I hate Sudoku. I’m using the word “hate” about a logic-puzzle game, but I do hate it. More than the puzzle itself, I hate how taken people are with it, that from airplane passengers to day-to-day...

In 1961, at the start of the Kennedy administration, I went to work for Defense Secretary Robert McNamara. Just as FDR attracted a small army of bright young lawyers and domestic policy-makers to his New...

The recession has put a strain on all facets of Iowa government. We saw that struggle firsthand at the UI earlier this year when school officials learned from the state government that the university’s...

When we’re young, we’re frequently the targets of adages from those older, and presumably more knowledgeable, than us. You know, those old sayings (even older than Supreme Court justices, if that seems...

Sarah Palin’s career as governor of Alaska is over. So is her barely begun career as a serious presidential candidate. The road map to the White House doesn’t include a stop at “I quit.” In a...

My childhood friend of 31 years visited my home on base, in Quantico, Va., a few months after I gave birth to my first baby. As we took a leisurely stroll one evening through the lingering humidity of...

Iowans have never been a population willing to put up with being told what to do. We have a civil-rights record that is often years ahead of that of other states — including a decision earlier this year...

I think I need a college-review course already. Having received my degree in the mail, I’ve been trying to figure out what else my two theory-heavy majors in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences...

Taxes during a recession are troublesome on many levels. Taxes on basic utilities — which almost everyone uses — are especially regressive and only increase the burden on any community. Unfortunately,...

Two percent — only 2 percent — is the margin by which one of the most significant pieces of legislation ever to come before Congress narrowly passed the U.S. House of Representatives last week. By...

Here’s a question I made up to include on any exam for fire chief, especially in cities with racially troubled fire departments, such as New Haven, Conn., and the District of Columbia: A truck driven...

Today is a turning point in a long struggle for Shelter House. Today, the organization — which provides support to eastern Iowa’s homeless population — will break ground on its new facility at 429...