As the autumn leaves settle along 3rd Street and harvest wraps up across Cedar, Muscatine, and Scott counties, November turns our thoughts toward gratitude. At the Durant Iowa Food Pantry, gratitude isn’t just a seasonal sentiment, it is something we witness first-hand every single week. more

An election is coming up on November 3rd, and based on the incompetence and fiscal irresponsibility of Republicans controlling government at the state and federal levels, it is time to vote them all out! more

"Amendment 1’s intent is to: Protect the taxpayer, help ensure a more responsible government, make tax hikes harder ..." more

After a great deal of thought, I am submitting my resignation as Superintendent of the Wilton and Durant Community School Districts, effective at the conclusion of the 2026-27 school year. more

Flip the ballot over and find Amendment 1. What does it mean? more

Are both parties Red and Blue equally corrupt? more

We last wrote about State Senator Kerry Gruenhagen this spring , ”Gruenhagen cares more about the (Chicago) Bears than abused kids in crisis”. We were asking what happened to the Child Welfare Task Force that had been set up in response to the starvation deaths of two 16 year old girls who had been adopted out of foster care. more

At the Durant Iowa Food Pantry (DIFP), we believe food assistance should be about far more than handing out boxes of groceries; it is also about extending dignity and fostering connection. more

There are four simple things you can do to exercise your right to vote in our democracy this November: more

Secretary of State Paul Pate has served for a total of 15 years. He seems safe, familiar and a known quantity. more

Did you know that if even if Rob Sand becomes governor of Iowa, we could still be stuck with the tax policy that has caused our state to drop from 25th to  50th in the nation for economic growth in the last year? Amendment 1 is on your ballot this midterm election and if it passes we will be frozen into the budget nightmare that has impoverished our schools, restricted our access to health care, cut inspections of nursing homes, allowed our infrastructure to crumble, kept our water dirty and reduced the budgets of our police force, fire stations and libraries. more

Recently, we had an emergency and called 911. The first officer arrived within two minutes, and the second officer within 30 seconds later. The ambulance arrived shortly after. Everyone was great and worked swiftly. more

For our rural communities like Durant, Bennett, Stockton, New Liberty, Moscow, and Wilton, ‘neighbors helping neighbors’ is not just a saying; it is foundational to who we are. We take pride in community and hard work, and we look out for one another through every season. more

In the last few months Iowa has become a battleground state with close races that not only could turn a red state purple, but could tip the balance in the U.S. Congress. more

Ashley Hinson says she is a minivan driving mom running for the U.S. Senate who sometimes has trouble keeping food in the fridge for her two teenage sons who attend public school, except… she’s a millionaire. She had over a million dollars before she ever ran, but she’s used her position in Congress to increase her wealth tenfold in the last four years. more

She cofounded Women For Trump, Women for America First, supported ‘Stop the Steal’, planned and organized the January 6th Trump Rally  (not the riot that followed), but Amy Kremer’s latest venture, Humans First, is not one that Donald Trump is likely to approve of. This self-described conservative organization arranged the AI Data Center National Day of Protest on July 18th which involved 140 protests nationwide against the way data centers are being implemented. more

Andrea Grubaugh's article, "THINKING OUT LOUD: Are we really doing this for the good of the children?" (March 24, 2026), deeply resonated with me, especially her warnings about forcing people into a predefined "normal" box. It inspired me to share this summary of a Substack post I wrote on July 4. more

Iowa’s demographics are unique in that they have a dropping birth rate, an aging rural population and a high number of college students who are leaving the state after graduation.  This is known as a triple threat to our economy. Immigration has been one way to strengthen the labor market until now. more

Iowa is soaked in Roundup, the herbicide made by Bayer. You probably have some in your garage, though if you bought it recently it may not contain the active ingredient glycophate that was blessed by the Supreme Court this week in a ruling that revealed yet again who owns the extreme Supreme Court, who owns the Trump administration and who owns Iowa. That ingredient though is still very much present in the commercial applications used on our corn and beans. The 7–2 decision said that there is no need for the product to have a warning on it, because the EPA says it’s ok, Roundup is fine, perfectly safe, never mind that Bayer wrote the report that the EPA is using as evidence. Yes, the paper was retracted by Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology on November 28 of last year because of the “lack of clarity regarding which parts of the article were authored by Monsanto employees.” more

We’ve all been there. Trying to open a kitchen drawer, but it’s jammed shut because there are too many ladles and spatulas crammed inside. Or maybe you have a perfectly good air fryer or blender gathering dust on the counter because you received a duplicate as a gift last holiday season. more