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It’s American Education Week

Since the earliest days in our state’s history, Iowans have understood that schools are important to the proper development of youngsters to help ready them to assist in building a bright future for their communities and state. Not long after farmsteads began to fill Iowa’s landscape, they were accompanied by a vast network of one-room country schools. They are long gone, but that impressive commitment to making education a top priority has remained strong. It has kept the Hawkeye State near the top nationally in terms of test scores and high school graduation rates. This week is ...

Remember those in need this holiday season

Thanksgiving is upon us, and soon the Christmas season will be here. The time spent together with family over food and gift giving is something that we all associate with this time of year. But there are those for whom these holidays are just another day, but with an added sense of loneliness and hopelessness. Some are going through a hard time financially; others are far away from family. Some are isolated or homebound without anyone to check on them. We may not all have had that experience, but we can all help those who are suffering this Christmas season. Here are some ways you can ...

October is Co-op Month across US

There are various types of businesses that operate as cooperatives, but according to the National Cooperative Business Association they all are owned and democratically controlled by their members and are designed to serve those members. The members typically are the people who “use the co-op’s services or buy its goods.” The impact of cooperatives on the U.S. economy is enormous. The dimensions have been documented by research at the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Cooperatives. Here are some of the center’s findings from a study: • There are more than 29,000 ...

Today, our hearts are broken.

Webster City suffered an unimaginable loss Saturday with the passing of Webster City Assistant City Manager and Recreation & Public Grounds Director Kent Harfst in a bicycling accident. The staff of the Freeman Journal wish to extend their deepest sympathies to both the Harfst family and the community. Kent Harfst epitomized the role of the servant leader. He wasn’t the loudest in the room, but he was able to be effective by listening and being interested in people’s problems. He didn’t just listen though, he was exceptional at taking steps to solve problems and get things ...

Don’t fall for political trickery

Well, they’re at it again, trying to pit Americans against each other and thus, disrupting the upcoming presidential eletion. The Russians? We don’t know, although it is certain that the Kremlin’s online campaign of inciting dissention among us never stopped. Someone decided Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke was a good target. Soon after the identity of the man who massacred seven people in and near Odessa, Texas, a few days ago was released, someone took a social media shot at him. “The Odessa shooter’s name is Seth Ator, a Democrat Socialist who had a Beto ...

Iowans have a rare political opportunity

The key part Iowa’s caucuses play in the process through which our major political parties select their nominees for president will put Iowa at the heart of the 2020 campaign for the next few months. Our caucuses get enormous attention from the national news media because they come at the very start of the presidential campaign. Not very many convention delegates are at stake. Even so, a candidate who does well here gets a big publicity boost. Winning in the Hawkeye State can put a candidate on his or her way to becoming our nation’s next chief executive. The caucus system ...