Expanding the public conversation about things our communities most care about has been a major objective of our company for several years. It’s part of our ongoing effort to be more relevant, listen more and give more voice to more people interested in candid, civil discussions. The Opinion page plays an obvious role in this [...]

The Gazette Editorial Board will be interviewing candidates for Iowa’s 1st and 2nd Congressional Districts beginning next week.   We have a number of questions we plan to ask and we also would welcome suggestions from readers. We won’t have time to ask them all but your ideas can help us be sure to cover [...]

By Jeff Tecklenburg – Yes, thegazette.com has changed the rules for online commenting again, as announced Sept. 2. For good reason. Over the past few years, Gazette managers have revised the commenting process several times in hopes of encouraging a more civil, informed and broad-based online discussion. Bottom line: Nothing we’ve tried has worked very [...]

By Jeff Tecklenburg – The Gazette Editorial Board is looking for a “few good residents” — civic-minded folks from this area who are interested in joining our new Community Conversation Corps. Members will participate in weekly Editorial Board discussions about issues of public interest. They will be encouraged to ask questions and offer ideas and [...]

Recently, we began introducing some changes and additions to Gazette Opinion pages, with a focus on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Thursdays will be devoted primarily to the viewpoints of our readers — letters and guest columns that reflect the topics drawing the most reaction among opinion contributors. Saturdays will feature some of the most compelling [...]

If you are using an older browser, you may be experiencing a muddled view of our revised Opinion online page. Try refreshing the page to clear the cache. That should do it in most cases.  Or, eventually, the “bad version” should be cleared out on its own. Sorry for any inconvenience.