Posted November 26, 2014in Political Mercury
Why should students attend Iowa State? And can they get there faster on U.S. Highway 30? Question: For students with no planned major who are interested in a liberal-arts education, about learning who they are there, or finding that major, why should they go to Iowa State University? Iowa State is known
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Posted November 19, 2014in Political Mercury
U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, captured 37 of the 39 counties the 4th congressional district to easily win re-election to a seventh term. He cleared the 80-percent-vote threshold in some of his more reliable reaches. His opponent, Boone Democrat Jim Mowrer, an Iraq War veteran, lost his home county to
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Posted November 12, 2014in Political Mercury
Eighty-five million dollars. That’s how much Democrats and Republicans and a colorfully striped array of outside interest groups spent on the U.S. Senate race in Iowa, according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics (CRP). More money than Georgia ($66 million). More money than Kentucky ($78 million), where Senate Minority Leader Mitch
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Posted October 29, 2014in Political Mercury
U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, suggests gays won’t make it to heaven. What’s more, in an interview, King intimated that the divorced or cohabitators could be thwarted in the pursuit of eternal salvation as the Christian faith teaches it. Those assessments from the conservative western Iowa congressman came during his
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Posted October 22, 2014in Political Mercury
Joni Ernst is on the verge of cashing in the winning ticket on a crazy bet. She’s wagering Iowa voters, collectively, will assume the mindset of teenage runways and stick with a juvenile defiance until well after Election Day. Run, run from the government, Ernst, the girl-next-door, tells Iowans. You
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Posted October 15, 2014in Political Mercury
Staci Appel says the United States should “always” fight foreign conflicts and terror with friends standing by the nation’s side. David Young says the country may be forced to throw some overseas punches alone, that the nation has to lead. The two candidates seeking to represent a 16-county sweep of
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Posted October 08, 2014in Political Mercury
A 16-year-old Buena Vista County farm kid died last week in a farming accident. The story led the Sept. 24 issue of The Storm Lake Times. The young man perished near Truesdale when he lost his footing trying to clear a piece of machinery that had been plugged while harvesting
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Posted October 01, 2014in Political Mercury
In a race that has Iowans sharply divided — and could decide the partisan balance of the U.S. Senate for the next two years — Joni Ernst and Bruce Braley offered opposing worldviews on Sunday that rarely touched the other’s orbit, as they differed on abortion rights, immigration, health care,
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Posted September 24, 2014in Political Mercury
You can’t separate the man from the law. Literally. The two blend for the word: Obama + Care = Obamacare. How you feel about the sea change in health-insurance reform largely — and in many cases, exclusively — depends on your thoughts on President Barack Obama. It’s personal. Visceral. Instinctive.
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Posted September 17, 2014in Political Mercury
Just weeks or days away from becoming a grandmother, Hillary Clinton says she has a few things on her mind these days. “I’m calling Chelsea every five minutes to make sure everything is going all right,” Clinton said of the former first daughter who is expecting her first child. Then
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