March 2024 has arrived. March brings the vernal equinox, Daylight Savings Time, St. Patrick’s Day, Good Friday, and Easter. Baseball, golf and track seasons begin for students. Gardens are cultivated and daffodils poke through the ground. March also brings Women’s History Month, a celebration of women’s contributions to history, culture, and society that has been observed in the United States…
Read MoreCategory: Opinion
Letter to the editor – In support of affordable housing
To the editor, I have been listening in online lately to the city council meetings. Thank you for providing this service. It has been troubling my heart as I listen to citizens of our town talk about “those people” that they don’t want living in our town. Who, I ask, are “those people”. One would infer from these conversations that they…
Read MoreLetter to the editor – Our community has answered the bell for 25 years
This past November, the Rotary Club of Jefferson held its 25th Annual Charity Auction and raised nearly $64,000 in gross profits. As the chairperson of that auction committee and a past president of the Rotary Club, I would like to thank all the sponsors, attendees, businesses, donors, and organizers for making the event successful. The Jefferson and Greene County communities…
Read MoreSecuring Iowa’s valuable farmland
~by Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig One of my favorite days of the entire year is the Century and Heritage Farm ceremony that takes place during the Iowa State Fair. During the all-day event in the historic Livestock Pavilion, hundreds of multi-generational farm families, many in matching t-shirts, wait their turns to proudly walk across the stage to receive…
Read MoreCapitol Roundup
~by State Sen Jesse Green, R, 24th District Greetings from the Capitol. This week we debated and voted on various bills that survived last week’s funnel week. I would like to highlight SF2096 which repeals gender balance requirements for appointive bodies. There was a time that gender balance requirements had been seen as a floor for women. Evidence shows that…
Read MoreCaught in my own curiosity
~a column by Colleen O’Brien What is the solution to bombardment by the U.S. Press and its repetitive boredom regarding their love affair with the illogic of a self-loving mediocrity? Quit repeating him, Press. He is not news, he is reruns. He is not interesting, he is a broken record. He is not informative, for he is ill-informed. He is…
Read MoreImproving the lives of Iowans
~by Iowa House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst February 18, 2024 The Iowa Legislature hit the first deadline of session last week, known as the funnel, and it means we’re almost halfway done with the 2024 session. It’s no secret the first weeks of session have been marked by politics, frustration, and division. That’s because most of the bills brought up…
Read MoreThe view from my window: Public libraries
Today (Saturday, Feb. 10) the Thomas Jefferson Gardens board hosted State Senator Jesse Green and State Representative Carter Nordman, during “Meet Your Legislator.” It was standing room only, with numerous Greene Countians and several from out of county present to hear Jefferson statesman, Rick Morain, pose constituency generated-questions to the elected leaders. The dialogue was videotaped, and I listened intently…
Read MoreNot a valentine
~a column by Colleen O’Brien I’ve been reading Elie Wiesel’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning Night for the third time. It is a slim book, around a hundred pages, and old, published in 1972. It is the account of a 16-year-old Jewish boy surviving Auschwitz and Buchenwald with his father during Hitler’s reign as the murderer of as many Jews as he…
Read MoreKeeping young people in Iowa
~by Iowa House Democratic leader Jennifer Konfrst With two kids now in their early twenties, I’ve spent a lot of time wondering if my kids will end up living in Iowa as they wrap up their education and start their careers. My husband and I spent a year away before returning to Iowa to build our lives, so I know…
Read MoreThe capitol roundup – Libraries and Medicaid
~by State Sen Jesse Green, R, Senate District 24 February 9, 2024 Greetings! Last week I filed SSB 3131. If you pay attention to the left wing “spin” media, I’m sure you have heard this past week that I am a fascist and a book burner that is attempting to shut our precious libraries down. For starters, SSB stands for…
Read MoreThe escape of a woman of a certain age
~by Colleen O’Brien Turning off one more tirade from a hopeful presidential candidate, I fantasize a bleak future. America needs to get rid of immigrants and put them and other bad types into sanitariums to remove their influence from good white Christian mates. I’m not an immigrant; my nearest connection to one would be my paternal great-grandparents, who immigrated here…
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