State park trail entry point.

Journey Home

Tales from the pilgrimage.

Iowa Legislature

  • Political Funnel Cake

    LAKE MACBRIDE— The storm let up, the driveway was dug out, and the second session of the 85th Iowa General Assembly began to shape up during its annual funnel week. The funnel means most non-spending bills must be passed out of committee or they are dead for the year. It’s not a firm rule, but… Read more

  • Tobacco Control in 2014

    LAKE MACBRIDE— When I was in the military, I bought my first and only packs of cigarettes. I tried a few puffs, and never had another. Tobacco control is a complicated issue that affects much of society, and has little to do with one person’s choices about tobacco use. It is one where tobacco control… Read more

  • Legislators to Tour Lake Macbride

    LAKE MACBRIDE— UPDATE Aug. 2, 2013. Organizers have delayed this event due to scheduling conflicts. Email me if you want a notification of the new date/time. Lifting the ban on boat motors larger than ten horsepower on Lake Macbride has been a perennial issue in the Iowa legislature. The issue for opponents, including former Iowa state… Read more

  • Media Day with Legislators

    CORALVILLE— Bob Welsh of the Johnson County Task Force on Aging knows how to put on a show. His legislative forum this afternoon, billed as the Iowa Press format, attracted what could be called a gaggle of media. James Q. Lynch of the Gazette/Source Media Group was the only reporter present who had been on… Read more

  • America’s Climate Century by Rob Hogg

    In America’s Climate Century, Iowa State Senator Rob Hogg asserts, “climate change is the defining historical issue of the 21st century.” If it is, one wouldn’t know it from listening to people, and that seems the point of the book: to educate citizens of the potential negative effects of human-caused global warming, to persuade about… Read more

  • Iowa Pulls the Plug on Nuclear Power

    Pursuit of new nuclear power in Iowa was a bad idea when then governor Tom Vilsack began promoting it, and remains so. MidAmerican Energy’s announcement in the Des Moines Register today, that the utility “has scrapped plans for Iowa’s second nuclear plant and will refund $8.8 million ratepayers paid for a now-finished feasibility study,” was… Read more

  • Farmers Oppose Nuclear Power

    WILTON—About 65 people gathered at the Wilton Community Center last night to view a screening of the documentary, “The Atomic States of America,” hosted by the group Saving America’s Farmland and Environment (S.A.F.E.). Attendees also heard an update from two of the group’s co-founders Dwight and Dianne Glenney. S.A.F.E. began with a group of farm… Read more

  • On Senate Adjournment and Health Care

    BIG GROVE TOWNSHIP— In her remarks before adjournment sine die of the first session of the 85th Iowa General Assembly, Senate President Pam Jochum made a statement that included the following, “the biggest challenge of this session was how to help Iowans who, despite working every day, still cannot afford health insurance.” The Iowa Senate… Read more

  • Passenger Rail and Eminent Domain Get Married

    LAKE MACBRIDE— What will it take for the Iowa House to get a bill considered on the floor of the Iowa Senate? Representatives Dave Jacoby and Bobby Kaufmann are hoping that pairing a Senate Democratic priority— funding passenger rail in order to be eligible to receive a substantial grant from the Federal Railroad Administration to… Read more

  • Divided Government Comes Home

    MORSE— State Rep. Bobby Kaufmann held a town hall meeting at the Morse Community Center, where 25 people gathered this afternoon to hear what is going on in Des Moines. He wanted to hear what we had to say, and some members of the audience had a lot of it. Kaufmann reported that local celebrity,… Read more