta, the ruling party has suddenly decided the legislature should be a check on the executive. Several bills that are eligible for floor debate could prevent Reynolds’ successor from making big changes in state government.

Insulting all of our collective intelligence, Republican lawmakers claim these bills aren’t fueled by concern that State Auditor Rob Sand may win the governor’s race in November.

Here’s a rundown of pending bills that could hamstring the next Democratic governor.

State Representative Josh Turek is a four-time Paralympian and two-time gold medalist for Team USA, a former professional wheelchair basketball player and a candidate for U.S. Senate. 

As the Olympics come to a close and the Paralympics begin in early March, I’m sure a lot of us are thinking about what it means to cheer for Team USA. 

Representing the United States at four Paralympic games was the highlight of my wheelchair basketball career, and one of the greatest honors of my life. Watching them raise the American flag with USA across my chest, a gold medal around my neck, and the stars and stripes over my shoulders, I was proud to be an American. 

This Olympics, I know many Americans are troubled by the direction of our country.

Wally Taylor is the Legal Chair of the Sierra Club Iowa chapter.

A recent study issued by Decision Innovation Solutions, a pro-Big Ag consulting firm in Des Moines, claims that Iowa’s farm economy is in dire straits because Iowa farmers are growing too much corn. Too much corn, according to the report, is creating a “demand gap.” In other words, corn growers are harvesting more corn that can be sold.

The report’s solution to this situation is year-round sale of E-15 (gasoline with 15 percent ethanol content), corn-based marine fuel, and corn-based aviation fuel. It should come as no surprise that the Iowa Corn Growers Association and the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association commissioned this study.

Bruce Lear lives in Sioux City and has been connected to Iowa’s public schools for 38 years. He taught for eleven years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association regional director for 27 years until retiring. He can be reached at BruceLear2419@gmail.com 

Protecting children is a shared value of most adults. A newborn can’t leave the hospital unless they’re buckled into an approved car seat. We childproof our houses. We gasp the first time they swing too high and move closer to catch them if they fly out. When they’re tweens and teens, we stay up sweating until they’re home. We insist on seat belts, driver’s training, and helmets for bicycle riding.

At school, there are tornado, fire, and lockdown drills. There are lists of people approved to pick up students at the end of the day. Schools warn parents not to send a sick child to school.

We’re protective and cautious.

That’s why a bill now pending in the Iowa House is so troubling.

Dave Leshtz is the editor of The Prairie Progressive.

“Tell them you’re a realist with high ideals.”

That’s what Jesse Jackson said to me in 1987 when I asked him how to respond to my Iowa friends and acquaintances who, somewhat mockingly, called me an idealist for supporting him for president. Only unrealistic, naïve, hopelessly optimistic idealists—so the thinking went—would work for Jackson in an overwhelmingly white state like Iowa.

The sad news of Reverend Jackson’s death brought back memories of his presidential campaign of 1987-88, the most exhilarating, inspiring, and illuminating of all the campaigns I’ve worked on. 

Bill Bumgarner is a retired former health care executive from northwest Iowa who worked
in hospital management for 41 years, mostly in the state of Iowa.

Periodically historians and scholars assess and rank the performance of U.S. presidents. It’s an exercise with no sure answer – a matter of opinion informed by study, observation and perspective, also influenced by a measure of one’s political worldview.  

While interesting on their face, presidential greatness studies can also serve to remind us of the leadership values that brought out the best in America – and warn us that presidential judgement can be terribly misguided, even corrupt. 

Projects evaluating presidential achievement have occurred for decades. The Schlesinger surveys are well known to presidential historians. The first was conducted in 1948 by Arthur Schlesinger Sr., a Harvard University historian, with a follow-up project in 1962. Others came after, to include a survey by his son in 1996. Like his father, Arthur Schlesinger Jr. was a historian at Harvard.

John and Terri Hale own The Hale Group, an Ankeny-based firm advocating for older Iowans and Iowans with disabilities.

It was disturbing, frustrating and sickening. But it was not surprising. And it’s happened six years in a row. 

Behind closed doors, secretively and quietly, Iowa Senate Republicans once again killed a bill that would improve, and possibly save, the lives of nursing home residents.  

The bill would protect the right of loved ones of nursing home residents to install video cameras in their rooms. The camera would allow families near and far to check in on their moms, dads, grandparents or others to make sure they are well, safe, and receiving good care. 

Chris Gloninger is a meteorologist and climate communicator with 18 years of broadcast experience, AMS dual certifications, and a master’s in Emergency Management, specializing in making complex climate topics accessible. He first published this essay on his Substack newsletter, Weathering Climate Change.

The Winter Olympics have always sold us a very specific idea of winter.

Snow that falls on cue. Cold that is sharp but reliable. Mountains that hold their shape and seasons that behave the way we expect them to. For decades, the Games have depended on that stability. Not just for aesthetics, but for safety, fairness, and the simple ability to hold winter sports at all.

That assumption is quietly breaking.

Linda Schreiber writes commentary on selected legislative issues.

While Iowa’s public universities support one in every ten jobs and generate billions of dollars in economic impact statewide, Republicans are pushing for yet another layer of oversight on the Regent institutions.

House File 2243, introduced by Iowa House Higher Education Committee chair Taylor Collins and eligible for floor debate, would require the Iowa Board of Regents to report to the state legislature and governor on how the board “could establish a performance-based funding model” for the three state universities. That funding model “must include” the following factors: graduation rates, degrees awarded in high-demand fields, postgraduate employment and income, and the number of graduates who stay in Iowa after graduation.

Those metrics already tell a compelling story: the state’s public universities are essential to meeting Iowa’s workforce needs, retaining talent, and strengthening communities across the state.

According to the Iowa Board of Regents, Graduates of the University of Iowa (UI), Iowa State University (ISU), and the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) fuel Iowa’s economy, filling high-demand roles in health care, education, and STEM fields.

Yet legislators frequently criticize the Regent universities while placing increasing constraints on their operations. What Iowans need are clear, accessible facts about the value and success of their public universities—and what those institutions need in return is stable, realistic financial support, not micromanagement, to continue delivering results for Iowa.

Rick Morain is the former publisher and owner of the Jefferson Herald, for which he writes a regular column. This essay first appeared on Substack.

Politicians who seek to ban diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices at public institutions, and even try to extend the ban to the private sector, argue that DEI potentially discriminates against individuals who are not of a race, religion, ethnicity, gender orientation, or other group that DEI seeks to protect.

Individuals from the dominant groups in the nation or a state, they reason, deserve to be treated fairly, as individuals, in competition for college admission, employment, housing, and other sectors. No one should be favored because he or she belongs to a group that is supposedly discriminated against in our society and culture.