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 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 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 COOPER, Iowa, Jan. 22, 2019 — I followed last Friday’s inauguration of Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg fairly closely, even though I stayed here at the farmhouse as ice, snow and bitter cold blew through west central Iowa. So, thanks to you in the media for all the…

By CHUCK OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, Jan. 2, 2019 – There are 70 million Catholics in the U.S. – I’m one of them – and nearly all of us are trying to make our own peace with the horrendous clergy sexual abuse scandal that is threatening the future of our church, not only in this country…