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Explaining the state’s proposed HMO tax

Local Columns

Regarding HF 2739, a bill which some of you have reached out about, here is the background and facts about the bill. It is a bill in the Ways and Means Committee, but it actually deals with the Health and Human Services budget. Iowa’s Medicaid program consumes an ever-growing amount of the state’s budget. In the 1990s, Medicaid generally took about 7 percent of the budget. Since the turn of the century, Medicaid spending has grown significantly. Last year, Medicaid accounted for 22 percent of the state’s budget. This year, the state is also absorbing the end of extra federal ...

Public notices must remain in newspapers

Editorial

There are some in the Iowa Legislature who periodically toy with the possibility of eliminating the requirement that local governments print public notices in newspapers. This is the wrong move today, tomorrow and for the future. Government transparency is more important than ever. In truth it is critical. While The Messenger and other Iowa newspapers have an economic interest in seeing that the public notice publishing requirement remains, the issue goes far beyond a few dollars. Maintaining the legal requirement to publish government actions and meetings in local newspapers is ...

Prop 12 is a hogwash ‘government knows best’ approach

Local Columns

With passage of Proposition 12 in 2018, California voters overstepped constitutional boundaries and effectively hogtied pig farmers across America. Pork producers were faced with a dire choice: either fork out tens of thousands of dollars to comply with California’s mandates or get blacklisted from selling to 15 percent of the nation’s pork market.  Since Prop 12 went into full effect on Jan. 1, 2024, consumers have been subject to inflated pork prices: the average price per pound of a pork loin in California has risen more than 40 percent. And pig ...

Lawmakers shouldn’t change funding for job training program

Editorial

Tucked inside an economic development bill that probably contains many good things is a provision that would severely inhibit and maybe even end an effective job training program. The measure would make a change in the way an employee training program commonly called 260E is paid for. That number and letter combination refers to the exact section in Iowa law where the program is described and authorized. The 260E program enables community colleges to provide training for companies that are adding 50 or more employees. Locally, Nestle Purina PetCare, Cargill and CJ Bio America ...

Blizzard impacted paper delivery, but subscribers could still read the news

From the Publisher

Winter wasn’t done with us yet. After we were teased with some beautiful sunny 60 degree days Mother Nature sent a blizzard our way. The snow fall totals weren’t that substantial, but just a few inches of snow combined with sustained winds of 30 miles per hour and gusts in the 50 plus mile range made travel after dark nearly impossible. Many of you woke up the next morning to find the sun out and little snow on the ground and thought “ what was all the fuss about?” There were blizzard warnings and programming interruptions by your favorite weatherman telling you how bad ...

Corrections workers are unsung heroes

Editorial

Anyone who took the time to read the entire Iowa criminal code would come across an offense entitled assault by an inmate with bodily fluids or secretions. Yes, that offense does exist in state law. And yes, the offense is as gross as it sounds. But that kind of an assault is one of the things county jailers and state corrections officers must contend with. Everyone is well aware that law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency medical personnel risk their lives every day to protect us. But there is another group of people that risk their lives every day to protect the ...