Chuck Grassley

Radio comments on Cornell were deplorable

Steel work doesn’t last forever

Jack Smith is more trustworthy than Chuck Grassley

In an era of global health challenges, we should support polio immunization

Rules protect employees of would-be bad actors

Radio comments on Cornell were deplorable

WHO-AM program manager Gregg Henson is apparently still living in the past. His sexist and insulting comments (“WHO radio host disparages woman focal to Cornell case,” Oct. 7) stand out like a sore thumb in today’s more enlightened society. To label a female “slut” because of careless sexual activity automatically relieves the males involved of any responsibility or repute. Decades ago, we might all nod and agree. Today, we should be pointing just as many fingers at the males. Further, Henson’s comments regarding women’s physical attributes were shallow and revealed a lack of class.

Scott Otto, Manson

Steel work doesn’t last forever

If you are driving on Interstate Highway 80 in Illinois, you will come upon an exit for Interstate Highway 180, a four-lane highway veering southeast in to the central part of the state. I-180 was built for a steel plant.

In 1966, Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. built a state-of-the-art facility in Hennepin County with even Time Magazine making note of its construction in the middle of the heartland.

Local residents were excited but cautious about the large investment in their part of the state.

Constructed to withstand the heavy loads of rolled steel transported on semi flat-beds, the 180 four-lane spur ran to the plant and no farther.

Well, eventually, J&L sold the plant to LTV Corp., and after more transactions ArecelorMittl closed the plant in 2009, putting hundreds of people out of work.

The steel plant’s buildings were imploded in 2017 in grand fashion before cameras and with a whole lot of explosives. An Illinois-based renewable energy plant was erected on the former plant site and is successfully run today, evident by the steady stream of semis hauling Illinois grain to the plant, preferring to use state Highway 71 rather than the 180 spur.

It seems Washington, D.C., and now the majority of the Iowa Legislature has said it’s a done deal with Mesabi Metallics, but it might have been prudent to at least contact our neighbor states of Minnesota and Illinois to ask, “Say, have you had any experience with a steel plant…?”

So, when you are traveling I-80, and if you have the inclination and time, take I-180. But you will need to turn around; it only goes for 13 miles. Unless you want to travel further on county roads and visit the small villages of Hennepin and Granville. They are good people.

Jan Scott, Des Moines

Jack Smith is more trustworthy than Chuck Grassley

Sen. Chuck Grassley needs to stop denigrating former special counsel Jack Smith for doing the job he was assigned to do to investigate President Donald Trump. Grassley is a partisan who is trying to cover for Trump and his corrupt administration. One way to settle the record would be to release the reports that Smith prepared and let the public decide. But I am sure that Grassley has a million excuses for that not to happen. I trust Smith far more than I do Grassley or Trump.

Jack Pearson, Newton

In an era of global health challenges, we should support polio immunization

While tremendous progress has been made against infectious diseases, global health challenges have put us at risk for the resurgence of vaccine-preventable illnesses such as polio.

Although Rotary International and its Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) partners have reduced polio cases by 99.9% worldwide since 1988, sparing more than 20 million people from paralysis, the virus still circulates. Wild polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but the virus knows no boundaries. If vaccination rates decrease, we will lose the herd immunity needed to prevent polio from reemerging in previously polio-free areas.

In 2023, I flew a small airplane around the world, and in 2025, I circled the Atlantic to raise awareness and funds to eradicate polio. I will continue to champion polio immunization because I have witnessed the profound and permanent consequences to those children who contract polio.

Some view polio immunization as optional because it is not circulating where they live. I look forward to the day when polio becomes the second human disease to be eradicated from mankind. On World Polio Day, Oct. 24, 2026, I urge you to visit endpolio.org to learn what actions you can take to help us achieve a polio-free world.

Peter Teahen, Cedar Rapids

Rules protect employees of would-be bad actors

In response to Brad Churchill’s Oct. 4 guest essay arguing that it’s important to "prohibit the federal government from imposing mandates for protection of workers who work in extreme heat without breaks and without adequate hydration".

I am willing to think Churchill treats his workers decently. I also invite him to go to Texas in July and spend time around construction sites. I have seen workers put roofs on houses in temperatures when dogs aren't taken out for walks because of the heat.

It may well be Churchill knows how to take care of his work teams, better than anyone in Washington ever could. I hope he and his peers have a solution for Texas.

Ellen Hansen, Ankeny