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The urgent fight for a shared reality in Ames, Iowa
The brilliant American author Neal Stephenson, an Ames (Iowa) High School alum, sees the slipping national grip on a shared reality as a grave threat to…
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Douglas Burns
5
'Yellowstone' most anti-adoption TV series in history
A MAGA hit is actually a Trojan horse for abortion rights
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Douglas Burns
6
The last bastion of collective reality — and your role in saving it
Community newspapers are the last bastion of collective reality.
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Douglas Burns
2
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Kentucky governor says JD Vance's Appalachian 'origin story' doesn't add up
 • Douglas Burns
9
JD Vance's boyhood mistaken gay confession story smacks of head-spinning inflation
 • Douglas Burns
9
Lanon Baccam: 'I’m looking at Doug Burns right now, because his family looks like my family.'
 • Douglas Burns
15
'I'm afraid if Trump wins. And I'm afraid if Trump loses,' Harkin says
 • Douglas Burns
9
GUEST COLUMN: Why Governor Tim Walz reminds me of a beloved rural Iowa teacher
6
Walz southern frying of Iowa with humor paints two Americas contrast with Minnesota
 • Douglas Burns
5
The Thumbs Of Justice
CEO shooting shows how scales of justice have long been smashed and replaced with pounding and pecking of instant-take social media judge-and-jurying of…
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Douglas Burns
3
‘Denny O’Grady was one of my heroes,’ small-town newspaper publisher says of beloved late Carroll, Iowa sports editor
CARROLL, Iowa —
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Douglas Burns
12
Call Me Papergirl
Reflections on life in the pages of newspapers
5
Advance and amplify an inspiring Iowa documentary, 'The Negro Artist,' on Giving Tuesday as it breaks out nationally
Here’s a project that deserves your consideration on Giving Tuesday:
3
Logging Off Isn’t The Answer
2016 was a slap in the face to women, and 2024 was a knife in the throat to our gender
8
On what would have been his 100th birthday, a World War II veteran's son recalls timely lessons from his dad
An Iowa veteran writes passionately about his veteran father
6
Kill Hal: 'Numb and dumb is no way to go through life'
Winning trust back in the cold cultural civil war demands a community newspaper campaign that elevates human editors over profit-programmed algorithms
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Douglas Burns
17
The Iowa Mercury
The Iowa Mercury
Fourth-generation Iowa journalist dives deep with unpredictable, well-reported writing on rural America's people, politics and culture.
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