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What the governor’s veto communicates

The speed with which Summit Carbon Solutions applauded Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ veto of House File 639 is notable. The following email arrived in the Daily Freeman-Journal’s inbox at 4:21 p.m. Wednesday: “We thank the Governor and her staff for their thoughtful and thorough review of the bill. Summit remains committed to working with landowners through voluntary agreements — just as we have with more than 1,300 Iowa landowners to date, resulting in $175 million in payments. We look forward to continued discussions with state leaders as we advance this important project. At a ...

The governor’s letter of veto

June 11, 2025 The Honorable Paul Pate Secretary of State of Iowa State Capitol Building Dear Mr. Secretary: I hereby transmit House File 639, an Act relating to hazardous liquid pipelines, including common carrier requirements, proceedings under the Iowa utilities commission, including commission member attendance at hearings and informational meetings, including allowing certain persons to intervene in such proceedings, including sanctions on intervenors in contested cases, and permit, permit renewal, and operation limitations, and including effective date and applicability ...

Keep Iowa’s roads safe during spring planting

This is the time of the year when big, slow-moving farm vehicles rumble out onto roadways dominated by faster-paced traffic. That shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who lives in farm country. Even so, all of us should pay special heed to safety considerations as we share the roads with agricultural vehicles. In general, Iowa has been doing a good job of keeping accidents involving farm vehicles to a minimum. According to data from the Iowa Department of Transportation, fatalities and major injuries resulting from such accidents have been on the decline in recent years. That’s ...

Sen. Guth, ‘We will not forget or forgive’

To the editor: In 2024, I spent 10 months running for the Iowa Senate. The district includes Franklin, Hamilton, Hancock, Humboldt, Wright and northern Story Counties (Roland and Story City.) It's a big, rural district and mostly Republican. I'm a Democrat, and like a lot of Dems in 2024, I did not win. Senator Dennis Guth was re-elected on a platform of: 1. No eminent domain for private gain; 2. Medical Freedom (freedom from vaccine requirements but zero freedom to make decisions about women's reproductive health) and; 3. Changing the basis of our currency to one based on the ...

Why Iowa’s repeal of anti-discrimination laws is unconstitutional

Civil rights are not reversible. Once the ratchet of rights has been opened, they cannot tighten. This was the argument of Martin Luther King, Jr, who stated numerous times, including after the famous march to Selma, that “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Reversals on the protection of individual rights are not just ethically wrong, but they are also constitutionally impermissible. The Iowa Legislature’s decision to repeal civil rights protections for members of the transgender community is problematic for many reasons. For one, it flies ...

Blizzard: 0 Hamilton County: 1

On behalf of everyone who looked out their windows Wednesday, sincerely grateful they did not have to go outside, thank you to everyone who did. You know who you are: Hamilton County Sheriff’s deputies, Webster City Police officers, the line crews, street crews, and all emergency ...