First thought: New book. 

“The Sophocles Rule” is local novelist Joe LeValley’s fifth book about the fictional town of Orney, Iowa, its local newspaper and star reporter Tony Harrington. And it may be his best.

LeValley, a retired Des Moines hospital executive, finished the book a year ago, but publication was delayed several months due to shortages of paper and ink for book printers.

The plot unfolds after solid-silver coins minted before 1964 start showing up in Orney and are traced to a bungled 1960s bank robbery that resulted in the slaying of a prominent citizen. 

The Greek philosopher Sophocles, who is quoted at the beginning of the book, once wrote: “Hide nothing, for time, which sees and hears all, exposes all.” 

And so it is with the plot; actions buried in the past unravel in the present.

Second thought: CyTown.

Let’s hope the construction management of CyTown, Iowa State University’s $200 million entertainment district, is better than it was for the University of Iowa’s Stead Children’s Hospital. 

It’s not unusual for large-ticket public projects to experience cost overruns, especially when fiscal responsibility is widely distributed. 

In the case of the UI children’s hospital, such open-ended management was a disaster. The hospital, which opened in 2017, started with a projected cost of $270 million. It is now at the $450 million mark and could go higher, because not all of the work to fix construction problems is complete.

I don’t want to jinx the ISU project, but I will note that when you build in a flood plain, like they are doing in Ames, unforeseen problems can arise. 

Third thought: Discrimination.

Am I the only one who finds it ironic that days before the announcement of the University of Iowa’s $4 million discrimination settlement with Black former football players, Republican lawmakers pushed to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion officers from Iowa’s public universities?

The legislation is sponsored by Rep. Taylor Collins, R-Mediapolis, who told the Des Moines Register: “For too long, the DEI bureaucracies at [state schools] have been used to impose ideological conformity and promote far-left political activism.”  

Apparently it never dawned on Rep. Collins that “far-left political activism” might have saved the state $4 million. 

Fourth thought: Taxes.

A cynic might say that the Iowa Lottery’s plan to launch a $50 scratch-off lottery game in April is how state officials intend to pay for things once Gov. Kim Reynolds eliminates Iowa’s income tax, as she has boldly promised to do. 

The governor has not explained how Iowa will pay its bills once the tax is eliminated; all that exists is a vague concept that without an income tax the Iowa economy will magically grow like Jack’s beanstalk. 

But real life is not a fairytale.

And for the record, the $98 million the lottery currently contributes to state revenues is barely 1% of the more than $8 billion Iowa spends annually on education, health care, infrastructure, law enforcement and other necessities.

It will take a lot more than $50 lottery tickets to pick up the slack.

If the lottery won’t do it, maybe we can drink our way to prosperity.

Alcohol is a more profitable sin tax. The state has a monopoly on liquor distribution and receives a markup of 50% on all the booze sold to grocery stores and other retailers, in addition to the fees it charges bars and restaurants to sell wine, beer and liquor by the glass.

All told, sales of booze in Iowa generate about $165 million for the state.

Maybe we can drink ourselves to prosperity.

Final thought: Cancer.

Ignore what I just said. Drinking is not a good solution. 

A new study shows Iowa has the second-highest cancer rate in the country and is the only state with a rising rate. 

There is no clear indication about what is causing the problem, the report said, although it does note that Iowans are more likely to be overweight, exercise less and do more binge drinking.