Dear Editor, On Monday 8 January at 10am the Iowa General Assembly begins the 2018 portion of its work.For over a decade now Iowa citizens have been able to use the internet to listen to the live floor proceedings of the House and Senate, and for the past several years a live streaming video cast for both chambers has also been available.

To the Editor: "Starving The Beast" is a political strategy currently being happily employed by American conservatives to limit social security spending by cutting taxes.

Tonight, well, this morning since I couldn't sleep, I thought I might as well get out of bed for the second time and write a column about what I'm thinking about.

By Dean Close, Editor When I look back on my own personal history of Christmas, I can think of several years when the holiday had special meaning for me.

It was not the retractions, or apologies, made by the leaders of well-known organizations after big errors, that should make Americans shake their head most as we ponder the state of U.

To the Editor: I am very concerned about your attacks on our citizens who are mostvulnerable when a medical emergency occurs. Our former Governordismantled a Medicaid program that was well run and efficient.

To the Editor, Iowa's Medicaid program has contained a clause allowing people to enroll in Medicaid 90 days after they've used the services of a hospital or healthcare provider.

On 3 October 2017 I had the privilege, pleasure, and honor to travel with 80 fellow Veterans to our Nations Capital, along with a number of EIHF Volunteers, and Guardians.

As we sat through the Candidate forum a few weeks ago, I was glad for one thing. That I didn't have to vote. I watched as the candidates talked about their experience, their plans and goals for the city, and I would have had a hard time choosing which guy to vote for! Sometimes you go to a debate between candidates and it's obvious who you'd think is better, or you watch a debate and say, out of all the people in the world, THIS is what we have to choose between? But not this time, not in Vinton.

To The Editor Our family supports Rich Hainstock for Vinton Mayor. During 2009 through 2012 Keith was a self-employed contractor. He worked for Rich doing a complete demo and reconstruction of the corner building located at 5th Street and 1st AVE, where there is now a residential living space upstairs, and Farm Bureau, Cedar River Inc.