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Welcoming Fort Dodge and Webster County to Washington

Last week, I had the pleasure of welcoming Iowans from Fort Dodge and Webster County to our nation’s capital to discuss opportunities and challenges facing our families, farmers, and businesses. We had an extensive and productive conversation on a wide range of issues from education and agriculture to infrastructure and tax policy. The delegation to Washington included Fort Dodge Mayor Matt Bemrich, Fort Dodge City Manager David Fierke, City of Fort Dodge Chief Development Officer Chad Schaeffer, Director of Aviation at the Fort Dodge Regional Airport Rhonda Chambers, CEO of the ...

Q&A: Courts, Congress and the Constitution

Q: What are “universal injunctions?” A: An injunction is a court order requiring someone to do or stop doing a specific action. Temporary restraining orders (TRO) are similar to injunctions but are short term, unappealable orders from the court directing someone to take or not take some action until the court can review more fully. Historically, injunctions and TROs were limited to the parties before the court. But in recent years, we’ve seen an eruption of court orders that apply far beyond the parties directly before the court — sometimes even the entire country. These ...

Joan Drewes continues legacy of the musical Johnson Family

Joan Johnson Drewes is proud to be part of Fort Dodge’s First Family of Music, among six talented members of the Johnson family — her parents, Gladys and Dick, and her three sisters Karen, Donna and Martha. She moved away from her hometown decades ago, but continues the family music ...

The power in giving back to your community

Throughout our lives, from childhood to adulthood, community is an essential part of everyday existence. Sometimes, we don’t see or fully understand its impact, and sometimes we may think it is irrelevant. But for both rural towns and larger cities, community is vital in ways we can’t imagine. No matter where we grew up, it is almost certain that in some way, your community contributed positively to your formative years. This is why it is so important to return these favors, and to give back, even in small ways. There are many ways of contributing to your community. Giving back ...

Ernst: In celebration of Iowa agriculture

In Iowa, agriculture connects us all. Those of us who live on farms, in rural communities, and even in cities across our great state, are fortunate to have a deep-rooted understanding of all our farmers do to make sure folks have food on their tables, gas in their tanks, clothes in their closet, and so much more. Growing up walking beans and feeding hogs on our family farm in southwest Iowa, I had a front-row seat to both the joys and hardships of life in farm country. That’s why I am so proud to celebrate Iowa Agriculture Week in recognition of our hardworking farmers and all those ...

House addresses eminent domain, distracted driving

We have now been here for 11 weeks, and this session has 16 weeks. Which means we have five left before per diem runs out. This week has flown by. I spend most of my time in meetings now. I’m working on several bills that we meet on daily so we can have enough votes to get it off the House floor. Then we need to be working with the Senate so when it gets over there, they will have enough votes to get it down to the governor. Which means we also must be working with the governor’s staff at the same time so the governor will sign it when it gets to her desk. So having said all that ...