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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

President Joe Biden has overseen the worst border crisis in recent memory. Since the beginning of his administration, more than 5.5 million immigrants have crossed our border, and in July alone, illegal border crossings increased by 30%. This has not happened by accident. The Biden administration’s policies have intentionally exacerbated this crisis by failing to enforce our laws, hold drug traffickers accountable for their crimes and protect our families from the fentanyl crisis.

If you thought one meg was bad you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Action-adventure star Jason Statham returns and Jonas Taylor to take an ocean full of enormous, and angry and hungry megs — that’s right I said megs, as in plural.

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hope for, the evidence of things not seen.”

“Hot? You boys think this here weather is hot? You jest don’t know, do you?”

“What do you mean, Windy?” Doc said.

“Wellsir, back in the old days, you know, when we was younger, there came upon us here in the valley a hot-em-up wave that tried to kill us. Your folks ever tell you ‘bout the wreck at the river with me and Old Man Jenkins?”

Didn’t look like anyone had.

A tissue sample collected in mid-June from a road killed adult buck deer in Marshall County has tested positive for chronic wasting disease. With the addition of Marshall County, 260 deer have tested positive in 16 Iowa counties since 2013.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has scheduled two meetings to update the public on chronic wasting disease surveillance and management efforts in Jasper, Marshall and Grundy counties.

My wife and I had an opportunity to spend the full weekend with our son, his wife and six of our grandchildren in Omaha as we took in Henry Doorly Zoo. For Christmas, we purchased a Grandparent’s Pass for the zoo which allowed us to bring in six grandkids in with us.

We had also invited our other local children to join us, but they all had conflicts which prohibited them from being there, so we missed having them along; but it was still a great weekend.

Don’t panic when you find a powdery white substance covering the leaves of some of your flowers, vegetables, and shrubs. This is a good clue that your plants are infected with the fungal disease, powdery mildew. Most otherwise healthy plants can tolerate the damage and perennials will return the following year.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks at the Clay County Extension office. In addition to our regularly scheduled programming, livestock entries for 4-H/FFA shows at the Clay County Fair were due Aug. 1 and district clothing and communications entries are due Aug. 15. We are excited to welcome youth from over 45 counties in Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska.

Over the first half of my 50-year farming career we struggled to make money without farm subsidies. Many denigrated farmers, depicting them standing by their mailbox, getting paid government checks to stay in business. We depended on feed and exports for corn demand and could, given improving corn growing productivity, easily and consistently exceed demand with supply. CRP held back acres.

Today’s column is going to be rather short but very important.