IDA GROVE, Iowa, Sept. 4, 2015 — Photographer Don Poggensee looked up outside his home here in northwest Iowa on the morning of August 27, and saw waves of weird looking clouds forming and re-forming over Ida County. They proved harmless and the storm, if it was one, dropped a nice eight-tenths of an inch of rain.…
By CARLA OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, Sept. 16, 2015 — Last week I had to come clean and tell folks my cancer, adenoid cystic carcinoma, is back, this time in my liver. It has been a whirlwind of a week since we posted my column about it, headlined, “When cancer returns, a survivor must become a…
By CARLA OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, Sept. 8, 2015 — I am pretty good at moving away from, or even ignoring, that which I do not like. For example: I have no problem not finishing a book if I do not like the storyline or the characters. Sometimes this can happen on page 1, sometimes it takes up…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER JEFFERSON, Iowa, Sept. 3, 2015 — If my count is correct, I’ve lived in seven different public school districts in my adult life. And as best as I can recall, I’ve always voted “yes” on school bond issues, and my estimate is that I’ve supported a half-dozen of them — from Shenandoah to…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER DES MOINES, Iowa, August 14, 2015 — I was just trying to bring a little clarity into this race for president, you know? That’s how I wound up in the crowd in front of the Des Register’s Presidential Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair on Thursday afternoon, listening to Democratic candidate Martin O’Malley, 52,…