Arlene Margaret Greufe Walker formerly of Cedar Rapids, Iowa departed this world on November 18, 2024, at the age of 91. A private family burial will take place at St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Williams. Funeral arrangements are under the guidance of the Surls Funeral Home in Iowa Falls. 

  With election season behind us and winter approaching, I’m looking forward to the holidays and getting together with friends and family. It’s generally a peaceful time of year, filled with plenty of joy, laughter, good food and fond memories.

"Journalism is the art of capturing the essence of humanity in every word." –Nicholas Kristof

Who thought the election was over and we’d all moved on?! Yeah, me too! Well, kind of. Last week I mentioned a lot of the work that we are continuing to work through to wrap up the election, but this week I thought I’d dive deeper into two of those things.

Sixty-one years ago John F. Kennedy was assassinated. I was in junior high, in the gym, when I heard the news. I remember that we all had thought, “It can't happen here.”

You can tell it’s almost time to vote when harvest is wrapping up. We finished our beans several weeks ago, and we got our corn out the other day. Prices are too low and costs are too high, but we have our fingers crossed. Just like I have my fingers crossed that we’ll elect more state legislators who will fight for fully-funded public schools and push back against private school vouchers.

This is it! The last editorial before the big day, Election Day! By now, I’m sure we’re all aware that Election Day is November 5 th 2024. I think we’re all ready to be over so we can stop listening to all the political commercials and getting all the phone calls & texts. But, what are the important things you need to know to be ready for Election Day?!

On Thursday October 24 th , I officially completed my fourth biannual 36 County Tour – making at least two stops in every county in the 4th Congressional District every year. This is a promise that I made to Iowans when I first ran for Congress, and I’ve kept my word by registering more than 320 stops over the last four years.

It’s hard to imagine Fall without the humming of combines and trucks moving harvested crops across the countryside. Here on our farm, we’re done with beans and we’ve started on corn.
 

Over the last several weeks, we’ve received negative reports and forecasts about the economy and our fiscal outlook. Inflation rose in September – opposite expectations – and was up 2.4% from just a year prior while the National Federation of Independent Business’s Small Business Optimism Index registered at 91.5 in September, which is the 33rd consecutive month under the 50-year average of 98.

I can’t believe it, but absentee voting for the November 5 th General Election is finally here! What does that mean?!

We are in South Carolina to be with Dawn’s four brothers and their families. They are mostly retired science teachers. So I have Google and them. It’s handy.

I fled California in 1972. After my year at college in Oakland, I rented a house with four other guys; one in a dirt-floored basement, one in the attic, and three in bedrooms. We got along pretty well except for the one who cooked weird food and never washed the dishes. He was a lovable sorta mascot, though.

With the November 5 elections getting closer, I’ve been talking with friends and neighbors about the candidates running for office and issues that matter in our day-to-day lives.  We have a lot of important decisions to make.