It was a bright, sunny and pleasant day after the wild and windy night.
Driving at a leisurely pace, we followed the road up, down and around — past bay areas, rivers and lake shores, through forests and small farming areas: scenic.
There is a lot to see, do and learn in Nova Scotia. With its many provincial parks and historic sites, we needed to pick and choose our stops.
Read more of Jim's Travel Diary in the March 7 Advance.

Somewhere along the way, Bing and I failed as parents. Big time. All five of our offspring hate dolls. They call them, "creepy." How can this be?

House Happenings from Rep. Terry Baxter 1/16/2020

Upon relocation to Texas a few years ago, one of the first decisions I had to make was from which company I was going to buy my electricity.
That's a concept foreign to Iowans. The relationship between customer and electrical provider doesn't give Iowans options. Our world is dominated by MidAmerican, Alliant, rural electric cooperatives and local utilities such as AMU.
Read Brad's whole column in the Feb. 28 Kossuth County Advance.

The main topic of conversation right now everywhere we go is the weather. And, for good reason. However, this too shall pass, and spring will be here.
Let's think spring and beyond to all the great activities coming up. Chamber-sponsored events will kick off April 1 with Women Networking Together.
Get all the details in the Feb. 28 Kossuth County Advance.

Something very sad occurred in my home last Saturday evening ... my spouse and I watched "The Lawrence Welk Show," at 7 p.m. on PBS ... and ... we enjoyed it. Oh, no! I'm becoming my parents.
Actually, we thoroughly enjoyed it and the bit about becoming my parents – I'm just kidding. I think.
Read Gene's whole column in the Feb. 28 Advance.

Leaving Pictou and the sailing ships behind, we took our time, making several stops along the way as we traveled east and north along the north coast of Nova Scotia's Cape Brenton Island on our way to Cape Brenton Highlands National Park.

On the House floor for action last week: House Files 223, 262, 264, 266, 291, 292, 323. This was the first debate of the session, and it saw the passing of seven bills with overwhelming bipartisan support. The 87th General Assembly passed 88 percent of its legislation with bipartisan support, and we are on our way to seeing more than that this session.
Read the whole guest editorial in the Feb. 28 Kossuth County Advance.

Marijuana prohibition is ineffective and expensive. While law enforcement and the court system have done their best to enforce prohibition, prohibition has not made Iowans significantly safer or healthier.
Despite this, Iowa spends millions each year to arrest, prosecute, jail, imprison and punish thousands of nonviolent Iowans for possessing a product that is less toxic, less addictive and less lethal than alcohol.

Wade, our last-born, texted from Los Angeles the other day asking if I knew what time he was born. I can barely come up with the year any of our five offspring were born – how in the world would I remember the hour? I suppose some super-mothers do, but I probably wouldn’t like them much.

Procedures on how Iowa nominates new district court judges are probably going to change. Republican majorities in the Iowa House and Iowa Senate are planning to send Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds a bill that would alter the makeup of the nominating commissions that select finalists for openings.

On "Iowa Press" this week, Rep. Holt, the chair of the House Judiciary committee railed against the current process of selecting members of district and state judicial nominating commissions. Yet, he did not identify one judge that was the product of this process who was not fit to be on the bench.

Because of my background as a sportsman, I have become the go-to person on the Natural Resource committee for hunting, fishing and recreational issues. The past four years I've spent considerable time outside of the capital learning even more on the issues facing conservation, water quality and natural resources in the state of Iowa.

The Arts Council began the year with an annual meeting and election of officers. Many exciting plans are being made for the upcoming year.
The first change is in the vision of the Arts Council and its role in providing fine art experiences to the public.
Read the full column in the Feb. 14 Kossuth County Advance.

Several important pieces of legislation began the journey to becoming law this week. Three of those are as follows: an amendment to the Iowa Constitution that would stop the court from negating legislation on abortion, a bill that gives citizens more say in who is nominated for open judge seats, and funding for education.
Read the whole column in the Feb. 14 Advance.