Please bring back the Weather Beacon | Letters

• Please bring back the Weather Beacon
• Reject Trump’s proposal to cut science funding
• A culture of fear emerges in Iowa
• Each Trump order makes America worse
• Why won’t Iowa sue to protect wind energy efforts?
• Greg Abel and MidAmerican Energy have perpetuated climate harm to Iowans
• Nonprofits are not the enemy
• Iowa should not cave to BASF threats
• The sun is no longer rising
• Waveland Golf Course is a jewel of the city
• If anybody can get by without federal money, it’s Harvard

Please bring back the Weather Beacon

I still miss the Weather Beacon. It couldn’t be that costly with LED lighting. Yes, we have forecasts to tune into … but! A glance to the skyline to see what was a fixture of information, uniquely Des Moines. It’s been 12 years gone. Past time to resurrect our icon.

Alan Kinsey, Johnston

Reject Trump’s proposal to cut science funding

President Donald Trump’s proposed budget request includes sweeping cuts to scientific research funding, threatening vital work in agriculture, energy, and medicine that directly impacts Iowans’ daily lives. I urge the Iowa congressional delegation to reject these proposed reductions and protect Iowa’s scientific future.

As a computational atomic physicist, I study ultrafast electron dynamics, fundamental research that underpins advances in energy production, quantum technologies, medical imaging and cancer treatment. My work is funded by the National Science Foundation, which faces a proposed budget cut of 52%. If passed, these cuts would jeopardize support for critical research and workforce development across the country.

Even at current funding levels, many worthy research proposals go unsupported. Having served on multiple National Science Foundation grant review panels over the past 30 years, I have seen groundbreaking ideas turned away due to already limited funds. Further cuts would derail innovation and the training of the next generation of scientists.

Here in Iowa, our universities received more than $600 million in federal research dollars (excluding the National Institutes of Health) during the past five years. These dollars support local jobs, attract top scientists, and power discoveries. Losing this funding would seriously harm Iowa’s economy, from agriculture to energy.

Our representatives must stand up for Iowa and reject the president’s proposed science cuts. Rejecting this budget proposal is vital to preserving America’s (still) world-leading research endeavors and keeping Iowa thriving for posterity.

Klaus Bartschat, West Des Moines

A culture of fear emerges in Iowa

I have noticed that beautiful Hispanic festivals are being canceled due to the fear of police detaining so-called illegal immigrants coming to the festivals. I’m assuming that all food courts, art festivals and anything related to ethnic celebrations will also be canceled.

What does that say about Iowa being a tourist destination? This state is no longer safe for anyone, including natural-born citizens who can be sent abroad at a whim.

Pauline Hampton, Brooklyn

Each Trump order makes America worse

Thank you, David Skidmore, for your May 4 guest column “Resistance to Trump worked once.” You summarized the many impediments, threats, and intimidations stemming from President Donald Trump’s attempts to Make America Great Again.

I suggest that each of us, when Trump executes executive orders, to ask ourselves, “Does his actions make the America you want to live in?” For example, how does withdrawing research grants on cancer serve to make America a better place to live? How does deregulating what is emitted in the air or dumped in our water systems make America a better place to live? How does severely cutting federal workers, who provide critical assistance to millions of people on Social Security, Medicaid, and other public health programs, make America a better place to live? And, how does cutting monetary support for small farmers to provide locally grown food to schools, to ensure our children have nutritious meals, make America a better place to live? Is this what is meant by to Make America Great Again?

No cancer research, no monitoring of our air and water, no one to call when you have health or insurance issues, local farmers going under, and our children eating less healthy food? Remember, with each executive order, ask yourself, “Does his actions make the America you want to live in?”

Kevin Pokorny, Des Moines

Why won’t Iowa sue to protect wind energy efforts?

Seventeen states sued the Trump administration on May 5 over its halting of permits for wind-energy projects. Among them were Arizona and Michigan, states that went for Trump in 2024.

Why is Iowa, the second-largest producer of wind energy in the nation, not among the suing states? I’m tired of our elected officials ignoring the interests of Iowa’s industries and citizens in favor of bootlicking.

Lettie Prell, Des Moines

Greg Abel and MidAmerican Energy have perpetuated climate harm to Iowans

The Register gives high praise to Greg Abel, the incoming CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, both as a businessman and as a father, coach and Des Moines community leader.

I beg to differ. Abel has led MidAmerican for over 30 years, and it’s the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the entire state. Berkshire Hathaway Energy owns and operates the dirtiest fleet of coal plants in the nation, many of which are right here in Iowa. A report by University of Massachusetts-Amherst found that Berkshire ranked fourth among the top carbon-emitting companies, from any industry, in the United States.

Carbon dioxide emissions contribute significantly to the overheating atmosphere, which is contributing to more and more dangerous storms. For several years, Iowa, where MidAmerican serves over 800,000 customers, has been battered repeatedly by derechos, tornadoes, major floods, and multi-year droughts.

If Abel is as smart as you and Warren Buffet say he is, and if he loves his children and the children he coaches, then he will figure out how to close MidAmerican’s coal burning plants as quickly as possible and replace the energy with the balanced approach of renewables, storage and conservation.

Mike Tramontina, Des Moines

Nonprofits are not the enemy

As director of the Iowa Nonprofit Alliance, which represents more than 23,000 nonprofits across our state, I’m deeply alarmed by recent threats to strip certain organizations of their tax-exempt status based on their values or mission.

Recently, President Donald Trump called for revoking Harvard’s nonprofit status — and a Wall Street Journal story confirmed that his team is actively exploring ways to do just that to nonprofits they disagree with. This isn’t just political theater. It’s a dangerous escalation that puts Iowa’s community-based organizations — from food banks to mental health providers to child care centers to housing advocates to disaster relief— at risk.

Iowa nonprofits are lifelines. We fill gaps, build community, and drive local economies. Undermining our sector because of political disagreement doesn’t just hurt institutions — it hurts real people across our towns and counties.

We call on Iowa’s congressional delegation to protect the nonprofit sector from politically motivated retaliation and ensure that nonprofits can continue serving Iowa’s communities without fear.

Bethany Snyder, director, Iowa Nonprofit Alliance

Iowa should not cave to BASF threats

BASF is aware of its products’ role in causing cancer. The company is now threatening Iowa with the loss of 400 jobs if it is still being held to the liability attached to the use of its products.

Iowa is the only state where the number of cancer cases is rising. Do you want 400 jobs at the expense of how many Iowans with cancer and the company making money without being held liable?

Please call your state representative and senator and tell them that the health of all Iowans is more important than 400 jobs. BASF has changed the formula for Roundup for European use since it was banned there. Why can’t it be done for the United States?

Myrna Perks, Des Moines

The sun is no longer rising

A month ago, right-wing pundit DC Larson said the polls showed “the sun is rising again in America” (“Polls: Americans behind Trump and DOGE,” March 23). Now, with retail prices rising, immigration agents on a rampage, stocks (and retirement savings) plummeting, and uncertainty off the charts, the polls are telling a different story. It’s one of fear. Fear that we have an incompetent president, surrounded by incompetent advisors, and a worse than incompetent, and utterly useless, cabinet.

If there’s a glimmer of hope in solving  these problems, it must require our senators and representatives to stand up, and uphold their oath of office, when they swore allegiance to the U.S. Constitution, not one man.

Jim Walters, Iowa City

PBS delivers important programming for children

It’s ironic that on May 1, 1969, Mr. Rogers delivered a persuasive argument to Congress to save public television (PBS). Again in 2025, we find ourselves trying to save it again from Trump’s executive order that purports to cut critical funding.

Over half of American children watch educational programming on PBS like “Sesame Street,” “Arthur,” “Clifford the Big Red Dog.” Young children learn the basics of literacy, math, and science as well as social skills and emotional awareness. Parents of young children and critics have praised the programming as it has won over 100 Emmy awards. If we profess to give preschool children access to early learning, it is illogical to cut both Head Start and PBS. In Mr. Rogers’ address to Congress, he claimed his program offered young children “a meaningful expression of care.” Perhaps Trump needs to revisit some of these shows as care and compassion seem lost on him.

Julie Simanski, Ankeny

Waveland Golf Course is a jewel of the city

Waveland Golf Course! Have you taken a good look at it from the freeway or 56th Street or University Avenue? It is a masterful work of art! The people looking after it have done a meticulous job. A beautiful continuous blanket of green. Not a bare spot, a leaf or dandelion. It’s a gem in our city. Thank you for your work. You present this to us every day. Not a golfer but an admirer.

Ron Bassman, Des Moines

If anybody can get by without federal money, it’s Harvard

There appears to be an uproar regarding President Donald Trump’s intention to freeze $2.2 billion in federal funding and the disallowing 501(c)(3) status of Harvard University. These drastic measures are the result of Harvard’s refusal to comply with a request for the university to become proactive in dealing with the violent antisemitism and pro-terrorist activities on campus.

What has been exposed as a result of this confrontation is the fact that Harvard’s financial position (total endowment of $53.2 billion) is the strongest of any university in the entire world. And regardless of what one’s feelings are about free speech, radical-left hiring practices, or the ignoring of epidemic persecution by Palestinian sympathizers, this reader has to question why Harvard should receive any federal money. There are undoubtedly many learning institutions in this country that are much more in need of federal support.

Stu Bassman, West Des Moines