This was Week 7 of the session. We are quickly coming up on the funnel date when individually filed policy bills must be through committee to remain eligible for debate. Thursday, the Iowa House and Senate passed Senate File 418, a return to common sense by removing “gender identity” as a ...
People are talking about Iowa’s alarming cancer rates, but they need to turn up the volume. “We have to start getting loud with our elected officials about doing something about it,” Iowa Cancer Registry Director Mary Charlton recently told Iowa Capital Dispatch. Iowa had the ...
As your newly elected Sheriff, I wanted to take a moment to update you on what’s been happening since I took office on January 2. It’s been a busy few weeks, but I’m excited about the progress we’re making. Getting settled into the Sheriff role has kept me on my toes, but I’m ...
The 2025 legislative session is well underway. As I write this, the opening addresses from the Governor, the Chief Justice, and the head of the Iowa National Guard are all done, many bills are getting filed, and our committee work is underway. The major theme for this session will be the ...
As 2024 wraps up, I’m reflecting on the past 12 months. What memories did our family make, how did things go on the farm, and how are things going in my community and across the state? One of my biggest memories is about Summit Carbon Solutions and its controversial CO2 pipeline. Two days ...
As a new Board that will be installed into office January 1, 2025, we would request the current Board to refrain from appointing new members to the zoning board of adjustment to replace Todd Sebesta and Kurt Kelley and any further appointments. Todd resigned in mid-November 2024. Kurt ...
“It’s like deja vu, all over again.” – Yogi Berra Over the past year, Toledo and Tama County have witnessed a troubling pattern of intolerance, but not from atheists or Satanists who have been unfairly scapegoated. Instead, the real source of this divisiveness has come from a handful ...
I would like to thank the voters of House District 53 for once again putting their faith in me as their Representative in the Iowa House. I am humbled and honored by your support. This will be my seventh term, and the second term in this new district that includes all of Poweshiek County and ...
I read with interest the recent reporting on Mark Doland’s chickens finally coming home to roost. Doland’s rambling, dishonest response to the truth is, at best, laughable, and at worst, outright libelous. Having personally witnessed the unraveling of Mahaska County’s government under ...
I’ve read the claims from Bill Faircloth in his letter and article in the October 25 edition of the Tama-Toledo News Chronicle. I’ve also reviewed the Iowa Code regarding residency for electors (voters) and for elected officials. (Code sections 48A.5A, 39,27, 43.18, & 331.201). Just as ...