Opinion

Climate change deniers in the U.S. probably should keep an eye on what is happening in Australia politically as a result of the historic wildfires that are ravaging the country. Australia had to mobilize military reserves to handle the relocation of people resulting from an area twice the size of Switzerland (25 million acres) or two West Virginias being on fire. ...

Grace and peace be with you today. Whom shall we fear? That is a question brought up in Psalm 27:1. I know that many of you just made a list in your head of things or people we should fear. What does it mean for you to be afraid? We take our eyes off of our goals and only see what could be and we don’t see what can be. We look around instead of focusing our eyes on the one who calls to us and see only despair and heartache...

It's official, the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement has been passed by both houses of Congress. This has been a long time coming, and a lot of farmers in Iowa have been watching what's going on, as the deal is expected to add pressure to the Chinese trade war that's dehydrated some of their crop prices. ...

This is the third column in an eight-part series debunking eight myths around foster care. There are plenty of reasons you might talk yourself out of considering foster care. “I don’t own a home.” “I already have kids or pets.” “I’m too busy.”...

Improve your indoor and outdoor container gardening success with a quality potting mix. This can be more difficult than it sounds since you can’t see or feel the product you are about to buy. Ask your gardening friends for recommendations and once at the garden center, check the package, and compare label information before making a purchase...

With just two weeks to go until the Iowa caucuses, Iowans would be excused if they are suffering from a serious case of political overload. The television is packed with candidate ads, and you can hardly go to a coffee shop, town hall or microbrewery in the state that hasn't been visited by at least one presidential candidate over the past year and a half...

I am continually amazed at the grace of God. Around 14 years ago, I had no idea what that word meant. I was on the streets and addicted to drugs. I was a self-proclaimed atheist after losing my father to suicide and having discovered his lifeless body on a dark morning only a few years earlier. ...

We get an up close and personal view of the Democratic presidential candidates because of our Iowa caucuses. There are frankly not a lot of rural Democrats where I live in the state and unless something dramatic happens Iowa will not be in play for the general election. ...

This is the second column in an eight-part series debunking eight myths around foster care. When children are placed in foster care, their whole world is turned upside down. They are forced to say goodbye to their family, their friends and their school. The tangible, known pieces of their lives are ripped away from them — their childhood bedroom, their favorite toy or blanket, their pet...

As garden catalogs are piling up and online versions fill your inbox, your thoughts may turn to the growing season ahead. With so many choices of beautiful flowers and scrumptious vegetables it can be overwhelming and hard to resist buying more seeds and plants than you have space to grow and time to tend...

I am writing to thank Spencer residents for sharing the true meaning of Christmas with children in need this past holiday season. Because of the generosity of donors in Spencer and across the United States, Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan’s Purse, collected more than 8.9 million shoebox gifts in 2019. Combined with those collected from partnering countries in 2019, the ministry is now sending 10,569,405 shoebox gifts to children worldwide...

Tuesday, Jan. 21, is the likely date for the Removal From Office trial for President Donald John Trump to begin in the U.S. Senate. Each senator is required to take a formal oath, first established in 1798 and later modified in 1868 that now reads “I _ solemnly swear (or affirm as the case may be) that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of President Donald John Trump, now pending, I will do impartial justice, according to the Constitution and laws: So help me God.” The senators must also sign an impeachment oath in a special book that is sent to the National Archives.. ...

Before 2020 gets too far along, I propose a resolution, and I hope the Spencer Daily Reporter does its part in making it happen. Thus I resolve to refer to the POTUS as President Trump, Donald J. Trump, president or our commander in chief. The same goes for calling all other presidential hopefuls by their given names. Hopefully other letter writers would also observe said protocol...

I am writing this to all the people who have thought about writing to the Spencer Daily Reporter an addressing their opinion that they have a passion about or certain problem in the community they want to address. First of all, once you get past the fear of what people might think. I say who cares?...

Qassem Soleimani was a terrorist and responsible for maiming and killing Americans. Agreement there. As far as Americans holding posters of Soleimani, I searched the internet and watched TV for images and found none. Maybe they were mislabeled photos/videos seen on Fox News which has happened before. Even if the pictures were fake, who interpreted the reason the posters were held?...