To the editor: As an educator, father, and Iowan, I am writing to urge state and local officials to temporarily cancel or suspend k-12 classes until adequate testing can be performed to assess the true scope of COVID-19 cases in the state. It seems extremely reckless and dangerous to keep ...
Federal government spending is enormous. Unfortunately, far too much is financed through borrowing. That’s why the national debt now exceeds $23 trillion. The federal deficit for the current fiscal year is projected to be near $1 trillion. The additional spending now needed due to the ...
COVID-19 — the coronavirus — has brought everyday life in large areas of China to a near standstill. Schools and factories are closed. The same goes for many other businesses, including retail outlets. As the virus has spread, other areas have been affected similarly, though not to the ...
A key goal of Gov. Kim Reynolds’ Future Ready Iowa initiative is to make certain that our state’s residents are able to take advantage of the opportunities that the future holds. In a rapidly evolving job market, that means that our state’s schools need to have programs in sync with the ...
To the editor: I recently had the opportunity to work with several amazing individuals in our community whom I need to personally acknowledge. I can’t thank them enough for the care I received from each one of them. Fort Dodge is truly blessed to have these individuals working in our ...
A system that would summon emergency help to local schools with the press of just one button is coming to Webster County. Some timely donations by local residents will ensure that this added level of safety is available for area students. The technology Webster County Sheriff Jim Stubbs ...
To the editor: As director of The Lord’s Cupboard, I would like to personally thank The Messenger for hosting the 2020 Home & Garden Show and naming us as a recipient of their canned food drive. We rely on these donations to stock our pantry and appreciate those who donated over the ...
Students at Fort Dodge Middle School spent part of their day last Friday scooping up rice, beans, vitamins and a few other dry food products to be poured into plastic bags. Their assembly line work produced 30,000 meals to be sent to hungry people across the United States and the world, In ...
Though she lived an incredibly full 101 years, the death of Katherine Johnson came as a bit of a surprise — and some sadness. Giants like she was seem as though they will be with us forever. And Johnson was, truly, an American giant. Despite all the challenges that came with being born a ...
Iowans have long put a priority on education. It wasn’t long after pioneer families settled in our state that one-room schoolhouses became common sights. A commitment to learning was evident all across Iowa in the earliest days. It remains so today. In the 21st century, schools have evolved ...
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that, effective July 1, 2019, there are 328.2 million people in the United States. It has been estimated there are around 54 million Americans who have a disability. According to the National Institute on Mental Health, one in five people live with a mental ...
Other than avoiding people who may have been traveling internationally, there is not much you can do to avoid catching COVID-19, the coronavirus variety that has been in the headlines. There is something you can do to avoid coming down with common influenza, however: Get a flu shot. Doing ...
Terry Moehnke is an optometrist, but he’s been known to joke that being an eye doctor is actually his side job. There may well be some truth behind his joke, because when one considers all of the volunteer activities Moehnke is deeply involved in every day it is hard to figure out how he ...
The seats in Decker Auditorium at Iowa Central Community College were filled with fifth and sixth graders Wednesday morning for the performance of the musical ‘‘Newsies.’’ About 500 students from the Fort Dodge Middle School were present to enjoy the story of the boys and girls who ...
Shaving a few dollars off the cost to consumers of some medicines — and yes, padding profits on their sale — have led many U.S. drug companies to rely on overseas manufacturers for the products. Last week, the truth of warnings against such dependence was proven. U.S. public health ...
To the editor: I had the opportunity (on) March 2nd to be an unwitting observer of quite a large number of very competent people. I happened to enter the credit union to make a deposit while someone else was in the process of making a rather illegal withdrawal. I had no idea that was happening ...
U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst isn’t one of those politicians who is primarily concerned with ways to gain media attention. The Iowa Republican is a hard worker who puts a priority on actually achieving results rather than just garnering favorable publicity. Ernst recognizes that to improve how the ...
Millions of American boys, along with millions of others worldwide, became better men because of the Boy Scouts. For them, the more than century-old organization helped build character and taught valuable skills. But more than 12,000 boys in the scouts became victims of the adults they and ...
Protecting and enhancing the quality of the Hawkeye State’s water resources is vitally important. That’s why the Iowa Water Quality Initiative was created in 2013. Among the goals is to help bring about a 45 percent reduction in nitrogen and phosphorus losses to Iowa’s waters. This ...
On the Earth’s surface, the community was formed from an abandoned Army fort along the Des Moines River amidst the fertile soil of northwest Iowa. Underneath that soil, deep underneath, workers mined gypsum from one of the purest deposits of the mineral in the world. “Gypsum runs in ...