By Jim Sloter

As we continued southward on small roads enjoying the varied topography in west central France, we somehow learned about an unusual community and made a point to check it out. Richelieu, a 17th century model city covering about three square miles is located where an old community was razed and a utopian city built in its place. It is the only community in Europe laid out in a grid pattern inside a rectangular wall enclosure. 

By Shane Goodman

“Ban that book. I don’t agree with it. No, not that book. I agree with that one. Keep it. Just get rid of the ones I don’t like.”

Sound familiar? That is exactly what is going on right now in school districts across America and right here in central Iowa.

By Gene Miller

150 Years Ago

How many people remember Minnie Fred Flong?

She was the face of Ridiculous Days for a good many years.

By Sen. Dennis Guth

Feb. 4, 2022

Feb. 4, 2022 - Sen. Charles Grassley Weekly Q&A

Q: What are your concerns regarding foreign ownership of U.S. food companies and farmland?

By Rep. Henry Stone, R-Forest City - Feb. 4, 2022

By Rep. John Wills, R-Spirit Lake, House District 1

By Rep. Terry Baxter, R-Garner

By Rev. Thomas Cowell - Pastor, St. John’s Lutheran Church, Burt and Partnership Pastor, Trinity Lutheran Church

The Environmental Christian

The topic of our adult Bible study at Trinity Lutheran-Algona and St. John’s Lutheran-Burt these past few weeks has been various issues in the realm of Christian ethics. Our most recent Bible study concerned the relationship of Christians to our environment.

By Brad Hicks - Publisher

Some years ago when I lived in Ennis, Texas, a town of about 20,000 people built on cattle, cotton and the railroad about a half hour south of Dallas, I was invited to be one of the people to introduce a speaker at the Ennis Negro Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting. The speaker I introduced then introduced the Hon. Alfred Bennett, a federal judge serving in the Houston area, and a native of Ennis.

By Anne Kohlhaas 

By Jim Sloter

By Michael Tidemann

Are we weird? 

And so begins Detroit-area writer Michael Zadoorian’s provocative novel, The Narcissism of Small Differences, a story of how a pair of Detroit hipsters approaching middle age negotiate the throes of the 2008 crash.