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Pastor’s Column: Back to school ... with millionaires?

Teachers make millionaires! In fact, teachers make themselves into millionaires more often than doctors do. Hey, students, it is an incredible privilege to learn from wise teachers!

Extension Outreach: 'Pop-up' events

Even as the Clay County Fair rapidly approaches, our mission to serve our communities continues to expand beyond just educational opportunities like the fair and 4-H. One of our pillars is to supply our communities with Iowa State research-based resources. One of the ways we do that is through our community and economic development department. We are excited to share a new four-part series of free downloadable community engagement toolkits for business and community-based organizations.

Home Country

Ran into Doc down at The Mule Barn the other day, so naturally we had to rid the world of about a gallon of coffee and solve the world’s problems for an hour. It is the duty of all true Americans of our age, you know.

Doc said he’d been aching a little bit lately. Joints or something. He’d been out fixing the pasture fence where the mare had been pushing on it. The next morning it made him walk funny.

Lawn & Garden: Fall-planted cover crops provide many benefits to gardens

Put your garden to work over winter by planting a cover crop this fall. Covering the soil with plants that are turned into the soil or smothered and allowed to decompose in spring provides many benefits.

The CommStock Report: Universal labor crisis — Part 2

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that farmers get 14.5% of what consumers spend on food so reducing our farm share of the food dollar has very little impact on food price inflation. Raw commodity values are the tail wagging the dog of food price inflation. We can take corn, pork, wheat or other prices lower and barely nudge the inflation index down because commodities make up such a small portion of the food dollar.

Randy's Review: ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’

A new imagining of the popular comic book-turned-motion picture draw, “The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” as told by the minds of Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Dan Hernandez, Benji Samit and directed by Jeff Rowe, offers some interesting artistic design, great voice talent, multi-generational humor and enough pop-culture residents to entertain children and adults alike.

Pastors Column: Oil filters

Matthew 6:22 says “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.”

So how do we make our “eye” good and our whole body “full of light?” Those sound like ethereal concepts that are hard to grasp. Well, the Bible tells us how to make our eye, or our perception and attitude guided by the Holy Spirit.

Lawn & Garden: Tomato troubles

Extreme heat, drought, torrential rains, and hungry critters may be wreaking havoc on your garden. After weeding, watering and waiting you may be finding less, diseased or misshapen tomatoes. Don’t give up. Make a few adjustments in garden maintenance to boost the current and future tomato harvests.

Home Country

The other night it was hot. Hot during the day, hot at night. Heat seems to define this time of year for us, in many ways.

But in spite of that, after a day in the outdoors, we built a fire. A small fire. A "hat" fire, which mountain people define as one you can put in your hat. Why so small? Because it was hot and we didn't need the heat. Why the fire? Because we need the fire.

One Man’s Perspective: A powerful gathering

Last Monday evening, a solid turn out greeted my dear, longtime friend Kim Smith, volunteer ambassador and internet safety specialist with IA/NE Shared Hope International, at Occasions, when she showed the Iowa-based documentary focused on the child sex-trafficking industry within the Hawkeye State.

Letter to the Editor: Get involved

I read a statistic the other day that both scared and angered me. In the United States, 50,000 people take their own lives yearly. I guess we lead the world in that department. What a tragedy. What to do about it? There are plenty of possible causes: untreated depression, low self-esteem, feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, being a victim of sex trafficking, losing a job/career, undergoing a divorce, the death of a loved one, and the list goes on and on.

Letter to the Editor: Against the rule of law

The appointment of David Weiss, U.S. attorney for the District of Delaware as Special Council by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland is, without question, contrary to the rule of law (https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/28/600.3). This usurpation of our laws must not be tolerated and the ongoing corruption by the DOJ must end! The Republican majority in the House must immediately file Articles of Impeachment against U.S.

Guest Commentary: Iowa is the best state to retire in

Recently, Bankrate rated Iowa the No. 1 state for retirement after consideration of affordability, overall well-being, cost of quality health care, weather and crime.

Bankrate stated that affordability was weighted most heavily and given the massive tax cuts the Legislature has passed recently — it is no surprise that Iowa scored well.

Guest Commentary: The sorry state of the Biden economy

On metric after metric, President Joe Biden’s economic agenda — which he has coined “Bidenomics” — has failed our families, farmers, small businesses and rural communities. His tax-and-spend policies have pushed the American dream out of reach for too many families by eroding their paychecks and crushing their budgets under the insurmountable weight of record inflation, higher taxes and crippling debt.

The CommStock Report: Shortsighted biofuel inclusion in climate policy vision adjustment

Bill Crouser (farmer, rancher, biofuel investor) wrote a great guest column for the Register that I fully concur with. "Is there a leader with a clear vision for American energy policy? A vision where America is energy secure, free of dependence from foreign oil and Chinese batteries? A vision of clean energy and clear skies? A vision where American energy simultaneously creates good paying jobs while reducing the pressure on our pocketbooks? In short, a biofuels vision for America."

Guest Commentary: Insurance for Iowa schools who choose to protect students, staff

By now a good many of you have heard of the predicament at the Spirit Lake and Cherokee school districts regarding their insurance. This has been a big topic of late in both local and national news. My take on this is that a small number of vocal people have made it known their feelings on this and that those feelings in turn have stalled out a positive decision with multiple insurance carriers for both districts.

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