Where have all the flowers gone? I'll take and tell you where a good chunk of the flowers have gone: two places, at the intersection of Highway 34 and the Henry-Des Moines County Line Road on the east end of New London, better known as Heald Trucking; and all along Main Street in Mediapolis (Mepo).
On Wednesday, June 11, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins traveled to Capitol Hill to testify before the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Agriculture Committee, respectively. As the only member of Congress serving on these two pivotal committees, I had the opportunity to speak directly with these incredibly talented cabinet secretaries who are delivering on President Trump’s economic and agricultural agenda.
If you liked “A Man Called Ove” by Fredrik Backman, which was made into the movie “A Man Called Otto” starring Tom Hanks, you’ll no doubt take a shine to “The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83¼ Years Old” translated by Hester Velmans. The main differences are the “Ove” book takes place in Sweden and involves an old man living in a type of retirement village, whereas the “Groen” book takes place in the Netherlands and involves an old man in a nursing home.
In the 1800s, American settlements began appearing across Iowa’s sprawling prairies. Families, young and old, ventured out West, braving terrifying prairie fires, tornadoes, and uncertainty, in search of a better life. Early communities were often built around families coexisting and growing together. In 2025, not much has changed. Iowa’s landscape is dotted with small towns occupied by family names dating back generations. This is one of the things that I love most about Iowa.
I want to take a moment to address recently raised concerns about the Justice Department’s grant terminations. I’ve started looking into some of these redirected funds and am releasing a short report compiling publicly available information on two grant recipients. I’ll focus on one example—the Vera Institute of Justice.
