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Fighting for Iowa’s small businesses in Washington

Local Columns

Small businesses are the lifeblood of Iowa’s economy, making up more than 99 percent of all businesses and employing 82 percent of workers. These businesses mean so much more than the livelihoods they support and the jobs they create, they embody the American spirit and shape the culture of communities across our great state. After harmful Bidenflation and the previous administration’s $1.8 trillion regulatory expansion, I have good news — Main Street is roaring back under President Trump and Senate Republicans’ pro-growth policies. Access to capital is soaring with loans for ...

May is Beef Month in Iowa

Editorial

During the month of May, it is worth noting that it is a time to celebrate an important meat product. May is Beef Month. For many of us, every month is a time to partake of a food that ranks high on the list of culinary favorites. It’s no secret that Americans have a love affair with beef. That’s been true for generations and the demand for this tasty and healthy product is on the rise — up about 15 percent in the last decade. The passion for beef is widely shared. It is the beef industry’s vital role in the state’s economy, however, that warrants special ...

Representative’s blatant overreach as he ignores Iowa law

Local Columns

At least one member of the Iowa House appears to live by the mantra “Do as I say, not as I do” as he demands access to sensitive personal information and commands silence as he trolls for documents. The audacity of state Rep. Charley Thomson’s recent demands to a nonprofit organization should offend all, regardless of where you land on the political spectrum. Hannah Fingerhut of the Associated Press broke the news last week that the Charles City Republican, who chairs the Iowa House Government Oversight Committee, recently sent a letter to the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice ...

Iowa Central graduates are valuable to north central Iowa

Editorial

Hundreds of blue-clad graduates filed into Hodges Fieldhouse on the Fort Dodge campus of Iowa Central Community College Friday to the traditional strains of “Pomp and Circumstance.” Friday’s double-header of commencement ceremonies marked the pinnacle of achievement that the graduates had worked for over the last year or two. When the ceremonies were done, the graduates walked out of the fieldhouse and into their futures. For a huge percentage of them, that future is right nearby. Community college graduates tend to stay in Iowa and fill key jobs in factories, health care ...

Thanks Iowa Central for veterans project

Letters to the Editor

To the editor: On Tuesday, April 22, Iowa Central Community College hosted a ceremony to honor 55 Vietnam servicemen from communities in the area who lost their lives in a country thousands of miles from their loved ones, their friends, their homes. The ceremony was a formal introduction of the book “Before They Were Soldiers”, a collection of short stories from family members and friends of the lives and the remembrances of those 55 men before they entered the service. I was honored at the ceremony to represent the family of Delbert Ray Peterson (featured in the book) of Manson. ...

Brushy Creek Area Honor Flight is back

Editorial

When a 737 roared into the sky above Fort Dodge Regional Airport just as the sun began to brighten the horizon this morning, one of the most unique and heartfelt tributes to area veterans was back in action. There were about 120 veterans aboard that plane, going to Washington, D.C., for free to see the nation’s war memorials. The trip was the 27th one conducted by the Brushy Creek Area Honor Flight. The first took place in 2010. Since then, about 3,600 veterans from 228 Iowa communities have made the journey. The Brushy Creek Area Honor Flight is largely the vision of one man, ...