The Elbert Files

“We are certainly in uncharted waters,” economist James Paulsen wrote in a recent newsletter that explores topics ranging from inflation to economic policy, employment to productivity, and millennials to downtowns.

Aging baby boomers are being …

A new study in the journal Food Policy says U.S. soybean producers received a $5 billion windfall in 2018-19 when the U.S. Department of Agriculture overestimated damage caused by Chinese trade-war tariffs.

“Overall, farmers received …

The new Texas abortion law has much in common with the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, a statute that has been described as “one of the most hated and openly violated federal laws” in U.S. …

My recent high school reunion felt different, and it wasn’t because we are now as likely to meet old friends in a cemetery as at a bar. According to our class obituary keeper, half as …

John Ruan III, who died earlier this month at the age of 78, was a talented businessman who managed, along with his wife, Janis, to dramatically improve the quality of life in Des Moines.

They …

When I think about how farm field runoff is polluting Iowa water systems, I picture someone using tissue paper to try to stop an overflowing toilet.

That’s because tissue paper can no more hold …

Recent releases of 2020 census data mark the beginning of the complicated process of redrawing Iowa’s political boundaries.

Reapportionment is something that has happened in Iowa every 10 years since 1930, when our congressional …

Our son, Craig, did something this summer that Amy and I have never attempted during our 46 years of married life. He took his family cat, Reggie, on vacation. 

The trip began with what should …

A new book, “Republic of Detours: How the New Deal Paid Broke Writers to Rediscover America,” traces the work of more than 6,000 out-of-work writers to create travel and information guides for all 48 states …