Opinion
Letter to the Editor: An important option for the handicapped
By Betty Thorsvig
AM I THE ONLY ONE THAT DID NOT KNOW THIS?
We have lived here for 6 years.
Our daughter is handicapped, in a wheel chair....
Letter to the Editor: A Progressive Scorecard
A Progressive Scorecard:
(1) Almost 50M on food stamps
(2) A major portion of those receiving unemployment benefits out of work for more than six months
...
Mum on probe: A lesson on headlines, and the challenge of writing them
“Cops nab pair, mum on probe.”
“Bush taps crony for State.”
Believe it or not, copy editors — the people who are considered the best at using the English lang...
To The Editor: Why Vinton needs a Social Host ordinance
Here are two things you might not know about me. When I was young we lived next to a busy highway in Springville Iowa and I was a huge professional wrestling fan. When I was a teenager, profession...
A significant, sad media anniversary
The most important story in the news today – which will totally unreported – is that today is the anniversary of one of the major tragic milestones of modern journalism.
On this date, March...
How baseball could cure Crimean Spring Fever
Get out a map of Iowa.
See Vinton?
Draw a line that runs straight south, from Minnesota to Missouri through Vinton.
Look at everything to the right. That’s about 10,000 square mi...
The 3 Seasons of country living - Beauty, Snow and Mud
The most fascinating thing about living in the country, at least to me, is the way you are so closely linked to the seasons.
In fall, as you drive through the country, if you are fortunate like...
Cabin (painting) Fever: An Editor\'s guide to surviving a too-long winter
Winter was getting the best of me. I had plunged into despair, watching Olympic ice dancing, writing grumpy columns about the unchanging climate and paying way too much attention to celebrity stalk... 4 more years (and beyond)...
For 18 years, from March of 1992 until March of 2010, I worked for newspapers.
You probably remember newspapers: Those collections of pages of news, ads and pictures folded together and delive...
She\'ll be comin\' around the mountain...
This last week we lost my very first music teacher, Mrs. Wright. The name on her obituary didn’t stir any memory until I heard my husband ask me if I knew “Mrs. Wright.” The light...