Gazette Editorial Board – Iowa isn’t the only state looking for ways to catch up a huge backlog of road and bridge repairs. A National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission report announced last year found that states are shortchanging road construction and maintenance by up to $185 billion a year. In Iowa, the annual shortfall [...]

The Gazette Editorial Board —-   We understand that having a Legislature controlled by both Republicans and Democrats means cutting deals. Some are good compromises forged in the interest of solving problems and governing Iowa. But then there are the misguided deals that make us wonder what lawmakers were thinking. Under the latter category falls [...]

STOP THE SLIDING: Kids on Course is the latest initiative in the Corridor that aims to reverse the “summer slide” — the loss of academic skills among children during the months between school years that researchers say can put kids a month behind or more by the time the fall term begins. This community project [...]

ENOUGH ALREADY: A temporary federal government program aimed at helping small farmers survive during tough times has lost its way. About $5 billion a year goes to many landowners who don’t live on the land, farm it or have any crops are growing on it — regardless if times are good or bad. About 2,300 [...]

The Gazette Editorial Board —-   A new website, crtalks.com, has the potential to be a great way for Cedar Rapids residents to share ideas and concerns with city officials. We think it can be one of many ways the city gathers input. On the site, city leaders create topic areas and solicit ideas and [...]

The Gazette Editorial Board —-   We were skeptical about a state legislative proposal allowing police to collect DNA samples from Iowans convicted of some aggravated misdemeanors, expanding the present law from felonies and sex crimes. That bill became law last month. Then last week, a sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 (Maryland v. [...]

JAZZY FLOOD EDUCATION: Kudos to the College of Engieering, Hancher Auditorium, Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research, Iowa Flood Center, State Hygienic Lab and iExplore STEM, all housed at the University of Iowa, for coordinating an initiative, “Living with Floods,” to promote flood education for high school and middle school teachers and students, community [...]

SEQUESTER SILLINESS CONTINUES: About 1,100 Iowa National Guard members who are military technicians will have to take 11 unpaid furlough days because of the ongoing effects of the federal sequestration budget cuts. Yet another questionable example of fallout from the silly sequester, whose total projected impact on Iowa programs in education, public health, work force [...]

By The Gazette Editorial Board —-   The Iowa and Cedar rivers carry immense amounts of what weather and humans produce. Their combined watershed drains about one-fifth of the entire state and runs through the heart of Eastern Iowa. About 1 million people — one-third of the state’s population — reside in this river basin. [...]

By The Gazette Editorial Board —- Despite efforts to eliminate discrimination on the basis of race and ethnicity, two recent reports show the problem of disparate treatment seems to persist in Iowa, even right here in Eastern Iowa. These two reports indicate there’s room for improvement here when it comes to treating all residents fairly [...]