The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was an intellectual giant and a revered defender of the Constitution and the limited role of the judiciary in our Republic.

I have always said that my favorite kind of movie is one that is based on real life events but just recently I have begun to wonder why.I have never been a history buff — I will leave that up to Bob Fenske — I only know of events but rarely look d

As we walked out of Wells Fargo Arena the other night, I turned to my friend and said, “Hey, I can live with this.”The temperature was hovering in the low 40s, and let’s be honest here, when you go to a state tournament of any kind and don’t have

With so much turmoil in Washington and around the country these days, it’s easy to get caught up in the crises of the moment.These are, indeed, worth our attention — but so are longer-running developments that threaten the health of our representa

For the past few years, serving in the Legislature, I have done my best to work for common sense solutions.I try to avoid partisan politics and support legislation that makes Iowa (and particularly North Central Iowa) a better place to live, work

Dear New Hampton superintendent in 2037;I’m writing this letter in February 2017, because with all my bad habits, there’s a chance that even though I’ll only be 71 when you open this envelope, I’ll be “looking up at the grass.”I have no idea if yo

As a country, we make a habit of looking forward, not backward.But I’m going to ask you to turn your attention back a few weeks, to Barack Obama’s January 10 farewell address to the American people.I’ve been reading presidential farewell speeches

August 5th, 2002 we moved into the First Baptist Church’s parsonage in the middle of a deluge the likes of which we hadn’t seen in months.

The 2017 Legislative session opened last month at the Capitol, and I was fortunate to be in attendance.

There were multiple times as I sat matside at Saturday’s Class 2A sectional wrestling tournament when I had to remind myself “it’s just a game.”While the non-sports fans among you may think me foolish, my heart figuratively ached for the wrestlers

We didn’t exactly kick off 2017 at a leisurely pace; after all, it’s been quite a newsy month — one that included some nasty weather, the appearance of Temple Grandin, plenty of sports action and, of course, the lead up to the New Hampton Communit

Our generation needs to step up and vote yesMyself and many of the IDC board members would like to thank our superintendent and School Board members for responding to our petition to bring a school building plan forward.Several of the IDC members

It’s a no-brainer to construct a new school building when it’s both reasonable and necessary. Reasonable means the property tax increase is modest.It’s tougher to nail down what is necessary.

My joke the last month or so has gone something like this: I can’t wait for Feb. 8.Why?Because the referendum will be over.

A week from today, residents of New Hampton Community Schools will head to the polls to decide the fate of a $19.415 million bond referendum.This has been, to say the least, an interesting process, and if there’s one thing that we do appreciate, i