During a time of supposed fiscal austerity, Gov. Terry Branstad is asking all Iowans to make financial sacrifices — except, apparently, himself. Branstad is collecting a $52,000 pension in addition...

Based strictly on the government photograph of Sen. Mark Chelgren, R-Ottumwa, you may assume he is the epitome of self-satisfied idiocy. His eyes narrowed, his lips pursed smugly, Chelgren looks as if...

You’ve probably seen the images coming from Wisconsin: The Capitol’s rotunda filled with protesters, hanging off balconies; people struggling to move through crowded hallways. Tens of thousands of...

The outcome of the 21-ordinance vote left many Iowa City denizens unhappy, including business owners, bar employees, and — most of all — University of Iowa students, who have expressed frustration...

You’ll be happy to know that U.S. House Republicans have killed a Democratic measure to halt the Defense Department’s financial support of NASCAR. And also killed funds for a peace institute (also...

The recently proposed federal budget for fiscal 2012 has caused quite a stir. And for good reason — $3.7 trillion is no small chunk of change. But as lawmakers debate how to bring that number down, a...

YES It may only be past subcommittee — which is the legislative equivalent of merely submitting a résumé — but Iowans shouldn’t rest easy. Approved by two out of three members of a House Human...

Barry Goldwater and I don’t agree on much. Goldwater, a former Arizona senator and lion of the political right, favored a muscular, bellicose foreign policy, opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and...

Amid the larger clashes over same-sex marriage and budget allocations, a more minor quibble has cropped up in Iowa — and it has nothing to do with a phony Cy-Hawks rivalry. The quarrel is among grocery...

Despite the catchy name of the blog on which they appear, deep-fried Reese’s Peanut-Butter Cups wrapped in bacon are not why you’re fat. The answer, for most Americans, lies closer to home: vastly...

To win the future, America will need to invest in future generations and make the kind of commitments and reforms that allow our nation to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world....

Democrats and Republicans made their bed last October, and now they are lying in it. While the participants have changed, the budget impasse the 111th Congress created is worse than ever. The cuts proposed...