We headed to Des Moines last Wednesday for the Iowa Newspaper Association Convention and Trade Show against the backdrop of a head-spinning week in the national news. more

Dear Selah ... more

I feel compelled to address the Mitt in the room. more

Feb. 9, 2005: North Scott received the Soccer Field of the Year Award from the Sports Turf Managers Association. Operations manager John Netwal and grounds crew worker Andy Hamann presented a plaque for the award to school board members Virginia Kelly and Paul Dierickx. more

The late, great Rodney Fox, the World War II veteran and professor of visual communication at Iowa State University, said a picture can be powerful even if it doesn't have dynamic lines and lighting – if the mere presence of the subjects side-by-side conveys great meaning. His example was the famous photo of FDR, Stalin and Churchill at Yalta, representing the U.S., the Soviet Union and Great Britain united against Nazi Germany at the end of WWII. Their unity conveyed certainty that Hitler was doomed. The world rejoiced. more

Sometime over the course of the next 10 days, Eldridge city officials are expected to hire a new city administrator, thus making current administrator John Dowd’s retirement all the more official. more

First is not always an enviable place to be. more

Taking my faint memories of junior year government class, and knowledge of the 2020 presidential candidates, I embraced my first Iowa caucus. more

Feb. 7, 1980: Dr. Robert “Bear” Stevens was named to replace Melvin Heiler as superintendent of North Scott School District. Stevens was currently the principal of Bettendorf High School and had also taught at several schools in Cedar Rapids. more

'May you live in interesting times" is an expression loosely attributed to the Chinese, but with no proof of its origin. Whether Chinese or not, it applies to the current time. Presidential impeachment hearings are under way, and on Feb. 2-4 we will have the Super Bowl, Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses and President Donald Trump's State of the Union speech. more

Jan. 25, 1995: Gov. Terry Branstad visited Neil Armstrong Elementary School to present the school with the F.I.N.E award. The governor praised the school for its peer-tutoring program. Teacher Kathy Coffman accepted the award, along with teachers and volunteers Chris Green, Julie Gill, Lyman Miller, Shellee Statser, Barb Cecil, Sandy Kendrick, Lynette Berg and Deb Brix more

Our granddaughter Clara Olson, 11, and her teammates from the Vision Soccer Club in Waukee, were in the Quad Cities the weekend of Jan. 3-5 for a tournament. For Linda and me, it was our first time to see the fancy, new, 77-acre TBK Sports Complex at the Middle Road exit just off Interstate 80. more