This week, the House released the House Health and Human Services Budget. This budget appropriates $2.217 billion of state general fund to the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Health and Human Services for fiscal year 2025. This represents a $92.5 million increase in general fund compared to fiscal year 2024.

In Iowa, possession of small amounts of marijuana can lead to six months in jail and a fine. However, 4/20 Day is widely celebrated in the state. The counterculture holiday is celebrated by marijuana users, cannabis culture influencers and retailers. In Iowa, this generally means law enforcement focuses on impaired driving prevention and keeping drug-impaired drivers off the road.

Have fun and enjoy picking fresh fruit right outside your door thanks to compact varieties you can grow in containers. Just clear some space on your patio, deck, balcony or front steps that receives at least six hours of sunlight and get busy planting.

“Well,” said Steve, the tall cowboy, “at least it’s Friday and we all have the weekend to look forward to.”

Doc glanced up from his paper at the philosophy counter of the Mule Barn truck stop and world dilemma think tank.

“Fastest Friday you’ll ever experience, Steve,” Doc said.

“That’s about right,” Dud said.

Steve got that confounded look on his face. “What do you mean by that?”

“Today is Saturday.”

For over 30 years, the Spencer ADA has provided a Disability Awareness program for fourth grade students in all the Spencer elementary schools which have impacted around 200-plus students each year.

It is Extension Week! Something can be celebrated every month, week and day of the year. This is the week we celebrate all things Extension. The real question for this article is what part of Extension do I celebrate? I could touch on the branches, 4-H; ag and natural resources; human sciences; and community and economic development. We could talk about Iowa State and their connection to each of the county offices.

When Catholic novitiate Margaret Daino (Nell Tiger Free) arrives in Rome to help provide care at a nun-run orphanage, in the midst of protest and uprising by disillusioned 20-somethings, she soon learns there’s more danger behind the walls of the orphanage she is than on the violent streets.

Q: What federal law did you steer through Congress to improve the nation’s organ transplant system?

Heads up, despite the United States producing more oil than any country in history (S&P Global Commodity Insights 12/19/23), gas prices are and will be going up, so before the finger pointing starts and you embarrass yourself, know why.

Interest rates are the cost of capital. Is the cost of capital going to rise or fall? Everyone looks to the Fed for the answer to that question but the Fed essentially responds to underlying fundamentals rather than makes them up. They can temporarily directionally impact capital markets but they will eventually come back to whatever trendline that is fundamentally supported. The Fed is looking for an opportunity to reduce rates but that is against the backdrop of changing demographics.

We live in tumultuous times, no kidding, yet thankfully the Bible gives us a strategy for overcoming chaos. It has a lot to do with the way we think. Isaiah 8:11-14a says, "The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said, 'Don't call everything a conspiracy, like they do, and don't live in dread of what frightens them. Make the Lord of Heaven's Armies holy in your life.

On behalf of all Hawkeye fans let me thank all of you ladies for the journey you’ve taken basketball fans on a fantastic we will miss going forward, but will have a hard time forgetting. Whether long-time followers, or those who jumped on board the hype train, this Iowa team, who unexpectedly came from out of nowhere to compete for college’s hoop crown the past two years — coming up a bit short both times, but leaving us inspired and entranced by the run.

House File 2674 passed the floor unanimously this week and would create the Iowa Rural Development Tax Credit Program. Tax credits would be awarded by the Iowa Economic Development Authority for specific capital contributions made to certified rural business growth funds for investment in qualified businesses. Under the bill, the IEDA begins accepting Iowa rural development tax credit program applications Jan. 7, 2025.

When old Joe Gilliam began digging that hold in his front yard, out there close to the street, neighbors watched and wondered. When he got his grandson to help him carry the shade tree sapling from his pickup to the hole, people nodded.

Mystery solved. Old Joe’s planting a tree.

This week features a recent press release regarding Parkinson’s disease by Jamie Neff, human sciences specialist in family wellbeing: