Q: How do DIR fees drive up costs for prescription drugs?

By Carol DeSchepper - Spiritual director, First Lutheran Church

Listen, I hear someone is shouting, ‘Make a highway for the Lord through the wilderness. Make a straight, smooth road through the desert for our God. Fill the valleys and level the hills. Straighten out the curves and smooth off the rough spots. Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all people will see it together.’  Isaiah 40: 3-5

We just called it the sunscreen song, and we thought it was hilarious.

This was back in the days of Y2K, when young people like my friends and I kept a blank cassette tape handy in case we wanted to copy a favorite tune when it came on the radio or in case a new chart topper was worth capturing.

Such was the sunscreen song.

I recently received an email from someone that had some statistics that were quite startling. A poll conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute shows that 71 percent of Americans believe that democracy is at risk in the United States.

Q: What's your message for Iowans this Thanksgiving Day?

Agriculture is the economic engine of Iowa, the livelihood of farmers and their families and the lifeblood of our rural communities across the 4th Congressional District. Our producers work long hours in all types of weather conditions to grow the food and produce the fuel that our country and the world depend on. Their hard work is the reason that Iowa remains the breadbasket to the world and that our district in particular leads the nation in corn, pork, egg and biofuel production.

Landowners targeted for eminent domain by Summit Carbon Solutions won several substantial victories in recent weeks, but the fight is far from over. Our celebratory high-fives must wait. Summit is wounded but remains a very real threat to the private property rights of thousands across Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

I would like to thank the community members that supported me during my candidacy for the Spirit Lake Board of Education. The past six weeks has been a very revealing time. I don’t regret running because I believe having a contested election brought some things to light. And while it’s easy to talk about all the positive things in our district, it’s a lot tougher to talk about the real and relevant issues our district is facing. Here’s a start:

One of the best pieces of advice I took away from the state newspaper convention a couple years ago was to be open to changing your mind on any issue you might write about on the opinion page. Granted, my bench of opinion columns seems to get shallower year after year (in favor of better byline news pieces, of course) but I think this is one of those times.

The rationale behind Iowa’s professional licensing laws is simple: People in certain professions and skilled occupations are required to hold state licenses to work in Iowa. This is to ensure they meet the minimum standard of training and skill necessary to serve consumers safely and effectively. But a state government policy change leads me to wonder whether our state officials have lost sight of their obligation to act in the best interests of the public.

Iowa is home to 42 ethanol plants and 11 biodiesel facilities, which annually produce roughly 4.5 billion gallons of ethanol and 410 million gallons of biodiesel respectively. In 2022, homegrown Iowa ethanol and biodiesel contributed $7.2 billion to Iowa’s economy and fueled $3.5 billion in income for Iowa families. Our thriving biofuels industry also supports 57,000 jobs across our state.

Q: What is National Adoption Month?

By Sedar Shako - United Methodist Church of Harris and Lake Park

The Holocaust stands as one of the darkest and most horrific chapters in human history, a stark reminder of the depths to which hatred and prejudice can lead. It is a moral imperative that we never forget the Holocaust, for in doing so, we commit ourselves to preventing such horrors from happening again.

By Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate and former U.S. Election Assistance Commission Chairman Matt Masterson