Whenever a friend or relative dies, it’s not unusual to find ourselves dwelling on the conversations we wish had occurred or the questions that never got asked. That certainly was true with my parents, Noel and June, who left long before my brothers and I ran out...
The Iowa Board of Regents is being asked this week to consider a complex proposal to turn the operation of the University of Iowa’s utility system over to an unnamed a business that will be paid to operate it for the next 50 years. The business will make a cash...
Down through the ages, a pretty comprehensive list of sins has been compiled to guide our daily lives. Some have been added over time as society’s norms have changed, and others have been stricken from the list. I’m not here to preach to you about envy, gluttony or...
Mark Cady was right at home at the piano and was an occasional singer, too, maybe best known among family and friends for his rendition of “Easter Parade” each New Year’s Eve — a whimsical tidbit that widened the eyes of some people at his funeral last week. But it...
Fifty-three years ago, I was a high school kid in southern Iowa who knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life: I wanted to be a journalist. The first step on that journey occurred when I walked into the offices of the Bloomfield Democrat and introduced...
Consistency can rise up and snare political leaders if they are not careful. A recent example is Gov. Kim Reynolds, who is now squirming after questions were raised over whether she favors local or state control. The question came up this summer when Madison County...
This year’s Iowa State Fair received spotlight attention from coast to coast, thanks in large measure to the presence of just about everyone with an itch to be the next United States president. The Iowa Tourism Office could never afford all of the glowing imagery...
The people of Iowa have gotten a look at the University of Iowa’s priorities in recent weeks. I doubt this was the message administrators in Iowa City intended to send, but I don’t know how else to interpret the juxtaposition two recent news stories created. The...
How many more will it take? How many more mass shootings? How many more bodies of adults and children will need to pile up — in the aisles of retail stores, in churches, in the classrooms and corridors of schools, in offices, in movie theaters, in nightclubs? How...
When he was governor, Terry Branstad often voiced his frustration that he was not able to comment on the reasons a state government employee was fired or demoted. In Branstad’s view, the public — the taxpayers of Iowa — deserved to know why the action was taken...
