On Monday, we laughed at the cold. It was 6 degrees and we are Iowans. We stood behind our banner “Honor MLK Protest InjustICE” waving pool noodles and cheering when truck drivers honked. Immediately, our fingers started going numb. Shortly our toes were doing the same. We wanted to let the government know that we did not sign up to be invaded by a federal armed force in our own country. more

Amid boos and jeers from close to 200 protestors, Reynolds made her way to her Condition of the State address on Friday and proceeded to speak for over an hour without mentioning ICE or protests in the wake of the murder of Renee Nicole Good. more

The Center for Disease Control estimates 15 million illnesses from influenza this season so far, 180,000 hospitalizations and 7,400 deaths, the highest level on record since they started keeping track around 30 years ago. The CDC knows that the entire nation is suffering from a flu epidemic that has not even reached its peak and yet influenza has been removed from the new schedule of recommended vaccines for children that they just put out. more

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR! Yes, this was the banner that we, 82nd Indivisible, dropped from the West Branch Overpass on December 20th, 2025.  Most of you honked back at us, flashed your lights and waved at us because you agree.  This was one of five banner drops we held this year.  The others said, “Resist!, Resist Tyranny!, Healthcare Is A Right!” And “Less ICE, More SNAP!” more

Yes, nurses are professionals, you better believe it. Yet a committee of the Department of Education has omitted nursing from the list of professions that are eligible for the more expensive student loans for advanced degrees such as those required to be a nurse practitioner, nurse anesthetist or nurse educator. more

As the holiday glow fades and winter bills arrive, it’s easy to think need happens "somewhere else." Yet in Durant and our tri-county area, food insecurity impacts our neighbors. It looks like a senior facing a medical bill, a single parent working two essential jobs, or a family whose savings were wiped out by an unexpected car repair. more

For too long, higher education in Iowa has drifted from its core mission: preparing a highly skilled workforce and anchoring talent in our communities. This next legislative session, we have a clear opportunity to bring reform by allowing community colleges to offer a limited number of bachelor's degrees supporting students going into high demand fields. more

A recipe for December: more

Have you heard about Marionette Miller-Meek’s “accidental” payment of $3,500 to her son from her campaign fund for “consulting” in October? She claimed she had mistakenly taken the money from the wrong account and made it disappear by having her son donate the money back rather than refund it in a way that would leave a paper trail as required by the U.S. House Ethics Committee. more

Recently Republican State Senator Kerry Gruenhagen announced his intention to run for re-election in District 41, which includes Cedar County and parts of Scott and Muscatine counties. more

Every fall, the same quiet worry shows up in kitchens and living rooms across Iowa. A retired couple opens their property tax statement and does the math in their heads. A young family, trying to raise kids in the home they saved for, sees another large increase and wonders how many more increases they can afford. These moments are detailed to me dozens of times a year, and they are growing harder to hear. more

It is Venezuela that is in Trump’s crosshairs now, allegedly due to narco-terrorism, but it also has huge amounts of oil, rare earth minerals, gold and diamonds and is conveniently nearby.  more

Here we are in the mad world of 2025. We just celebrated another Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for. We have been given so much by Our Creator God. We are also entering the Christmas season, the Advent season. We Christians celebrate the coming of Jesus. The Messiah to this earth.  We celebrate with the gifts we give one another. We celebrate the Greatest Gift of all to all humanity. The Gift of Jesus. We have so much abundance to be thankful for. We have so much, so many gifts and blessings to celebrate and enjoy. more

JP Morgan Chase is NOT on the list of donors for Trump’s ballroom. And they, along with the other banks involved, just canceled the $20 billion gift to Argentina that was promised in September to get President Javier Milei through the midterms.  “We’re quite conscious of risks we bear by doing anything that looks like buying favors,” said CEO Jamie Dimon. more

It's gratifying to know the greater Wilton community cares enough to have an on-going food pantry and to serve the public a dinner on Thanksgiving Day.  A big shout out to all who are giving or preparing food for the Thanksgiving Day sharing. more

Those making over $700,000 a year are booking travel, purchasing homes and buying accessories for their pets, because at tax time they are looking at a boost of $13,600. But they are the only ones holding up the economy now. more

Things to do this month: more

This week in Washington, D.C., Representative Marionnette Miller-Meeks made some remarkable claims. “The ACA subsidies that came from the ‘Unaffordable Care Act’, they are not expiring, they were not cut,” she said. “The majority of people, which is well over 65%, will see some changes in their premiums, about an average of $50.  So there is no change. That is a myth or a lie perpetuated by the Democrats in order to face something that they themselves did not think it was important enough to do.” more

Economists are now saying that the cost of the government shutdown is about 15 billion dollars a week. The cost of extending the ACA tax credits for one year is  $35 billion dollars. Simple math tells us then if the GOP had negotiated with the Democrats early on, the tax credits could have been renewed for the next two and half years for the same amount of money that has been wasted since then, about 90 billion dollars. more

Hello West Liberty and surrounding Townships! more