One of the most promising things that happened in our community last week was when the Algona City Council opted to join forces with Kossuth County Economic Development (KCEDC). 
 
Read Brad Hicks's "On the Side" column in the March 25 Advance.

What we have been instructed over the course of the past four months is America’s election system is either really messed up or really great and in no need of tinkering. It just depends upon which party you choose to believe....
 
Read the full editorial in the March 25 Advance.

...We are prepared for change. Kossuth Regional Health Center is constantly evolving to meet the needs of our patients and community, and we have invested time in preparedness training. When news of the pandemic emerged, our staff leaped into action to create a separate treatment area for respiratory patients. This space has continued to evolve, and we are now kicking off a renovation project that will help us create an improved space for respiratory care in our clinic.

As I’ve written before, I live in a house built by my great-grandparents in the late 1800s. I grew up in the house next door, which was built as a wedding gift for my parents. My grandmother lived here then and I spent many hours with her, listening to her stories of what her life was like when she was young, growing up in this very house. Later, it was my parents living here, then my mother alone until she died at nearly 101 years of age.

To the Editor:
Tuesday March 24th marks Equal Pay Day for 2021. The Equal Pay Act was passed in 1963 but, despite this federal law, the gender pay gap continues to exist over 50 years later.
 
Read the full letter in the March 25 Advance.
 

I think spring has sprung – if it hasn’t, don’t tell me. It seems like we went from sub-zero, snowy days to ever-so-lovely sunny days in the blink of an eye. Or before you could say Jack Robinson. Or faster than the speed of light. Or . . . okay, I’ll stop with the cliches. I guess I’m just a little giddy at not having to bundle up like an Eskimo to take Seamus for his daily walk.

Wow! What a year! If someone would have told me what this year looked like for education when I was taking my education classes, I would have laughed and looked at them like they were crazy! No one could have predicted what schools would have to do this year to ensure health and safety measures were implemented for a worldwide pandemic. Our students and staff have been through a lot, but we are coming out the other side much stronger and wiser.

Sometimes life is hard. Sometimes it is easy. Sometimes it is just really hard. 
Most of us feel like we know what to do when life is easy, perhaps we even know what to do when life is hard. BUT, do we have any idea how to live when life is really hard? 

March 26, 2021

Inside the Iowa House: Public Money for Public Schools

As the voucher bill has stalled so far this session, majority party lawmakers in the Iowa House are trying a different tactic to shift money out of public schools through a big expansion of Iowa's charter school law.

Issued March 5, 2021

Dear Friend,

... Physical monuments to the history of a nation that saved the world from tyrants and perpetuated freedom better than any other modern society are coming down, and the invisible monuments erected to prevent some people from advancing are rightly being exposed.

Last week Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Susan Larson signed an Order establishing court-sponsored mandatory mediation rules for all family law cases. In 2020 Larson directed each Iowa judicial district to submit a plan for mandatory mediation of family law cases before trial. Her Order just approved and implemented those plans effective March 1st, 2021. 

I grew up in a family of missionaries. They are people who feel called by God to take the message of Jesus to non-Christian parts of the world. My grandparents, Pastor Thure Holmer and his wife Celia, sailed from New York, New York to India a week or so following their marriage in 1912. It took 40 days to make the trip. Because of the length of the journey and costs involved, their time of service was ten years before they could set foot in America again. 
 

It occurs to me that I haven’t written about the care and feeding of my stray cat, Christopher Robin, lately. For any of you who have been anxiously awaiting an update, be anxious no more. (I’m sure there must be at least one of you - right??? If not, humor me.)
 For those of you who might be newcomers to Inkspots, Christopher Robin is the offspring of Saint Francis, the first stray to venture onto my porch for dinner. 
 
Read Inkspots in the Feb. 25 Advance.

Is it voter suppression? Or is it voter motivation?
Read On the Side in the Feb. 25 Advance.