New Year’s Eve Must Reads

Slow news day with the holiday approaching, but there are a few tidbits out there.
Several papers carry news of Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller’s renewed effort to better enforce the state’s open meetings and public records laws. The Gazette’s story, linked above, Miller says his preference in the past was to let locals solve local [...]

Full-Time (Snow) Job

A reader cc’d me on an e-mail exchange with Linn County Supervisor Jim Houser over salary issues. I wrote a column Sunday criticizing the supervisors for rescinding a resolution they passed earlier this year dropping their job designation to part-time with a subsequent cut in pay, as of Jan. 1, 2009.
They approved the resolution and [...]

Culver Pays his Own Way

Yesterday, I mentioned that Gov. Culver is going to the Outback Bowl to watch the Hawks and the Gamecocks do battle Thursday morning. Today comes word that he will be paying his own way.
Whew.

Tuesday Must Reads

Veteran newsman Dave Franzman at KCRG TV9 in Cedar Rapids has an interview with ailing State Sen. Mary Lundby. She’s in hospice care as her terminal cancer worsens, but she’s still talking politics and giving lawmakers advice on the tough issues they face. No surprise.  
The Gazette’s Steve Gravelle has a front-page piece detailing a sharp [...]

Sightings

I ran into U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack at Barnes and Noble in Cedar Rapids Sunday afternoon. He was just sitting down in the cafe, preparing to dig into a freshly purchased copy of “Foreign Affairs” magazine.
We exchanged holiday pleasantries, and I learned he will be attending the Outback Bowl. He says it’s the first time [...]

Tax Time in the City?

The AP picks up a weekend Des Moines Register story detailing the initial Statehouse rumblings over a proposal that would allow cities to collect an income tax. From the AP version:
A measure that would allow cities to tax the income of residents to reduce their reliance on property taxes will be proposed to lawmakers when [...]

Monday Morning Must Reads

Starting a new daily feature, picking a few interesting stories from print and blogs. Feel free to submit your own.
The Des Moines Register carries interesting news that U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin intervened on behalf of Agriprocessors in Postville four years ago to get the company federal help with building a sewage treatment plant. The program at issue was [...]

Sad News

 A well-done story by Jennifer Jacobs in this morning’s Des Moines Register carries very sad news that State Sen. Mary Lundby has told friends that her long battle with cancer is all but lost.
State Sen. Mary Lundby called friends this week to say her doctors told her she would probably not live through Christmas.
“It’s been devastating [...]

Good King Culver Visits

Gov. Chet Culver was in town at midday for the special “A Season of Hope” event at St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church.
The event drew lots of city and county leaders, state lawmakers and other movers and shakers. But all those best and brightest were out-shined by the old church itself, which is clearly beautiful any time [...]

Iowa 3 Million Strong, What Took You So Long?

Iowa’s population is now estimated at 3,002,555 according to the U.S. Census bureau. We’ve crossed the 3 million threshold. Hooray.
On the down side, it’s taken us quite a while to get here. 
We crossed the 1 million mark by the Census of 1870, which recorded an Iowa  population of 1.194 million. And we crossed the 2 million mark by [...]