Breaking News

Opinion

Is this Heaven? No, it’s Fort Dodge.

Local Columns

This time of year, Fort Dodge fills with the sound of cheers, the smell of concession stand grub, and the electric feeling only a state tournament can bring. For a few days, our community becomes the heart of girls’ high school softball in Iowa. I love it. There’s something special about teams taking the field at Harlan and Hazel Rogers Sports Complex - some making their first state appearance, others carrying on a legacy. You see fans in coordinating shirts, siblings with homemade signs, and coaches who’ve likely been through more sunburn and bags of sunflower seeds than ...

Eliminating $9 billion of waste in Washington

Local Columns

Over the past decade since my fellow Iowans sent me to Washington to make the big spenders squeal, I’ve been exposing waste, fraud, and abuse almost too insane to believe. This week, I was proud to see some of that work deliver a win for Iowa taxpayers. Both the Senate and House passed the first Trump rescissions package to claw back $9 billion in wasteful foreign aid and funding for partisan propaganda masquerading as public broadcasting. As a result of my years of oversight, I found that the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, is a rogue bureaucracy, operating ...

State softball returns to Fort Dodge

Editorial

One of summer’s most enjoyable events gets underway today. The Girls State Softball Tournament will be the highlight of the season for the teams that made it to state-level competition, including the St. Edmond Gaels. That hometown squad posted a 24-10 record and is making its third straight appearance in the tournament. But we must admit that all the teams are outstanding. Making it to this final event of the season means that none will have any reason for more than a brief lament, no matter what their final standing. Making it to state is itself an accomplishment that marks a ...

Golden Day Adult Day provides vital service

Editorial

Everyone needs a place close to home that they can escape to even for a few hours to have some fun and enjoy some good company just to break the usual routine. But for our friends and neighbors who have disabilities, finding that place can be tough. But some have found it thanks to a group of parents and volunteers who created Golden Day Adult Day in Fort Dodge. Three days a week, it offers a full day of activities for disabled folks who might otherwise just sit at home.Those activities include a book club, games, crafts, learning and discussion time, and food. Having such a program ...

Keeping deadly drugs out of our communities

Local Columns

On Wednesday July 16, I had the privilege of being at the White House when President Trump signed the HALT Fentanyl Act into law. Joined by families who have tragically lost loved ones and children to an overdose, the ceremony was a sobering reminder that too many Americans – especially young people – still lose their lives to the illicit drug trade orchestrated by criminals who have no regard for human life. We need real solutions to the opioid epidemic and rapid action to protect our children and neighbors. Fortunately, with the stroke of his pen, President Trump ensured that we ...

Fruit, vegetable growers deserve recognition

Editorial

There’s more than corn and soybeans growing in Iowa’s rich soil. Iowa’s farmers grow staggering amounts of corn and soybeans, so it makes sense that those crops are the first ones many people associate with the state’s farms. But there is also a surprising amount of fruits and vegetables grown in Iowa. Fruits and vegetables raised by the state’s professional horticulture industry contribute an estimated $48 million to the state’s economy every year. According to a recent statewide survey, the top fruit and vegetable crops in Iowa are tomatoes, pumpkins, cucumbers, green ...