COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa, U.S.A. – What is the ice cream flavor of the United States?  A chocolate infused democracy or a  rainbow sherbet for the states?  If the United States was voting for a
taste that would characterize laws and political campaigns, what would it be?

Vermont ice cream makers Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield – the founders of Ben & Jerry’s – are traveling across the frozen plains of Iowa with their iconic cold treats.

GLENWOOD, Iowa, U.S.A. – A visit from Ben Carson, one of the Republicans hoping to be the party’s nominee for president, excited many students here Thursday.
​
“I like his values as a Republican,” said sophomore Jessica Williams.

Brianna Leonard, a sophomore at the school, said after the debate that she liked what Carson said about guns.

UNDERWOOD, Iowa, U.S.A. – America’s future will be determined by those who take part in the democratic process, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders said at a campaign stop Tuesday.

Sanders, a senator from Vermont who running for U.S. president, said he is very proud to have young people involved in his campaign.
​
Asked what he would say to the youth of the country who don’t believe they are obligated to get involved in politics, Sanders said everyone is going to have to live with what voters decide.

GLENWOOD, Iowa, U.S.A. – I’m too young to remember the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, but that awful day left my parents with enough memories for them and me.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and those aboard Flight 93 who deliberately crashed the plane into a Pennsylvania field rather than let it be used as a missile against another national target.

GLENWOOD, Iowa, U.S.A. – President Barack Obama delivered an inspiring eulogy at the funeral for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney last week that may resonate for years to come.

Pinckney, the pastor at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, was leading the Bible study group June 17 when a man who was welcomed as a visitor shot and killed him and eight people in his congregation.

GLENWOOD, Iowa, U.S.A. – As it is, does there happen to be a context to pulling a gun on innocent people?  Or a context for pulling one in a church prayer circle because of the race of the worshippers?  
​
In Charlestown, South Carolina this week, there was what many would call a “church massacre” when a gunman killed six women and three men.

GLENWOOD, Iowa, U.S.A. – The local high school principal was one of several people hurt in a shooting near his home early this week.
​
Principal Richard Hutchinson, who is in his second year at Glenwood Community High School, is recovering from the Sunday afternoon shooting.

GLENWOOD, Iowa, U.S.A. – As a proud student journalist following the 2016 U.S. presidential election, I have one question for the candidates in the race.
​
As a 16-year-old, I cannot vote for my next president. I have four years before I will have that opportunity. And I am not the only one. In 2014, the United States Census Bureau determined that 23 percent of the population also cannot yet vote.