By Gov. Terry Branstad —-   Thousands of new graduates from Iowa’s foremost academic institutions soon will be embarking on career searches. Many will find themselves in a position to take a national approach to their job hunts. However, I would like to encourage the fine young men and women of this state to [...]

  By David Wendell —-   These are the words of Article I and Article II of the Constitution of the State of Iowa as adopted by the General Assembly and approved by the vote of the people of the state Aug. 3, 1857: “All men are, by nature, free and equal and have certain [...]

  By Nick Gearhart —-     I  was leaving Kennedy High School parking lot recently, turning left (east) onto 42nd Street NE, and I was following a red pickup truck. I look to my left and see three bicyclists heading to the intersection of Wenig Road and 42nd Street at full speed and, to [...]

  By Allen Witt —- Iowa City and Cedar Rapids are now considered a combined statistical area for the Creative Corridor. This is a long time coming because in the 2000 census the Cedar Rapids Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area fell short by 0.6 percent of becoming a combined [...]

  By Ethan Wellman —- Over the past few weeks, we as U.S. citizens have seen what it is like to experience pain and confusion with the bombings in Boston and the fertilizer plant fire in West, Texas. I am a 21-year-old college student and have experienced these and many other painful experiences, including the [...]

  By Kamyar Enshayan —-   It is year 2018, and after several weeks of intense rainfall, the National Weather Service is forecasting another week of rain and superstorms and possibly record floods. Future I Immediately following the 2008 flood, residents worked with local, state and federal officials to develop a comprehensive 10-year plan. The [...]

  By Dick Sloan —   Market and societal forces have led farmers to become more specialized and individual farms less diverse. We have converted from small fields with long rotations of corn, small grains and alfalfa fed to livestock into farming systems featuring only two row crops grown largely with commercial inputs. Many now [...]

  By Most Rev. Jerome Hanus, Most Rev. R. Walker Nickless, Most Rev. Martin Amos, and Most Rev. Richard Pates —- We, the Catholic bishops of Iowa, are grateful that the governor and the Iowa Legislature are debating how to make health care coverage more readily available to low-income Iowans. The Catholic Church has millennia [...]

By Ralph Rosenberg —-   To control floods, much of the nation’s efforts have focused on building higher and stronger levees, dams, and flood walls. These non-sustainable decisions cause rivers to rise higher and faster, impacting downstream communities and the entire river basin and leading to patterns where we are constantly trying to catch up [...]

  By Brandon Underwood —-     There was cause for celebration last Wednesday. An Iowa jury awarded 32 workers with mental disabilities $240 million in a disability discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). This adds to the millions already awarded to the workers in cases brought by the EEOC [...]