Amidst the polarizing division of our politics, some of which is expressed in letters to the editor on these pages, it was refreshing to see the people of one community, Walcott, come together Friday night to celebrate major improvements at Wescott Park. more

I was sitting in the Eldridge city council chambers the night that Dave Kopatich was hired as a full-time officer in 1989. I wrote the front-page story eight years later when he left to become chief in Walcott, and my byline topped the front-page, above-the-fold article when he returned to Eldridge in 2009. more

May 8, 1996: Four North Scott teachers were among 25 countywide winners of Golden Apple Awards: Glendena Heiman and Steve Mohr from the high school, Chris Green from Neil Armstrong Elementary, and Diane Christensen from John Glenn Elementary. more

The final days of the legislative session are like Halloween without the candy: The ghosts of dead bills start haunting the Capitol. more

This week the U.S. Census Bureau released its first round of data for the decennial census of population. The apportionment results are the total number of residents in each state and dividing it among the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Census Bureau reported that the population of Iowa for the 2020 Census was 3,190,369 residents, an increase of 144,014 residents (4.7 percent) since 2010. Iowa ranks 28th in the country for percentage change from 2010, enough to ensure that Iowa will continue to have four elected representatives in the House of Representatives. more

This week was the 16th week of this legislative session. Although April 30 was the last calendar day of the session, we are still working through policy and budget bills, so we will return to the Capitol in May to focus on accomplishing our priorities for the year, like tax relief, support for first responders and responsible budgets. more

This week, Iowa House Republicans passed House File 889, a bill to ban vaccine passports in Iowa. more

"I will leave it to historians to explain the evolution of the Republican Party from the sunny optimism of Reagan to the dark, dystopian world view of Trump ..." more

"With most of the press, legislatures, and courts unwilling to investigate what may well be the crime of the century, we are left with analyzing what we have ..." more

"Let’s talk about plastics. The plastics industry is spewing toxic waste associated with thousands of deaths in 'cancer alley' ..." more

In spite of a few fringe policemen, saying Defund the Police is a stupid idea. This will never happen because the vast majority recognize the value of the police – and the vast majority of police comport themselves well, unlike Derrick Chauvin, who was convicted of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minn., last week. more

May 3, 2006: A protest intended to highlight student dissatisfaction with staff cuts at the high school went wrong as some students took advantage of the school-sanctioned event. A group marched to the administration office, where superintendent Tim Dose was nearly hit with a water bottle, and to the junior high. However, many peeled off, went to North Scott Foods to buy snacks, and held up traffic. More than 600 students were marked absent for second hour, with many made to serve in-school suspensions for the infractions. Principal Terry Sherer, who had initially approved of the protest, called the incident “a good thing gone bad.”  more