Opinion

Windy’s friends and neighbors started the day off as usual, smiles and waves to each other. But then a change occurred when they heard the first announcement on the Gates of Heaven Chinese Restaurant’s loudspeaker car. “Let’s get your day started down at the Mule Barn with a short stack and a cuppa joe that’ll jest flat spring yore eyes wide open. Thass always a good idear, campers, and you can tell ‘em hello from ol’ Windy while you’re there...

Where were you Sunday night? Enjoying a relaxing evening at home in front of the TV? Taking a pre-bedtime nap perhaps? Tending to some personal business? I was planted firmly in a pew at Sacred Heart Catholic Church helping to give our soon-to-be Spencer High School graduates a special, faith-filled, send off at their baccalaureate service. ...

Last weekend my family and I (and many, many others!) made our annual May trip to Del’s Garden Center to buy flowers. I got them planted and have already enjoyed the infusion of color they are providing around our house. I did not inherit any sort of green thumb, so I already know I will be visiting the yard and garden page on the Extension and Outreach website often to keep everything alive!...

There I was the other day, doubled over in pain, clutching my hip, for the whole world to see. I was on full display for the viewing public, kneeling down in pain. There was no hiding my excruciating discomfort. There was no cure. No medicine to be had...

Iowans, and Americans across the country, have been shocked and horrified by Putin’s unjust, unprovoked war on Ukraine. Innocent men, women and children have been murdered; our global alliances and world order have been tested; and across the globe people’s lives have been changed forever. But, amidst the horrible bloodshed and destruction we’ve all seen as a result of Putin’s invasion, one issue that has not received as much attention is the war’s impact on food security across the world...

“No one will take away your joy” John 16:22. These many rainy days in May started me thinking about a song titled, "Joy is Like the Rain." These reflections give new meaning to Jesus' words regarding joy coming forth out of sorrow. "No one will take away your joy."...

I wrote several commentaries researching the pros and cons of CO2 pipelines as part of my analytical process preceding making a decision on selling Summit Carbon Solutions an easement. I said that when I began negotiations that I would go dark on the subject. ...

It was just one of those things. It didn’t really mean Marvin Pincus had lost his mind. Consider this yourself for a minute. Marvin had opened the mail that morning and in it was the Fenwick glass fly rod he’d ordered. Oh, it was used, of course. But there’s a feel to a Fenwick that only a man dedicated to a life of using dry flies can appreciate...

Outrage, overreaction, irrationality, self-justification, intimidation, personal destruction, contextual dishonesty and violence are the weapons of choice in today's sociopolitical environment. There is inadequate space in these few hundred words to apply each to the raging flood sprung by the leak of a draft of a possible U.S. ...

Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law Monday a bill that has been on the Iowa Newspaper Association’s “wish list” since 2018. SF 2322 makes important changes in Iowa’s public records law that relate to the fees state and local government officials can charge for copies of their records...

Give your perennials a boost this spring with a topdressing of compost, aged manure or other organic matter. It’s a great way to revive tired gardens, improve a garden’s overall health, and keep vibrant perennials healthy and blooming. Research found topdressing your garden with compost every year or two provides most, if not all the nutrients that most perennials need. ...

There’s still time to make plans for summer! We hosted several successful camps over spring break this year as youth baked pretzels, built robots, decorated cookies and created their own pottery. We’re excited to offer a full lineup of camps for youth in fourth grade and up, second grade and up, and those in kindergarten through third grade this summer!...

The title of this report refers to me. I was once both a hog and cattle producer in an era where these industries and markets were much different than today. Warren Buffett could reflect on learning in a newsreel at the movie theater that the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939. ...

So much to address this week, so little space. A previously unheard of leak from the U.S. Supreme Court about one of the most highly debated topics of my lifetime; and the Biden administration is looking to add a Disinformation Czar. But first … Allow me to address a pair of letters to the editor which appeared in Tuesday’s Daily Reporter referring to a story by Iowa Capital Dispatch writer Clark Kauffman addressing allegations of abuse and problems at the Ruthven Community Care Center based on a report from the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals. ...

People need a mission, and in most cases the mission needs to be about others rather than themselves. Opportunity is knocking. Our communities are hurting. We need new residents to fill the jobs we have in order to keep the companies that are here and retain the work that employs our families, friends and neighbors. Birth rates in the United States are failing to replenish the population in many places, and the sunshine migration from the north continues...

This letter is a response to the “multiple acts of abuse alleged at Iowa nursing home” written by Clark Kauffman on April 25, 2022. This article was published in the Spencer Daily Reporter. My name is Sheree Eischen. My mother has been resident at this nursing home in Ruthven for one and half years. ...

The clock is ticking and soon, the Spencer Area Activity Center Board will go forward with its plans to close this longtime haven for Spencer area residents. Are you ready for that? Do you want to see an outlet for people who have come together for over 40 years shut down? Do you want to see 40 men and women’s lifeline to recreation, nutritious food served by friendly faces, and fellowship be taken away? This connection to the community was removed during the pandemic for health and safety reasons. ...

Spencer Area Activity Center is any agency owned and operated by its membership which includes all Clay County residents. As with any 501(c)(3) nonprofit, it is governed by a board of directors. On Monday evening, a dedicated volunteer "Save the Center" team met with the current SAAC board and provided a detailed recovery plan to stop the closure of this Clay County resident-owned community center...

“When would God say it is OK to snuff out a miracle of life he deemed fit to create?” If life is defined as starting at conception, when God changes his mind. God stops life with miscarriages and failing to implant fertilized eggs. If life is defined as starting with the first breath (per the Bible), when society says so. ...

We now live in eastern Iowa so it takes a while to receive the Daily Reporter. That said, here it is, May 5 and we just received the SDR of Friday, April 29. I was bemused by the front page photo of Rep. Megan Jones with students from Sacred Heart holding up their "School Choice Now" shirts. ...