Ever wondered "Why doesn't someone do something about ______ (fill in the blank) to improve my community?" Leadership programs give an individual the awareness, training, and networking to be that someone and take the lead to make it happen.Leaders are vital assets to communities and ...

When a city approves a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) zone, the property taxes collected are not divided between the city, county, and school districts Instead the increased (increment) revenue is all diverted to only the city which established the TIF. It was thought that by allowing the city ...

This next week is known as "funnel week", which means that those policy bills that involve funding need to be out of committee next week. Several important policy bills will be decided upon and begin the political process toward ultimate passage of both houses and the Governor's signature. ...

Greetings from under the dome, This week the Senate Transportation Committee passed Senate Study Bill 3141, more commonly referred to as the Gas Tax Bill. The bill would increase Iowa fuel tax by five cents in 2013 and five more cents in 2014. The bill specifies that the money collected from ...

Have you ever thought about whether your job is a "hot" one? Depending on what's going on around campus, some days my job is hotter than others. But I'm not talking about the kind of "if-you-can't-stand-the-heat-get-out-of-the-kitchen" type of job, I'm talking about jobs that are hot because ...

Greetings from under the dome, Governor Branstad, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey and Senate Republicans this week commended the United States Department of Labor after learning that the department has begun to reconsider onerous regulations on youth working on farms. In November of ...

Let's get ready to celebrate! We can start thinking of spring, warmer weather, the countryside turning green and probably a great deal of litter and trash on the roadsides and the landscape. With these thoughts we need to start putting plans together for our "Spring Housecleaning" for Iowa ...

As Iowans went to their mailbox after the first of the year, many may have noticed something missing; their 2011 Iowa Income Tax Booklets.You may be wondering what happened and where you can get your forms. According to the Iowa Department of Revenue (IDR), with the continued growth of ...

Since before Iowa even was a state, the citizens of this land have made education Iowa's top priority. Once again this year, discussion about improving our children's education will be the centerpiece of the Legislature's work.These efforts kicked off in earnest last week when the introduction ...

Are you a student that is often given a pile of homework to put in your bag and carry all the way home? However all you want to do when you get home is watch T.V., play a game, or just take a nap, but you can't because you have to do homework? Or is there a student that you care for, and all ...