~a column by Colleen O’Brien Odds and ends of ideas litter my desk at the beginning of each year. They are leftovers form the former year when, hoping they had potential, I could not bear to throw them out. I did learn, about the 10th year of column writing, that if I used them all in one column, I got…
Read MoreCategory: Opinion
Ernst’s statement on Trump’s Oval Office address
WASHINGTON – Following President Donald Trump’s address to the nation Tuesday evening, Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) issued the following statement: “Make no mistake: we have a humanitarian crisis as a result of the 60,000 illegal and inadmissible immigrants a month on the southern border. The President has been abundantly clear that the Democrats need to start working with Republicans –…
Read MoreSo you like free news?
A year ago I wrote that stories reported in 2017 made us “proud, angry, sad, optimistic – all those things that make life such an interesting journey.” The same can be said about the stories of 2018, but “proud” and “optimistic” would be in all capital letters if I were using social media. If we were excited and optimistic as…
Read MoreQuotes worth starting a new year with
~a column by Colleen O’Brien I collect quotes as if I am a Bartlett of Familiar Quotations fame. I stash them in diaries and on scraps of paper in pockets and purses, wishing I had written them myself. Here are a few to start you off on a good and interesting year. I am heartened by the words of the…
Read MoreNaig provides 2018 ‘Ag in Review’
Long-term water quality funding, trade challenges, ongoing economic uncertainty among top Iowa ag issues this year DES MOINES – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig on Monday highlighted passage of dedicated, long-term water quality funding, a challenging trade environment and ongoing economic uncertainty as some of the top issues facing Iowans involved in agriculture in 2018.
Read MoreWhere credit is due
~a column by Colleen O’Brien It is the season of giving, of charity and goodwill (peace on earth to men of goodwill), it’s an apt time to remember someone who changed things for the better, in several ways. Sixty years ago, in 1958, a retired teacher, a woman of goodwill named Ethel Percy Andrus, founded the American Association of Retired…
Read Morebefore
~a column by Colleen O’Brien I just got a glimpse in my mind’s eye of my life before: before electronic gadgets (computers, smart fones, Alexa). before even phone machines (there was a time you didn’t know that anyone had called; you had no responsibility for that person’s calling you at all) before small appliances that work better un-electrified (scissors)
Read MoreEmpower Rural IA task forces made recommendations
The task forces formed as part of Governor Kim Reynolds’ Empower Rural Iowa initiative last July made their initial recommendations earlier this month. Empower Rural Iowa is co-chaired by Lt Gov Adam Gregg and Iowa Rural Development Council (IRDC) chair Sandy Ehrig. Nick Sorensen, building/zoning officer and special projects coordinator for the city of Jefferson, is part of the Investing…
Read MoreLetter to the community – GC Early Learning Center board
To the community, The Greene County Early Learning Center has great appreciation for the faithful support received from our local communities. Grants, donations, fundraisers and volunteer hours make it possible for the center to thrive and grow each year.
Read MoreThe Big Boys come to join some big boys and girls of our own
~a column by Colleen O’Brien The news in Jefferson for several months – a start-up may be coming to town. At least it’s something starting that hasn’t been here before. It is a place – a more than century-old building just off the Square – in which to learn how to invent one’s own start-up. Once rehabbed, at about $1.7…
Read MoreLife as a collection of embarrassing moments
~a column by Colleen O’Brien Sometimes, trying to make things right with a purchase takes some thought. My friend DW bought a pair of shoes for winter wear when she vacations elsewhere than where she lives, which is the warm state of Florida. She’d had the shoes for a year or so, not wearing them much, when things started to…
Read MoreOne party
~a column by Colleen O’Brien It was the “Democrat” Party that sicced Hurricane Michael on you; as well as the fires in the West and the ice storm in the East over Thanksgiving. And, by the way, made climate change in general. In fact, it was the richest Dem of all, George Soros, who got rid of all the cloud…
Read More