My mother had taught in country schools and was dead set against me attending one. She had been barely older than her students, was out in the country with a group of children, had no phone, no car, and limited access if there had been any type of emergency.That's why she insisted her own ...

Newsletter for Thursday, February 15,Week 6 of the session was "Funnel Week", where all policy bills must be passed by their respective committees in order to stay eligible for consideration this session. I've had success in managing all three of the bills I discussed in my last newsletter ...

AMES- To say Iowa's demographic, cultural and social makeup has changed over the last decade would be to state the obvious. But in what exact way has the state changed in that time?David Peters, associate professor and extension rural sociologist at Iowa State University, has attempted to ...

Newsletter for Thursday, February 8, 2018This week the House Republicans released their plan for the fiscal year 2018 budget adjustment that ensures our spending aligns with the actual revenue coming in as House Study Bill 648. These adjustments total roughly $34 million in reduced spending. ...

It's said that the key to a healthy lifestyle comes from balance. Good eating habits along with exercise and plenty of rest have a bigger impact on a person's health when combined. Similarly, for someone pursuing a college education, balance is also crucial to achieving one's goals. But outside ...

The Iowa legislature has understandably been undertaking the difficult process of de-appropriations since the session began. It is never easy to make cuts to the budget in the middle of a fiscal year, however, that is what must occur since our state's spending is growing faster than our ...

Week five is coming to a close. Legislators have been extremely busy trying to get constituent bills through committee to meet funnel requirements. The funnel deadline is next Friday.Here is a brief description of high interest bills passed through committee in the Senate:Senate File 2086, ...

This week the bulk of our work was again focused on moving bills through subcommittees on to the full standing committee. In our standing committee meetings this week we voted on the bills that passed through sub committees last week.Here are the subcommittee bills and their respective standing ...

They don't make the headlines. Their names are not in the box scores. They don't make the all-star teams. But some of the most important individuals in high school sports are the contest officials.These individuals are so important that, in fact, there would be no organized competitive, school ...

Over the last year, I've traveled to every corner of the state to listen and learn what's important to Iowans. I've learned that Iowans don't ask for much and they are also extremely tired of politics as usual. They just want a decent paying job and the chance to lead a happy, healthy life.I ...