For many years, an Iowa State University political science professor and I met several times a year for coffee and conversation. During our coffee klatches, I probed my friend’s thinking on …

Back where I came from, you do not expect to have a bomb-sniffing dog circle your car when you pull into the parking lot for Sunday church services. But that is what occurred. After the dog’s …

Many decades ago, Mrs. Gentry and Mr. Halferty put up with an inquisitive kid’s classroom questions about American democracy and the workings of government. I did not imagine back then how the …

Iowa is about as far removed from an ocean as you can get. But this state figures in recent news reports about the U.S. Navy — and not in a puff-up-our-chest-with-pride way. One of the reports …

Campaigning for public office is no picnic. Day after day there are speeches, Q&A’s, interviews and the constant need to think before you speak. Candidates eat enough chicken to have …

There were more disclosures in recent days in the ongoing saga involving the ethical standards of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court — or, more accurately, the lack of ethical standards. With …

Deanna Mahoney was like countless Iowa women through the years. She nurtured three children. She worked outside the home to supplement the family income. She loved bowling and mushroom hunting. That …

Silly me. I thought I had been paying attention to the issues about which Iowans feel strongly. You know, things like inflation, taxes, government spending, the war in Ukraine, a new farm bill, water …

One of the photographs of my father that I clearly remember appeared on the pages of the Bloomfield Democrat about 60 years ago. Pop was standing chest-deep in a hole that had been hastily dug in the …

My late friend Paul was a fine Des Moines teacher. I wish the Evans girls had him for history and government. Judging from his ability to entertain me with descriptions of his interactions with …

Sue and I were in Washington, Iowa, last month. The purpose for our trip was a high school graduation. It was a special occasion because the people we joined with in honoring young Cameron, the newly …