President Biden’s open-border policies have rolled out the welcome mat for illegal immigrants, drug traffickers, terrorists, and foreign nationals with ties to China to unlawfully enter our country. Yet, he refuses to enforce our nation’s immigration laws and keep our families and communities safe.

Almost all of us know how to pronounce pandemic now, and we have a pretty good idea of what it means since everyone we know spent more than a year under virtual house arrest.

But that didn’t help Billy much. Billy’s our town dog, of course. He’s been our town dog since Sally passed away on Doc’s porch, and Billy’s owner died two weeks later. Sometimes an honored position doesn’t require an election.

The increasing secrecy by Iowa law enforcement and their lawyers about identifying people by name raises important questions underlying public confidence in the critical work of first-responders.

Q: What are you hearing from Iowans about romance scams?

A: The efforts of rip off artists seeking to enrich themselves at the expense of their victims are a tale as old as time. Today the internet gives con artists and criminals a digital platform to lay an anonymous trap far and wide, from identity theft to online extortion and money laundering.

The church at which I serve (CrossWinds) has a conviction when it comes to our regular Sunday morning teaching. As a general rule, we will preach through an entire book of the Bible at a time, verse-by-verse. One of the greatest values of this approach is that we avoid circling back to the same topics over and over again, but instead trust that God will use his word to accomplish his purposes in his people.

The headline read … “Driest western Corn Belt in a lifetime.”

By Bryce Anderson, DTN: “For some large portions of the Western Corn Belt, the four-year period from December 2019 through November 2023 has been the driest in a lifetime. It's also the eighth-driest four-year stretch in a total of 125 four-year periods on record going back to 1895. The driest such period on record was back in December 1954 to November 1958 — 65 to almost 70 years ago.”

Last week in the Senate I was mostly busy working on bills that came across my desk. Scheduling and attending subcommittee meetings are the first step to start the legislative process. I serve on: Commerce, Judiciary, Workforce, Health & Human Services, Appropriations and Ways & Means committees.

This week was shortened a little do to The Martin Luther King Jr. Day as well as the caucus.

However, many of us are still able to work from our districts and keep things moving, so I am not sure it slowed much down.

The 2024 legislative session is off to a controversial start.

Lawmakers have already heard from thousands of Iowans concerned about a proposal offered by the Governor that would reduce mental health, special education, reading recovery and other services provided to kids in schools.

Gov. Kim Reynolds released the following open letter to the state of Iowa:

If there’s an issue Iowans are most passionate about, it’s undoubtedly about our kids. As a grandmother of 11, ranging in age from pre-school to high school, I understand. There’s nothing more important than our children.

It takes a tremendous amount of hard work to start a small business and run a farm. From balancing the books and maintaining inventory to paying employees and complying with burdensome rules and regulations, these enterprises require long hours and real commitment to be successful and profitable.

Last time I encouraged record books and this time I want to say how excited I am for the number we received and for the quality. There is room for improvement, but the kids did the work and all have a place to work from for next year!

The quadrennial invasion of Iowa is over.

Coffee shops are drained of caffeine-fueled reporters and campaign staffers.

The free publicity that comes with serving a legendary tenderloin or the most incredible barbecue a presidential candidate will experience has skipped town to temporarily reside in another state.

The 2024 session of the 90th General Assembly convened on Monday, Jan. 8, with a somber tone in the aftermath of the shooting in Perry. Our hearts go out to the victims and their families. We are grateful for the first responders and the lives they saved by their prompt response.

I look forward to this 2024th year of our Lord with great anticipation and excitement ― not because it is an election year, but because of all that is happening in and around Israel. I do not desire wars and the deaths they cause; however, we reason that these conflicts and wars involving Israel must, in time, have a resolution. It is the providence of this resolution which arouses me so, and here is why.