Back when I was just starting high school, a phenomenon began occurring around my hometown of Lake City and beyond. The phrase “Is This Heaven? No, It’s Iowa,” started popping up everywhere, from conversations to bumper stickers. Maybe you remember this, too. It was all because of ...

Editor’s note: The commentary below was a speech given by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, on June 4, 2019, as a salute to women’s suffrage. The speech can be viewed at https://youtu.be/hqI8JyMCYLw. I come to the floor today, on June the Fourth, to take a look back at a historic vote of the ...

For our 40th wedding anniversary, Linda and I joined my brother Dave and his wife Cheryl for a magical trip to Italy in 2008. Before we left, I asked my dad for advice on food and lodging since he was the only member of our family who had been to Rome — and much of Italy — years ...

Iowa is a rural state and its people have great pride in the bustling communities that dot our state. Countless Iowans grew up and continue to live in small-town Iowa because of the great quality of life that our rural communities offer. As state lawmakers, it is our responsibility to ensure ...

Growing up in Fort Dodge, Tom Holmquist had a normal childhood until his father died unexpectedly in 1957 when he was 10 years old and “my mother who worked to support us did not know what to do with me.” “She went to the YMCA for ideas and I was given a free membership to the Y,” he ...

With commencement just around the corner, graduation parties are already in full swing and gifting appropriately is certainly on the minds of many relatives and friends of the Class of 2019. Doubtless many of this class will receive gifts in the form of scratch off tickets. With some ...

May is National Foster Care Month, a time set to recognize foster parents, family members, mentors, volunteers and child welfare professionals for all the support they provide youth and children in foster care. It can also be a good time to consider how you personally can make a difference in ...

Mark your calendars for the 14th annual Swing for a Cure golf outing! This year’s event is scheduled for Friday, June 7th at the Fort Dodge Country Club. The day will kick off with lunch beginning at 11 a.m. followed by a shotgun start at 12 p.m. for the 4-person best-shot, flighted ...

The photo you see here is of my mother in the early years on our farm. That tractor she’s on? It’s the first thing I learned to drive. Our farm was northeast of Webster City, in Blairsburg Township, in Hamilton County. I think the photo shared here is probably from the beginning of ...

All of us believe we can spot a person with mental health issues. We picture crazy Uncle Charlie who still wears his leisure suit from the ’70s, the cat lady who lives down the block, or the stranger who walks around town arguing with himself. While these scenarios provide excellent ...

Today, my Dad would be 107. He would have loved the Brushy Creek Area Honor Flight, though I don’t know if you could have actually gotten him on the plane. Dad was an Air Apache, part of the 345th Bombardment Group of the United States Air Force. They served in the Southwest Pacific ...

A few years back, the city of Fort Dodge took title to the Warden Plaza at 908 First Ave. S., through the Abandoned Buildings section of the Iowa Code. Located along the recently constructed crosstown connector in downtown Fort Dodge, this iconic historic building has been a focal point of ...

Life brings us what we call “teaching moments” — and from the time Phyllis Bush began her teaching career as a 22-year-old until she drew her last breath in March at the age of 75, she provided plenty of such moments to her students, family, friends and fellow educators. Over her ...

The first National Preservation Week was celebrated May 6-12 in 1973. The Trustees Advisory Board in Washington, D.C., proposed the idea of the National Preservation Week as a “means of relating local and state preservation progress to the national effort for mutual benefits of ...

Many people look forward to retirement and the chance to do everything that they didn’t have time for while working full time. Once those projects are finished, the days get a little longer and the need for a new purpose sets in. The isolation of a winter like we just survived can also ...

You are your own best advocate when it comes to your health, just ask Louis “Sue” Wolff. Sue asked for another opinion when she didn’t feel like she was getting the help she needed when she experienced some hearing loss in her left ear. It was like her ear wouldn’t pop after a pressure ...

There is an issue still alive in our state’s Legislature that could have a major impact on many lives in Iowa. My perspective on this is arguably as deep as any over the last 30 years. Our company, Consumer Credit of Des Moines, has done debt counseling for over 150,000 in that time period. ...

Joe Rosenthal’s photo of that iconic event on Feb. 23, 1945, taken in his role as an Associated Press combat photographer, is considered by many to be the greatest and most influential image of World War II — and one of the best photographs ever taken. The negative of his photo depicting ...

UnityPoint Health Center for Urology provides comprehensive treatment for disorders affecting the male and female urinary tract. Our team treats conditions such as prostate cancer, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, testicular cancer, benign prostatic hypertrophy, erectile dysfunction, urinary ...

I was disappointed to read a recent guest column in another newspaper that falsely stated my paid parental leave proposal would raid Social Security. Nothing could be further from the truth. Here’s why. First, under my proposal, no one is required to participate. It is entirely optional and ...