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Editorials

District 53 Newsletter

One of the significant bills passed in the last few days of the session was the update to the Iowa Code on Youth Employment, Senate File 542. SF 542 aims to update Iowa’s youth labor laws and expand opportunities for teenagers to work in Iowa. This section of code has not been updated in ...

In response to Dean Fisher, by Gary Brandenburg

Dean, Times sure do change. I recall vividly as a teenager, on a small dairy farm in Bremer County, IA, having to use a pitch fork to remove cow dung matted with dried cow dung from pens and gutters. I had to use a silage fork to break loose frozen silage from the silo after climbing up ...

District 53 Newsletter: May 4, 2023

The House took last week, Week 16, off as the Senate caught up with their work, then we came back this week and began passing budget bills in preparation for the end of session. Property taxes have been one of the hottest issues we’ve heard about from our constituents this session as ...

District 53 Newsletter April 20, 2023

Week 15 of the session was a short week. We debated bills on Wednesday and Thursday in the House. Many of the bills we debated were bills that were amended in the Senate earlier in the week and sent back to the House for consideration. House File 317, a bill that I filed known as the ...

District 53 Newsletter: April 13, 2023

After completing the second “funnel” where Senate bills have to be passed through a House committee to remain active, we are now entering a phase of the session where budget work is more intense in the Appropriations and Ways and Means Committees, and floor action is more sporadic. This ...

District 53 Newsletter: March 23, 2023

The legislature continues to bring bills to the floor and pass House bills to the Senate and Senate bills to the Governor’s desk. Two significant bills signed into law this week by the governor were the “Bathroom Bill” that prohibits persons from using the facilities that don’t ...

Slices of Life: Things I used to do

The last two years have been full of changes for me - both huge and incremental. Many of my readers have accompanied me on my journey, and for that I’m forever grateful. It’s been fraught with grief, and sadness and even, at times, despair. And then again, hope and growth. But ...

Lost and found!

Have you ever lost something and cannot find it? Most assuredly, as soon as I buy a new pair of socks, one of the pairs comes up missing in the wash. I rummage through all the clothes thinking it was hung up in the armpit of a hoodie or static clinging to the back of a dress shirt, but ...

Slices of Life: Shoot on net

My husband and I raised our kids in the land of hockey. This column is not about hockey. I realize hockey isn’t a thing or perhaps not as popular in some (warmer) climates, but for many years, for us, hockey was a large part of life. If nothing else, it got us through the cold ...