State gov’t may be harming Iowa population challenges
I stumbled across a statistical tidbit the other day that probably will surprise many people. U.S. Census Bureau figures show that between 1900 and 2000, the state that grew the [...]
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Posted January 18, 2022in Stray Thoughts
Posted January 10, 2022in Stray Thoughts
Senate change won’t better inform Iowans
Typically, in the days leading up to the start of a new session of the Iowa Legislature, the attention is on lawmakers’ goals and priorities — and on the pledges [...]
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Posted January 03, 2022in Stray Thoughts
Americans are slow to grasp this extreme danger
Something came out of Colorado last week besides images of the destruction from a rapidly developing wildfire that roared through the area between Denver and Boulder.The fires consumed upwards of [...]
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Posted December 27, 2021in Stray Thoughts
Justice in Iowa vs. Minnesota justice
Minnesota and its government officials delivered an important lesson recently on how to provide justice — and their lesson should be taken to heart by their neighbors in Iowa.The contrast [...]
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Posted December 20, 2021in Stray Thoughts
Those ‘good neighbor deeds’ can recharge us
When I walked out the door at the Des Moines Register for the final time on Dec. 12, 2014, there was an unfinished piece of work tucked away in a [...]
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Posted December 13, 2021in Stray Thoughts
School officials haven’t learned important lesson
The past couple of years have been challenging for Iowa’s 327 public school districts.Parents have become very engaged with their schools — and enraged, too, at times. This has revolved [...]
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Posted December 09, 2021in Stray Thoughts
Our political system has withered since Bob Dole’s days
The death Sunday of Robert Dole was a potent reminder of what we have lost as a nation. Another member of the Greatest Generation has left us — another of [...]
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Posted December 01, 2021in Stray Thoughts
Libraries should be for all, not just for some
It is telling that no objections were lodged against the two Johnston High School books until this school year. There’s a big birthday coming up in Iowa in about a [...]
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Posted November 29, 2021in Stray Thoughts
Another school problem is not being discussed
When you have orbited the sun as many times as I have, people sometimes want to tap into the insights you have gathered through the years. Young journalists and newsroom [...]
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Posted November 15, 2021in Stray Thoughts
Much to marvel at in the human spirit
You have to marvel at the capacity of the human spirit — especially the ability of people who remain optimistic and upbeat in the face of challenges most of us [...]
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