John Cressey once explained to me the difference between cement and concrete. I was reminded of this when Pastor Jeff Dadisman offered the same recollection during the celebration of life service for John Friday morning, May 10, at First United Methodist Church in Maquoketa.

The Iowa State Data Center says in 2018, there were 224 children in Clinton County’s foster care system, 28 in Jackson County, 192 in Dubuque County and 442 in Scott County for a total of 886. 

As the director of the library, I wear a lot of hats. On any given day, you might find me leading a book club, tightening toilet seats, paying bills, or organizing a new display. 

If officials want trust, records should be open to public

Iowa’s great good fortune is that the state has a quarter of the entire country’s supply of Class I farmland. In short, Iowa has the market cornered on land most of the rest of the United States would kill to have.

A recent news release from the FBI told a story tied nicely tied together three different types of scams — ransomware, gift card scams, and money mules. Each of these is quite topical, and I’ve seen far too often. 

Did you know that the average man spends five years and four months on social media, while he only spends one year and three months socializing face-to-face? You could have flown to the moon and back 32 times, ran 10,000 marathons, or watched the Simpsons series 215 times in that time. 

A couple of weeks ago Nancy and I traveled back to our alma mater, Indiana State University, to listen to Washington Post associate editor and international affairs columnist David Ignatius speak during a special event.

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When members of the Iowa Legislature show up at coffee shops in their districts on weekends, you won’t hear them talking about not trusting local government officials.

Don’t tell him this, but one of the most satisfying activities I’ve enjoyed in retirement has been the privilege of editing and helping to organize the book Maquoketa’s Glen “Red” Henton published last summer, “No Time for Boredom,” recounting highlights of his grand life.

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I was able to walk past our modern stuff — the tractors, the combine, the semis — without a flinch. I made it past an assortment of rusted chisel plows, cultivators and hoes with a stiff upper lip.

One of my first assignments as a young reporter in the late 1980s was covering the city government of East Chicago, Indiana.

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My friends out here in Washington are amazed at the outsized influence a small, aging, largely small town and rural state like Iowa can hold over the eventual selection of a president of the United States. 

Dave Ostert enjoyed a happy end to his new beginning.

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It’s always exciting to offer patrons something for which there is a need. 

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In the past few weeks, we have had over 10 snow days, half days, and two-hour delays. Everyone loves a good snow day, but not 10! 

A call here, a free throw there, or even just a smidge of favorable spin on the ball.

Words. Why do they have to be so complicated sometimes? Maybe it’s because, in a single issue of the Maquoketa Sentinel-Press, if you read every story, you could have consumed 23,646 of them. Even more if you read all the ads (which I hope you did!). 

The last few weeks showed us what a pretty tough winter looks like. You didn’t need to read a newspaper or check Facebook to learn that from me. 

The calendar shows at last we’re closing in on March. Could that mean that signs of spring from this endless winter may be on the way?

Community leaders always prefer to see the glass as half full instead of dwelling on trends and policies beyond their control that could easily produce anxiety — or ulcers.

It was Valentine’s Day 29 years ago, and I was crawling along at a snail’s pace in my 1979, rear-wheel drive Buick Regal during the evening rush hour on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. 

— Michael Bugeja’s column was originally published in the Des Moines Register on Jan. 23. He is author of “Living Media Ethics” and “Interpersonal Divide in the Age of the Machine.” 

Door-to-door peddlers are something I associate with the milder seasons of spring and summer. So I felt pretty surprised to hear a Clinton woman’s complaint of losing over $10,000 to a crew of door-to-door driveway pavers in December 2018. But it happened. Perhaps the milder-than-normal Dece…