It is the second week of session and we are getting down to business. It has been fun being out on the floor; I get the chance to engage more with my colleagues and spend time with visitors who stop by. As Speaker, my day was filled with scheduled meetings, as many of you know. This session I get to enjoy more casual meetings. This week has been filled with meetings as legislators and stakeholders work on their legislative priorities.

Maternal health in Iowa is experiencing a crisis. Maternal mortality has increased at an alarming rate in recent years. Maternal deaths went from fewer than 15 in 2008 to almost 50 in 2019, according to Dr. Stephen Hunter, co-director for Perinatal Care at the Iowa Department of Public Health.
A big part of the problem is Iowa’s shrinking health care options and workforce:

In just a few more days it will be caucus time.
We're just about done, everybody. We made it through another season.
The phone calls will stop. The ads will stop. The door knockers will stop.
Iowa will make its decision and the rest of the country will go back to confusing us with Idaho for another two years.

I've been following with disinterest the Trump impeachment story.
Disinterest partly because in a republic tampering with the vote should be of little consequence because a vote should never change policy in such a way that it benefits one group over another. And partly be-cause the foreign aid in ques-tion should not exist in the first place.

The second half of the Eighty-Eighth General Assembly convened on Monday, Jan. 13, and we are all excited to get back to work. This year will be a change in pace for me.
Serving as Speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives was a tremendous honor and I am incredibly proud of the work the Iowa House accomplished during my tenure.

We kicked off the 2020 Legis-lative Session on Monday. I hope we will spend the next few months building a healthier, happier, safer and stronger Iowa for our families, friends and neighbors.

To the editor:
Thank you Hampton area. The Red Kettle program collected $7,443.21 this year, which was up from last year and the best total since I have been doing this. Thanks to all the bell ringers and especially Dawn and Fritz Grotzkruger for taking over this year. See you next year!
Ivan E. Lindloff,
Hampton

"A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad."
This quote from Shigeru Miyamoto is infamous within the gaming community and often used as a mantra when eager consumers are met with the disappointing news that they are going to have to wait a little longer for a much anticipated game.
Last week was no exception.

Those high school years are pretty luxurious even if we did feel a bit oppressed. Does any-one remember being told not to believe anyone over thirty? Well that's shifted to being told nothing is our fault. The Chinese work for too little pay. The minimum wage is not a living wage. They only hire people with tattoos.

This year presents many opportunities to exercise your civic duties and those opportunities begin in the very near future.
The year 2020 is an election year. When November rolls around, we will have races for the President of the United States, various State Representative and Senate seats and local spots.

The strangest thing happened to me this weekend.
I opened Adobe Premiere Elements, my video editing software of choice, only to see it freeze up during the start-up process.

Winter arrived a little later than normal in the Hampton area last weekend.
For the first time this winter, more than two inches of snow fell throughout the area, which triggered snow removal efforts and safety measures by city crews and law enforcement officials.

Welcome to 2020.
Man, that's weird to say, isn't it? We are living in the year 2020. A brand new decade.
And yes, this is the new decade. If you want to be pendantic about something, you should also be right. 2021-2030 may be "a" decade, in that it is a period of ten years, but 2020-2029 is "the" decade. It's the 2020s. Maybe they'll be roaring. Maybe not. But they're here.

There could not be a more apt description of a dog than “man's best friend.” Everyone knows what it means. If My Dawnie is taking a walk and Doris, our Blue Heeler is along, I have absolutely no concern for her safety.

We’re officially in the New Year, which means many of you will be looking to improve your lives in some way with a New Year’s Resolution.
Resolutions typically center around losing weight, being more active and cutting out a certain habit. While improving your physical health is always a positive, New Year’s Resolutions don’t have to be about cutting things out.