Art Cullen

Rob Sand called on Memorial Day as he drove home from a family weekend at Okoboji to catch up, he said, after having read my column about politicians swimming in money.

You might have attracted as many people to a Unitarian Universalist fellowship hour in Sioux Center as to a Randy Feenstra rally in Sioux Rapids. Just about 40 people showed up for his gubernatorial campaign event at the farm of Rep. Megan Jones. He had won the endorsement of President Trump at the last minute, and few people cared much.

Chris Jones fancied himself trolling for walleyes in the backwaters of the Upper Mississippi River near Lansing in his retirement.

Calls from left and right are building to break up Big Ag as beef prices rise, food plants close and workers are locked out from the slaughterhouse.

Republican senate candidate Ashley Hinson should pray that Allah moves the Iranians to a charitable end to a war with the United States and Israel if it isn't already too late for the November general election. “I do hope we can get this done by the next couple of weeks. If it drags on beyond that, it's a political liability for us too, because we've lost Iowa soldiers. I've been to four funerals since December, it's awful.” That was Hinson, quoted by Politico, two weeks ago.

Our region is attracting attention from renewable energy developers and opposition from suspicious neighbors. Cherokee County is trying to assemble an ordinance governing solar arrays and battery storage in the face of a request to develop such a facility on a couple hundred acres near Aurelia, combined with livestock grazing. The fire departments are eager to develop safety plans and training.

“I am apt to believe that [Independence Day] will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.” — John Adams, in a letter to his wife Abigail, on July 3, 1776.

Chris Jones and his boss at the water works used to ask as they gathered daily to discuss the roiling river's polluted water: “Where's the outrage?”

Clean air and water should be non-partisan goals for Iowa, which has serious pollution and health issues. We're encouraged by the discussion taking place across the state and across the political divide about how we can make agriculture more prosperous and resilient while protecting our natural resources. Zach Lahn, the Republican nominee for governor, touted himself as a regenerative farmer from Belle Plaine during his primary campaign. It resonated with conservatives.

President Trump and the ayatollahs blew up any hopes of taming inflation with renewed bombing of Iran and the Persian Gulf, just as fuel prices were softening.