Opinion

Brishell and Christina: Each deserve a moment of silence

       Christina Green had just joined her school’s Student Council.      Brishell Jones was preparing to go to culinary school.  &nbs...

Giffords shooting makes Americans face again the questions raised by evil acts

    Speaking to a nation bitterly divided and nearing the end of a bloody, soul-searing Civil War, Abraham Lincoln first took a stand. He cleverly criticized those who supported slav...

Working in your PJ\'s

Vinton Today gave us a chance to try something many dream of, but never get the chance to do....work from home.   Before you try it, you have this idea that you will sit at your computer i...

Advice and definitions for city-dwelling farm writers

       In order to enlighten us city folk journalists about the realities of farm life so we can write better stories about farming, the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation and the ...

Regifting etiquette: Making the most of Christmas 2011

       After learning what you received for Christmas from friends, family, neighbors, customers, associates, and your ex-sister-in-law’s first husband’s second...

\'Moonbeam\' history

       A 30-year-old nickname that made its way back to the headlines of early 2011 has had many in the American media digging up old newspaper articles to find out why, and...

Keep Facebook about faces, PLEASE!

Tonight I turned on the computer after a few hours completely off line, checked into Facebook, had those warm fuzzies as I commented about how we had just had our whole family out for our Christmas...

Provoking your New Year's agitations with force and persuasion

       Every year at this time, we hear people talking again about "resolutions."      Lose weight.      Stop smok...

Old Long Gone Song: An ode to resolutions soon forgotten

       It only takes, according to people who like to count this stuff, about 17 days for the average American to say, "Oh, never mind" to his or her New Year'...

The sights and sounds of a prison in progress

Jerry Petermeier and Kelly Yeager look over part of the plans for the new LEC.        In a few months, perhaps, the unwilling occupants of the new Benton County Law Enforcement Center will hear the sound most-often associated with prisons: The echo of...