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...

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...

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...

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...

I started smoking because it fit me. I was in my junior year of high school, and anyone holding a cigarette looked undeniably cool. And now I’m trying to quit. Sigh. The thing with cigarettes that I...

With apologies to Nike, if the United States were a for-profit venture, its slogan would be “Just do it.” Few would dispute the notion that we are an action-oriented people. From an early age, Americans...

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...

I have a Twitter account, I announce to a friend, apropos of utterly nothing. (Which is typical of me. A great deal of the time, I’m a walking non sequitur, much to the consternation of my colleagues,...

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has become just the latest high profile politician to fall in the “booby trap.” Across this nation, regardless of party alliance, people are scratching their heads...