Posted March 30, 2026in Stray Thoughts
Noah Petersen and Priscilla Villarreal live 1,200 miles from each other, Petersen in Newton, Iowa; Villarreal in Laredo, Texas. They share a key connection despite that distance. Each has encountered government punishment for exercising their First Amendment rights. Both went to court to fight for their freedoms. For Petersen, he had
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Posted March 16, 2026in Stray Thoughts
City leaders in Des Moines are making it difficult to understand why they selected the new police chief, considering how they have imposed a code of silence about their recent $975,000 payout to one of the candidates who did not get the job. The payout and, even worse, the sealed
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Posted March 10, 2026in Stray Thoughts
The offices of the Des Moines Register’s opinion staff were mostly empty when my telephone rang late one afternoon about 15 years ago. The guard at the lobby security desk said two men were there and hoped I had time to meet with them. I said sure and invited them
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Posted February 26, 2026in Stray Thoughts
We all need reminders now and then. Some of us believe there is only one correct way to think and speak and act in these United States of America. But that is not true. Americans are not who we are because we are the same. Americans are who we are,
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Posted February 17, 2026in Stray Thoughts
It’s funny how a government body can learn and teach an important civics lesson in the time it takes a student to go from kindergarten through 12th grade. In 2012, the Atlantic Community School District won a lawsuit to keep information secret about disciplinary measures taken against two employees who
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Posted February 10, 2026in Stray Thoughts
My ancestors trace their roots in America to before the days the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence. You may have seen my distant cousin, Joseph Hewes, in the massive painting hanging in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. It shows colonial leaders including Cousin Joe presenting the Continental
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Posted February 02, 2026in Stray Thoughts
January ended with a notable week for federal courts because of the voices of its judges. Judges in Minnesota and Texas spoke with clarity in these troubled times. In between them, a longtime Iowa federal judge’s voice fell silent after a quarter century of delivering justice, along with lessons in
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Posted January 26, 2026in Stray Thoughts
The 2025 college football season is in the history books. The season ended with last week’s national championship victory by Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza and his Indiana University Hoosiers over the University of Miami. The season began back on August 23 in Dublin, Ireland, matching Iowa State University against
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Posted January 13, 2026in Stray Thoughts
Truth should be measured by evidence, not by political allegiance. Can’t we all agree on that? With that in mind, a useful question for citizens and journalists to ask at times like this is simple: “Help me understand …” The phrasing invites the person being questioned to explain his or
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Posted January 05, 2026in Stray Thoughts
It was Christmas Eve. The gifts were laid beneath the Christmas tree at the home of Merlin and Nelda Powers in Urbandale. But the family’s holiday celebration ended abruptly that day in 1968 when the Powerses’ 10-year-old daughter Pamela disappeared from the YMCA in downtown Des Moines while the family
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