By CHUCK OFFENBURGER CARROLL, Iowa, April 19, 2019 – After U.S. Senator Cory Booker, of New Jersey, one of the score of Democrats seeking the presidency, had generously spent nearly 90 minutes with local voters here Tuesday afternoon, I had a chance for my own question to him. Booker, 49, is in his seventh year…
By CARLA OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, April 8, 2019 — If you are watching your calendar and following my cancer journey, you’ve probably been thinking that my most recent “90-day scan” has come and gone. And you’d be right. I had my regular 90-day scan and labwork done on March 15 and then met with my oncologist…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER CHURDAN, Iowa, March 27, 2019 — In this 2020 presidential election cycle, on the Democrats’ side of things, there are some candidates who are what I’ll call “No Deal Democrats” — the ones way older than I am (71) that I flat refuse to vote for. There are also some “Green New…
By CARLA OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, March 12, 2019 — I was happy to see that “best books of 2018” lists are still floating around as “new news,” even now in mid-March, because I haven’t taken the opportunity to write my year end synopsis of what I read in 2018. This is always a fun column…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, April 8, 2019 — It was a wonderful way to spend a springtime Saturday morning — going “birding” at Dunbar Slough Wildlife Management Area in the southwest part of our Greene County. A group of about 20 of us were led by Matt Wetrich, the naturalist for the conservation board…
By CARYL P. PRIVETT BIRMINGHAM, Alabama, March 7, 2019 — Reading the new book “Bending Toward Justice,” written by my friend U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-Alabama), brings back so many memories for me. This book is focused on the last two trials of the perpetrators of the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church here…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER IOWA CITY, Iowa, March 5, 2019 — O.K., so we people of the 1960s — the first and best wave of the Baby Boomers — do know what you all think about us. That we are old, that we’re “Stuck in the ’60s,” and that we “won’t leave the stage.” Truthfully, we…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER DES MOINES, Iowa, Feb. 25, 2019 — It gives me pause to tell you that this 100th Iowa Girls High School State Basketball Tournament is the 61st that I have closely followed, and of those 61, I’ve attended at least 45. Of course, the state tournament is the showpiece and moneymaker of…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, Feb. 5, 2019 — Iowa just lost one of its best citizens, Mark A. Wampler. And he was one of my best sources over the years, too. Wampler, who lived in rural Slater in central Iowa but hailed from Allerton in south central Iowa, knew everybody who was anybody in this…
By CARLA OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, Jan. 25, 2019 — In late December, I reported that I was most likely going to do some “spot radiation” under the direction of Dr. John Triantafyllos (fondly known as “Dr. T.”), a radiation oncologist at Iowa Methodist Medical Center’s John Stoddard Cancer Center in Des Moines. And that’s exactly what…
