Breaking News

Editorials

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, ...

Welcome to Webster City

The town’s new splash pad in East Twin Park is officially inaugurated, having been the location of a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday and a subsequent After School Party in the Park. Yes, it’s a little behind the projected August completion. And, yes, it met with resistance along the way. But it must be said that the new park feature leans in the direction of telling everyone that this town cares about its young people, and it demonstrates through its existence that the place will put its money where its mouth is. One only had to watch the increase in the numbers of young kids ...

Who doesn’t love a good blizzard?

Who doesn’t love a good blizzard? Ask the people who plow the roads. When the blizzard began Thursday night it seemed kind of tame. Well, it wasn’t. As Friday progressed multiple roads began to drift shut and despite the countless warnings by countless agencies who were going to have to try to help anyone in desperate need, many cars were stranded and abandoned. Who doesn’t love a blizzard? Ask a first responder who can’t get to someone in distress. On their way to some calls during and immediately after the blizzard, their progress was blocked not only by ...

Church rising, state falling in Washington

An autumnal sky hung over the Capitol Monday afternoon. It was Yom Kippur, the day to atone, which seemed apt. Four thousand tourists come to the Capitol every day now, but the place will likely be dark next week. Gone was the cloud of uncertainty about a pending government shutdown. Most members of Congress dread the prospect. It's the last thing their voters need in a time of turmoil. The Senate finished its work on funding the government in good time, but House Republican lawmakers are too angry to get homework done. Meanwhile, everyone knows Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., ...

Here’s another place where Iowa needs more transparency

There has been a lot of talk lately about why Iowa’s K-12 school districts need to be more transparent, and more accessible and more accountable, to parents and the rest of the tax-paying people of Iowa. That is the justification offered for a bulging backpack full of bills introduced in the Legislature this year. But lawmakers should not stop with their push for improved transparency in schools. There are bills before the Legislature this year that would require a monitoring camera be installed in every classroom, online lists of every book in every school library and every book ...

Senate change won’t better inform Iowans

Typically, in the days leading up to the start of a new session of the Iowa Legislature, the attention is on lawmakers’ goals and priorities — and on the pledges they make to work together for the good of the people of Iowa. This year, however, Republican leaders who control the Iowa Senate announced a controversial decision that erases more than a century of openness — evicting journalists from the floor of the Senate chamber. This ill-conceived action makes Iowa an outlier among the legislatures in the 50 states. You could count on one hand those that do not allow journalists ...