Editorial Roundup

By Telegraph Herald —- If you’re one of those people who thinks taking off your shoes and submitting to a patdown in the airport security line is a waste of time and invasion of privacy that doesn’t really stop terrorists, here’s a question for you: What do you think now? As details emerge about the [...]

By Iowa City Press-Citizen —- “There’s a reason you’re confused. They want you to be confused.” That’s what Gary Fethke told the folks over at the Des Moines Register about why they were having trouble getting straight answers from the University of Iowa Foundation. And we think Fethke — former dean of the UI Tippie [...]

By Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier   —– The 2012 session of the Iowa Legislature has to be considered a disappointment based on the failure to come to agreement on one issue. That’s the elusive commercial property tax relief package that Republicans and Democrats alike — in the split-control Legislature — had identified as their top priority [...]

By The Des Moines Register —- Many been having a lot of fun with the “pink slime” story, if only because the moniker attached to the hamburger filler conjures up a humorous while repulsive image. But the humor is lost on 650 packing-plant workers in Iowa, Kansas and Texas who have lost their jobs because [...]

By Telegraph Herald —- Admittedly, voter fraud is not the biggest issue confronting the U.S. electoral process. Citizens should worry much more about the influence of money in politics — especially anonymous donations — than mischief at the polls. Even so, it is not too much to expect people to show a reasonable form of [...]

By The Hawk Eye —-   President Barack Obama picked an easy — but important — issue to share with college students last week, including some at the University of Iowa. The interest rate on the popular Stafford student loans is due to double at the end of June from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. [...]

By Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier —- Sen. Charles Grassley once again created a bit of a fizz in the political world last week with his Twitter account. On April 21 Grassley, upset that Coca Cola stopped supporting the conservative group American Legislative Exchange Council, encouraged his followers to stay away from the soft drink mainstay. In [...]

By The Des Moines Register —- “Creating jobs” is not necessarily achieved by luring businesses to come to Iowa from somewhere else. That was made clear last week when a big hoopla was made over an addition to Google’s data center in Council Bluffs that will bring a grand total of 50 jobs to southwest [...]

By Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier —- At times it seems nothing could possibly be shocking anymore when it comes to American politics. Sure, it’s easy to turn on cable news talk programs and see Rachel Maddow, Ann Coulter, James Carville or Bill O’Reilly work themselves into a lather over something they absolutely can’t believe came out [...]

By Quad-City Times — The shooting death of Trayvon Martin is making everyone think — and many offer opinions — about a provocative question far older than the slain 17-year-old: Are some Americans perceived as criminal threats primarily because of their ethnicity? Evidence abounds that the answer was “yes” in our nation for far too [...]