Tuesday, May 3, was a banner day of sorts for Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, who appeared in 10 separate news items in that day’s print edition of The Des Moines Register. 

Better yet for the governor, the only two articles that put him in an unflattering light were letters to the editor. 

Five articles were tied to the wrap-up of the Iowa Legislature, with two stories carrying headlines that said Branstad was “open to” ideas that had failed to make it through the Legislature medical marijuana and finding money to pay for cleaning up Iowa’s dirty water. 

Those two stories positioned Branstad as a compassionate figure seeking middle ground, with no mention of his having played no role in the marijuana debate and little mention of the fact that he took a pass on the clean water debate once lawmakers turned down his plan to use education funds to clean up the water. 

The governor’s response to a bill providing oversight for his Medicaid privatization efforts was sufficiently vague to create suspicion that he will item-veto the bipartisan oversight, just like he vetoed a bipartisan increase in education funding last year.  

All in all, a good day for Branstad.

North Korean gold: A friend passed on a March 28 news story involving Forest City-based Winnebago Industries and North Korea, which, as near as he can tell, was not printed in Iowa. 

The report by Reuters news service listed the Iowa maker of recreational vehicles among 25 U.S. companies “that have links to North Korean gold in their supply chains.” 

Gold is widely used in electronics, Reuters said, because of its ability to conduct electricity efficiently. The 25 firms had disclosed to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last year that they had done business with a gold smelter operated by North Korea’s central bank. 

That was not illegal in 2015, but it is now following a March 16 executive order by President Barack Obama in response to North Korean nuclear and missile tests earlier this year, according to Reuters.

The news service quoted an unnamed Winnebago spokesman as saying that, despite the SEC disclosure, gold from the North Korean smelter never made it into Winnebago’s products. 

Garland looking better: The day after Donald Trump became the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party by winning the Indiana primary, Leon H. Wolf, editor of RedState, a popular Republican blog, asked his party mates to confirm Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court “before it is too late.”

“Garland is not a great choice, but he is not a terrible one,” which is what Republicans will get after Trump loses the general election, Wolf predicted. Besides, he said, Garland “is old (for a modern Supreme Court appointment) and will be up for replacement in probably 10 years instead of 20 or 30.” 

With Trump, Wolf said, “there is absolutely no chance we will win the White House,” and there is a good chance Republican control of the U.S Senate will also be lost.

“So the choices, essentially, are to confirm Garland and have another bite at the apple in a decade, or watch as President Clinton nominates someone who is radically more leftist and 10-15 years younger,” Wolf wrote.

Culture news: As the Register’s reviewer of local culture, Michael Morain developed a wide following during the past decade, and many were sorry when he quit last month to work for the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs.

As communications manager for the state agency that oversees historic sites throughout Iowa, Morain has his hands full. But not so much that he won’t still be able to write occasional online reviews for our sister publication dsm Magazine beginning this summer.