BY CHUCK VANDENBERGPCC EDITOR DES MOINES – The best stories are those that come with happy endings, but sometimes stories deserve to be written even when the end is met with heartbreak. Fort Madison’s Sam [Read More…]
Most of the time in newspapers, when a reporter/editor or balding owner makes a mistake, you get something buried in the bottom of page three off the valuable front page, but plausible. Not me. I [Read More…]
I woke up at 6 a.m. Wednesday morning, actually I was up at like 5 because I got a couple of messages from people wanting doughnuts. Kiwanis is selling doughnuts and they wanted on the [Read More…]
Seven hundred sixty-three days and counting. Pen City Current will enter its third year of writing about the people of north Lee County on Dec. 6…. and we couldn’t be happier to still be here. [Read More…]
I can’t drive 55…or 65 for that matter, there’s just too much to do. This week I’ve made the mind-numbing trek to the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids on what will be three straight [Read More…]
Pen City Current Photos by Chuck Vandenberg
People have been at the door knocking a couple times a week. Democrats mostly, trying to shore up votes. I’m a registered Democrat, but I would have had conversations with foot soldiers of Republican candidates. [Read More…]
Lee County Supervisor Gary Folluo rubbed his head in frustration at Tuesday’s board meeting as the county leaders worked through an issue about a maintenance shed that sits between two properties in Argyle. The building [Read More…]
In my generation, a four-year degree was the path often taken. “Get your degree” my mom would say. It took me a while to get my crap together, but I got it done. I graduated [Read More…]
I’ve been following the recent news where Western Illinois University has directed budget cuts at Tri-State Public Radio’s three radio stations and it’s Audio Information Services (AIS) as of March 1, 2019. It’s not a [Read More…]
Randy Miller, a retired editor at the Burlington Hawk-Eye and former employee at the Daily Democrat, has an opinion piece in the Hawk-Eye Sunday morning. You can read it on their website at www.thehawkeye.com. Just [Read More…]
Watching thousands of people crowd around the majestic riverfront that serves as the front yard to Fort Madison’s downtown district was something to see last week. I live about four blocks from RiverFest and decided [Read More…]
So it’s news literally heard across the world that Pen City Current is seeking visual evidence of an alleged incident from a December assembly at the Fort Madison Middle School involving Principal Todd Dirth. We’ve [Read More…]
A nice story of locals pulling together to keep a local business alive unfolded right in front of us here in Lee County. Keokuk radio KOKX (AM 1310) and Z93 was on the chopping block [Read More…]
BY CHUCK VANDENBERG As an elected official, you have an inherent responsibility to keep the trust of the electorate and to do your best to represent those that cast a ballot in your favor. When [Read More…]
Tuesday turned into a not-so-normal day for a reporter who’s covered just about every beat and every type of story in journalism. Nothing has really intimidated me in this business until Tuesday afternoon when I [Read More…]
BY CHUCK VANDENBERG Well, the letters have been printed, and we’ll print any more up until Sunday at midnight, on the upcoming school referendums. I’m in the bag and always have been on these new [Read More…]
BY CHUCK VANDENBERG Sitting at a table Friday night at the Elliott Test Kitchen eating some of Kumar’s fresh-smooshed guacamole with chips, some hors d’oeuvre meatballs, and finger sandwiches with about 60 members of the [Read More…]
After a couple of issues at meetings Tuesday night, I think a discussion is in order on closed and exempt public meetings. The Fort Madison City Council almost went into what’s called an Exempt Session [Read More…]
I was sitting at my laptop with two warm blueberry muffins. The house smelled of muffins and my wife was sitting in the chair next to me taunting the Google Home we got for Christmas. [Read More…]
We all had a bit of sticker shock when the Fort Madison City Council approved an immediate 8 percent increase for City Manager David Varley. It was big enough news that I sent it out [Read More…]
Well the holidays are over and I made my usual trek to some regional airport, this round Lambert-St. Louis, to drop my daughter off for her flight back to LaGuardia on the waterfront of Bowery [Read More…]
I put in 30 minutes of roadwork Sunday morning before the Vikings game came on. After I got two blocks in, I started to have a small panic attack. That’s been happening lately. In 2018 [Read More…]
Well, it’s been a full year since we’ve started the Pen City Current. I can say without a doubt, it’s been a really wild ride. Not without it’s hiccups, but the reward has been worth [Read More…]
Sometimes, and I’ve written this before, it’s tough to throw an opinion out there for readers to consume. There are times when you can write from an emotional, but safe place. when your memories are [Read More…]
On Friday afternoon a vehicle was shot at by a passing motorist on Highway 61 northbound just near North Fork Road. No one was hurt in the incident. Whether it was a random act of [Read More…]
The past eight days has been a bag of cats for me, but new perspectives come from the loss of a loved one. My father died fairly suddenly last week after fighting Parkinson’s Disease for [Read More…]
I was trolling Facebook this morning and ran across a post from a friend who said she’s crying at the end of the first quarter of every Hawkeye home game. It’s become a national cuddle [Read More…]
Prior to this year, the Tri-State Rodeo to me was something my family attended one time each year to see the reactions on our girls’ faces as the horses and cowboys went flying by kicking [Read More…]
The Fort Madison City Council may very soon be faced with an up or down vote to continue working toward moving the Amtrak depot back to it’s original location at the historic depot near downtown. [Read More…]
I don’t like to talk a lot about national issues in a local newspaper. Most of the time I think it’s a tremendous waste of space. Very few people give a hoot about what I [Read More…]
Fall’s in the air. I don’t know why yet. It’s only August, but I’ve got a tree in the side yard that has leaves already turning red on the top. When leaves turn, I start [Read More…]
BY CHUCK VANDENBERG PCC EDITOR You’ve all heard, at one point or another, the phrase net neutrality. Some probably are bored by the phrase and others don’t get it, and others just don’t care. But [Read More…]
BY CHUCK VANDENBERG PCC EDITOR On Sunday I spent the better part of a half hour talking with the mom of a 15-year-old girl who has a broken neck and compressed vertabrate fracture as a [Read More…]
Operating a social media driven local news organization has opened my eyes to people who don’t believe in the future of downtown Fort Madison. There is a very specific group of people who live in [Read More…]
BY CHUCK VANDENBERG Of course it’s sour grapes. Of course it is. I’m deeply concerned that we didn’t pass the referendum for a new preK-3rd grade elementary school last week. The Keep Improving District Schools [Read More…]
BY CHUCK VANDENBERG I’m in a really…good…mood. This weekend was an especially beautiful couple of days with a light breeze out of the northwest that kept temperatures right at 75 or so the whole weekend. [Read More…]
BY CHUCK VANDENBERG PCC EDITOR In the fall of 2011 I had an emotional breakdown. I don’t cry very much as an adult, but I sobbed like a baby filling my tank with gas outside [Read More…]
It’s not supposed to work like this. I find myself perplexed these past few weeks about the functionality of our county officials. I’m extremely confused about the bizarre moving of the Lee County Health Department [Read More…]
BY CHUCK VANDENBERG I was getting caught up on my reading Sunday morning while having the scanner and Meet the Press going on in the background. I can multi-task. A wave came over me at [Read More…]
I’m a big sports fan. It’s a thing. I like to see kids I watched grow up do great things on the court…on the field…on the mat…in the classroom. Not just my own kids, but [Read More…]
Writing is a complex beast. Sometimes you can stare at a computer for minutes…hours and nothing comes out. Sometimes you can sit down at a computer while watching television and the words just pour out. [Read More…]
When we rolled this venture out in December, this new digital outlet of ours, we wanted to be hyper-local. Our idea was to hit as much as possible in our local area and be there [Read More…]
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