We have turned the page on another year at the Tama County Board of Supervisors. Mid-January means that it is time for budget hearings and discussions. When the new board took over last January, we promised transparency and made a commitment to the taxpayer to use sound budgeting principles. ...
2025 was arduous and is good to have behind us. The fever might have broken. Trump was raving mad on TV last week, almost spitting into the camera. This just days after saying that he doesn’t want Somalis living here because they are garbage. It was astonishing to hear even this president ...
One of the issues the Iowa House Republicans have been working on for several years now is the issue of school and public libraries providing material, mostly books, that rational people would consider pornographic. In past years we have passed legislation barring our public schools from ...
With winter approaching, the work on Salt Creek Wind Phase I is winding down. You may have noticed less activity in that area. I was notified that the last turbine in Phase I was raised last week. During our negotiations with NextEra Energy on Phase I, David Turner and I met with Kimberly ...
It was maybe a happy coincidence last week that while I was following the news about Trump’s soybean deal with China that I also happened to tune into the Iowa Farmers Union (IFU) weekly “lunch and learn” on Facebook. Amid so much uncertainty, not just for farmers but all of us in rural ...
It’s been a while since I’ve issued a Legislative Newsletter. It’s been a busy summer. As Fall arrives, I am beginning to work on legislation for next session along with the usual constituent work. Of course, there are also the hot issues that arise at any time of the year, and I am ...
I am a 5th generation graduate of what is now the East Marshall School District. I returned to my hometown after college and teaching out of state for several years and have been paying taxes in the district for 35+ years. This letter is written as an alum, a current district taxpayer, a ...
Leading up to last year’s election, then candidate Donald Trump campaigned heavily on deporting immigrants on a massive scale. It’s something he’s followed through on, regularly claiming that his Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency would target “the worst of the worst.” ...
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a lifelong family farmer and member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, accepted Growth Energy’s 2025 “Fueling Growth Award” for his efforts to support biofuel production. “Homegrown biofuels are good, good, good. They’re good for lowering prices, good ...
Sean Roberts is no stranger to wind energy. Since the mid-1980s, he has overseen the construction of more than 4,000 wind turbines across the United States and around the world. His latest initiative, the Salt Creek Wind project in Iowa, continues to build on that legacy. Last year, Salt Creek ...