It’s final. As the executor for my mother’s estate I signed the papers earlier this month handing over my mother’s house to a new owner. Mom died at age 91 in late November leaving behind six children, six in-laws and a host of grandchildren and great-grandchildren who are all slowly ...
It turns out that there are plenty of unique attractions in Iowa, according to the book “Oddball Iowa, A Guide to Some Really Strange Places.” For about ten years I got to do some traveling around our state when I wrote features for an Iowa magazine. It was fun, and that's when I ...
We’ve long known that U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley gets things done and done right in Washington, D.C. Now, an organization led by professors from Vanderbilt University and the University of Virginia has recognized that fact and has announced it nationwide. The non-partisan Center for ...
Boy oh boy what a change: When the new year started a couple of months ago we were looking at a very mild winter. The ice wasn’t as thick as it usually is at that time of year, and there wasn’t much snow around either. Flash forward to early March and there’s plenty of ice and too ...
It may be time for North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un to try Plan B. His initial strategy in dealing with President Donald Trump —trying to get something for nothing — flopped badly. Trump and Kim held their second face-to-face meeting this week in Hanoi, Vietnam. But Trump departed ...
The English-speaking world’s most common expression of farewell, “goodbye,” originated in the 16th century as “God be with you.” Through a series of metamorphoses over the next two centuries it became the contraction we use today. Its history notwithstanding, I dislike the term. ...