Absentee voting for the 2025 City-School Election starts today. Things are rolling fast and steady in our office as we feverishly prepare not only for absentee voting, but for upcoming poll worker training, and of course Election Day.  
 

It may seem weird for this to come from me, but I am getting old. This week, I turn 19, and by the time this paper is printed and published, that special day will have come and gone like most any other. Nonetheless, I can’t help but come to the realization that for me, time has flown by these past few years, and I’m sure my parents and grandparents will say the same.

 Older and wiser is not necessarily a hard and fast rule. Upon realizing that a dead ash tree would eventually fall on the fence we were building, I decided to get it on the ground before dark. I hurried. Not wise. I did a perfect job, with a nice hinge it fell right where I planned for it to fall.

Absentee voting for the 2025 City-School Election starts in just one week.  Things are rolling fast and steady in our office as we feverishly prepare not only for absentee voting, but for upcoming poll worker training, and of course Election Day.  

In October, our country celebrates Manufacturing Month and recognizes the critical importance of manufacturing to our economy. Domestic manufacturing supports good-paying jobs in our 

communities, strengthens our supply chains, and helps reduce our dependence on foreign nations for the goods and products that Iowans need and rely on. During this month, we also honor Iowa 

We were flying out to California to see our son, Hans. Alegiant goes from Des Moines straight to Orange County. If it was American Airlines, hitchhiking might be a better option.
 
As we crossed into California from Nevada I got some photos of the giant solar power stations called Ivanpah. I assumed the phone store had initiated a save feature but they didn’t and when the phone needed repair the photos were lost.
 

Occasionally, I have nearly panicked looking at this deadline and considered digging through the archives to resurrect a reprint of a movie review column I wrote 15 years ago. But it was typed in Microsoft Word and that disappeared from my computer and when I try to open the document it looks like a speech from Tibet.
 

Meeting with Iowa veterans and ensuring that, as a grateful state and nation, we support these heroes through the best healthcare and services that we have to offer is a top priority for me.

  Leading up to last year’s election, then candidate Donald Trump campaigned heavily on deporting immigrants on a massive scale. It’s something he’s followed through on, regularly claiming that his Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency would target “the worst of the worst.” It’s a refrain Kristi Noem, Trump’s head of Homeland Security, has echoed recently.

I don’t see how the people of this country could ever get more polarized. It’s distracting us from more important things. The polarization is fed by two things. One is the obvious pleasure derived from anger and hate. The other is the algorithms that direct any content online based on previous interests, and that reinforces those interests rather than allowing our minds to explore different ideas.

September 17 is Constitution Day. The law requires public schools and government offices to provide educational programs every year on that date to promote a better understanding of the Constitution.
Constitution Day commemorates the day in 1787 when our delegates signed that first document in the history of the world to broadly limit the sort of government power England’s businessmen used to rip off their colonists.

Though I’ve traveled no further than Grinnell to Hampton and back this week, there have been a number of occasions that have served to remind me of my time abroad, often in the simplest of ways. Even when life is as routine as it can be, there is still an element of reminiscence upon this point. I suppose these little reminders are the lingering effects of having spent quite a large chunk of my independent life outside of the U.S.

In 1961, the United States Congress passed the first National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Then, and in every conflict since, our brave men and women at home and overseas 
relied on Congress to authorize new programs, procure advanced weapons, and make quality-of-life improvements for servicemembers. 
 
 

I know I’ve mentioned it a month or so ago, but the 2025 City-School Election is 

coming up quickly and there are some important dates you need to be aware of.   

1. Filing Deadline – The deadline for candidates to file the appropriate paperwork is 

next Thursday, September 18th at 5PM.  Candidates must file their paperwork with 

When President Trump returned to the Oval Office early this year, he immediately announced a new and much needed plan for the United States’s national security — “Peace through strength.”