By CHUCK OFFENBURGER CARROLL, Iowa, Jan. 31, 2016 — Many Iowa Republicans — and I used to be one myself — have been waiting a good nine months wondering if Jeb Bush would ever really get his presidential campaign rolling here. Darned if it didn’t happen in the final GOP candidates’ debate, held last Thursday night, Jan.…
By CARLA OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, Jan. 14, 2016 — I turn 57 today. And if you know me well, you know that means I’ve been eating chocolate “wacky” cake since Sunday – for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It means I’ll be making a second cake to finish the week because, yes, I share it with…
IDA GROVE, Iowa, Dec. 30, 2015 — “This time of the year, with snow on the ground, it can look bleak,” photographer Don Poggensee was saying, just after Christmas here in northwest Iowa. Colors in nature aren’t as obvious as in other seasons. “But if you look and train your eyes to see beauty, wintertime can be…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER JEFFERSON, Iowa, Jan. 7, 2015 — They graduated from our local high schools in 1959, the same year Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders graduated from James Madison High School in New York City. What do they think of somebody their age now — Sanders is 74 — running for president of the U.S.? …
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER JEFFERSON, Iowa, Dec. 31, 2015 — My presidential candidate Martin O’Malley, the Democratic former governor of Maryland and mayor of Baltimore, came to Greene County on a cold, snowy evening this week and attracted a crowd of about 60 people. Which is very good for here. But I’m still a little grumpy…