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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 ...

The Brushy Creek Area Honor Flight is propelled by volunteers

When a 737 roared into the sky above Fort Dodge Regional Airport just as the sun began to brighten the horizon Wednesday, one of the most unique and heartfelt tributes to area veterans was back in action. About 120 veterans were aboard that plane, going to Washington, D.C., for free to see the nation’s war memorials. The trip was the 26th 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: Ron Newsum, ...