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Opinion

District 53 Newsletter: March 26, 2026

Editorials

The legislature has finished week 11 of the session, we are busy working on bills sent over from the Senate and preparing appropriations bills for the final weeks of the session. Nearly every year during the session we deal with legislation that to one degree or another seeks to end the ...

Dengler Domain: Pharmacy

Local Columns

To see the Traer pharmacy close is sad. Hopefully, it will see a similar outcome like the medical clinic with a new organization. It may have been years since stepping foot in this small pharmacy, but it still evokes memories. After visiting the doctor’s office, the pharmacy was a hop and ...

Public notices must remain in newspapers

Editorials

There are some in the Iowa Legislature who periodically toy with the possibility of eliminating the requirement that local governments print public notices in newspapers. This is the wrong move today, tomorrow and for the future. Government transparency is more important than ever. In truth it ...

On the Record with Sheriff Casey Schmidt

Local Columns

I want to shout out to the Tama County Board of Supervisors as they work through this year’s and last year’s budget. It is not an easy job. There are a lot of moving parts and no perfect answers. From our side, we understand the reality. Budgets are tight everywhere, and we are not any ...

Dengler Domain: Nitrogen

Local Columns

With a war in Iran brewing, one downstream effect is nitrogen prices rising in price with UAN28 leading the way with a 13% increase compared to last month according to the Progressive Farmer. Nitrogen plays a huge role in most farmers' cropping rotation. Nitrogen is necessary to have a ...

Celebrating National Ag Day

Editorials

Please join our Mid-Iowa Youth Beef Team to observe National Ag Day on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, with the theme of “Together We Grow” as we celebrate 250 years of agriculture progress. Agriculture producers have made great progress in their production since the 1960s. Today, cattlemen ...

Draw Closer To Jesus This Easter Season

Local Columns

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became ...

Celebrating Ag Week: Agriculture has always been rooted in community

Editorials

As we celebrate Ag Week in Iowa, March 23-30, 2026, and look ahead to America’s 250th anniversary, we are reminded strong communities don’t come from any one person or one farm — they grow when people show up for each other. As a farmer, we see every day how closely agriculture and our ...