Posted September 22, 2020in Stray Thoughts
One of my co-workers at the Des Moines Register was Gene Raffensperger, an excellent reporter with a delicious sense of humor. When Raff was working on a dull story, he often would announce to colleagues, “We’re going to need another tanker of Murine. I’ve got an eye-burner here.” Raff is
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Posted September 15, 2020in Stray Thoughts
Twenty years ago, when the death of 2-year-old Shelby Duis outraged Iowans, I was confident the Spirit Lake tragedy would soon bring change to our state. I probably was naive. In 2016, when Natalie Finn, 16, was found near death in a middle-class neighborhood in West Des Moines, I was
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Posted September 08, 2020in Stray Thoughts
There was a milestone of note recently, and it is a shame there was not a big public celebration. Twenty years ago, Gov. Tom Vilsack and the Iowa Legislature had the foresight to create a program that has brought important changes to communities large and small across Iowa. The program
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Posted August 18, 2020in Stray Thoughts
Regardless of what you think of his political positions, Terry Branstad knew instinctively what being governor entailed. A core duty is looking out for people when they most need help after a disaster. Branstad’s skill, and the skill of local officials, too, was on display in the summer of 1993
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Posted August 04, 2020in Stray Thoughts
I’m giving away my age — or maybe some indication of the amount of stuff tucked away in my cranium. One of the useless tidbits stored there was a comment Ricky Ricardo supposedly made on the “I Love Lucy” show 60 years ago: “Lucy, you’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do!”
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Posted July 27, 2020in Stray Thoughts
Even before coronavirus hit American colleges and universities, even before their budgets imploded because of the pandemic, questions were being asked nationally about how these institutions spend their money. Some high-profile decisions by University of Iowa President Bruce Harreld have put the focus on this issue in our state. The
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Posted July 21, 2020in Stray Thoughts
The death of Congressman John Lewis last Friday night accomplished what police officers with their billy clubs and white mobs with their fists and pipes never were able to achieve: Silencing his voice. For 60 years, Lewis expressed his opinions — on segregation, on voting rights, on economic inequality —
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Posted July 14, 2020in Stray Thoughts
Give an extra tug on your seatbelt. The next couple of months will be rough ones. The new school year starts in a few weeks. Not surprisingly, with the coronavirus still sickening and killing people in Iowa, what normally is a time of much excitement has become a time of
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Posted July 07, 2020in Stray Thoughts
The sun was drooping close to the tree line as the day wound down in southern Pennsylvania eight years ago. A retired U.S. Army officer, now a historian, led a group of business people from across the nation — I was one of them — onto the hallowed ground there
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Posted July 01, 2020in Stray Thoughts
The decision illuminated an embarrassing disconnect from the norms of government transparency and accountability in our state. The decision to cancel the Iowa State Fair was a reminder of the seriousness of coronavirus and the consequences of many people’s anxiety about returning to activities that normally are an important part
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