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.
Even though it’s the start of summer, June can still be a busy month. Kids are still adjusting to their summer schedules, parents have more kids underfoot and the mercury is rising. June food themes range from Caribbean Heritage Month to National Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Month to National Seafood Month – all of which are represented in this week’s column.
I often wondered what those old rusty farm contraptions were sitting in the far corners of hay fields. Obviously they had something to do with hay. Well, duh! They looked sorta like a horse-drawn hay baler, but not quite. I even asked a farmer or two what they were, and they, scratching their head, didn’t know for sure either.
