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Cinching the purse strings

Local Columns

My predecessor in Iowa’s Third Congressional District was known as “a watchdog to the Treasury.” During 13 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman Harold Royce (H.R.) Gross kept a tight-fisted grip on the federal purse strings, pulling no punches on pork-barrel spending. Just three months before I was elected to Congress in 1974, President Gerald Ford delivered an address to a joint session of Congress. He spoke about the urgent need to rein in federal spending to bring down inflation. Like H.R. Gross, President Ford believed in limited government. In his address ...

Iowa Sales Tax Holiday starts Friday

Editorial

Area families are already beginning to think about the items that will be needed to send young people back to school properly equipped and looking good. According to the National Retail Federation, families with children in school will spend about $38.8 billion nationwide on back-to-school clothing and supplies. Surveys by the federation have shown that clothing and shoes account for about half of a family’s back-to-school spending. Finding bargains is part of the fun of back-to-school shopping every year. Clothing and shoes are among the necessities that will be on just about ...

Why do we still have a 55 mph speed limit?

Letters to the Editor

To the editor: I spent last week in central Nebraska and I noticed that the roads are in far better condition than roads here in Iowa and undivided highway speed limits are 65 miles per hour. Nebraskans also pay less in gasoline and diesel taxes than we do in Iowa. Before the oil embargo of the early ‘70s when the federal government blackmailed all the states to lower their speed limits to 55 miles an hour, daytime speed limits on Iowa roads were 70 miles per hour- and that’s when cars had bias tires, drum brakes, very few people wore seat belts, and air bags did not exist. The ...

Work of many led to softball tourney’s success

Editorial

The 2025 Girls State Softball Tournament did not end exactly the way the St. Edmond Gaels and their fans had hoped it would, but it still showcased our community and its outstanding sports complex. The fact that Fort Dodge has hosted the tournament for more than 50 years is a tribute to the work and the partnerships created by essentially a generation’s worth of local leaders. These are leaders who have seen the value in both having a world-class facility in Harlan and Hazel Rogers Sports Complex, and maintaining a close relationship with the Iowa High School Girls Athletic ...

Fighting back against California’s harmful Prop 12 mandates on Iowa hog farmers

Local Columns

On Wednesday, July 23, I spoke at a House Agriculture Committee hearing to discuss the harmful impacts of California’s Proposition 12, or Prop 12, on Iowa hog farmers and our rural communities. Enacted in 2018, this notorious state measure is incredibly detrimental to producers in Iowa and nationwide. Since I was elected to Congress, I have been fighting back against this dangerous regulation of our agricultural economy and way of life. As it stands, Prop 12 demands that pork producers in Iowa, and across the nation, comply with the demands of liberal activists who have weaponized ...

Lunch on Central is returning

Editorial

There will be some good eating during a picnic to be held in the 700 block of Central Avenue Friday. We are, of course, referring to Lunch on Central which will be from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the alley between The Messenger building and the Webster County Courthouse in the 700 block of Central Avenue. The menu will include beef brisket, pasta salad, chips and bottled water, all for $8. There will be desserts available for sale separately. Lunch on Central is an activity of Main Street Fort Dodge. It uses food as a way to help people get familiar with the downtown, the businesses ...