~by Senator Jesse Green January 31, 2025 The third week of session has arrived and we are now in full swing with many visitors and subcommittees. To begin the week, Senate Republicans released our funding proposal for the next school year, proposing a $235 million increase for K-12 students. The increase in state funding is in addition to the budget…
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View from my window – Ask our legislators about cancer rates at ‘Meet Your Legislator’ event
Governor Kim Reynolds provided the 2025 Condition of the State on Jan. 14. The budget she recommended was $9.43 billion. She recommended a $1 million allocation to study cancer in Iowa. This was 0.0111 per cent of the total budget. This allocation was to offset that the state of Iowa now has the second-highest cancer incidence among all U.S. states,…
Read MoreNew president actually dares people to respond to his hell-bent directives
~a column by Colleen O’Brien Pardon more than a thousand traitors, rioters, seditionists and insurrectionists from the damage they committed against the Capitol buildings’ police, windows, doors, walls, art, portraits, offices as they hit, broke, shat upon to the tune of millions of dollars not counting several lives and injuries on that day of Jan 6, 2021; and has Trump…
Read MoreHealth and agriculture – Linked together like love and marriage
~by Bryan Helmus In the January 9, 2025 edition of the Jefferson Herald, editor William Carroll announced a new weekly feature focusing on “health related content from a variety of sources” and stated “we are open to suggestions from you the reader on content that can make this section even better.” In my opinion, having a page focused on health…
Read MoreHow quickly I fell into old age
~a column by Colleen O’Brien The beginning of my old age did not start until I was pushing 80. I’d had skirmishes with it, of course – so much gray hair all of a sudden! I let it go from dyed blond to whatever color showed up after I quit “Clairol,” and my favorite, “Manic Panic.” I let my hair…
Read MoreCapitol Roundup
January 17, 2025 Greetings from the Golden Dome! I hope you have had a great holiday season and are as excited as I am to get back into the swing of things. On Monday, January 13, the 91st General Assembly gaveled in for the official start to the 2025 session. The first week is always full of speeches and the…
Read MoreDecision
~a column by Colleen O’Brien Since the recent presidential election, I’ve been weighing the efficacy of writing this mostly political column of mine. I have no exact idea who or how many read my column, but the issue lies purely with me. The issue is what’s good for my mental state and what’s good for the newspaper that publishes me.…
Read MoreView from my window – AI
A-1 Steak Sauce AI Artificial Insemination AI Artificial Intelligence Today the focus is on the third AI, Artificial Intelligence. We have a vehicle that applies the brakes if we get too close to another vehicle. It resists going out of the current driving lane to pass. My phone does spell prophesying and frequently provides a word that is not wanted…
Read MoreGov Reynolds delivers 2025 Condition of the State address
January 14, 2025 Following is Gov Kim Reynolds’ 2025 Condition of the State address as prepared for delivery: Madam President, Mr. Speaker, Lt. Governor, First Gentleman, legislative leaders and members, justices and judges, my fellow Iowans: It’s my honor and privilege to once again report on the condition of our great state from this chamber in our beautiful State Capitol.…
Read MoreThe high road or the low road
~a column by Colleen O’Brien Another new year, another resolution. Over the many New Years, my resolves dissolved within the minute. I don’t know this at that minute because the proof does not happen until the next day – first day of resolution. I forget to do it, refuse to do it, tell myself I’ll start tomorrow. This one, my…
Read MoreView from my window: 2025 and resolutions
This begins my second year of sharing View(s) From My Window with you. For those of you who provide feedback, whether positive or negative, it nourishes my energy level to know that you are reading and thinking. Thank you. As 2024 comes to a calendar close, we think about the plans for 2025. For many it seems like a fresh…
Read MoreWhat the publisher read in 2024
Hello, GCNO readers! Each January I like to share what I’ve read during the past year. This year two good reader friends and I began meeting monthly not as a book club, but to suggest books to each other. There are some books on my list that I probably would not have read without their suggestion, but I enjoyed them…
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