But the importance of a trusted local news source was really made clear to me when I became executive director of the Iowa Press Association (later to become the Iowa Newspaper Association, or INA). During my 29 years at that job I received hundreds of calls from publishers, editors and reporters with stories about their challenges to gain access to meetings or get information that should be public under the state’s Open Meetings Law. The vast majority of those challenges have disappeared thanks to the creation of the Iowa Public Information Board (IPIB), a legislative initiative of the INA which began while I was still at the INA. I served as chair of the IPIB for two years. Each year, the IPIB fields dozens of complaints from the public and the media and informally resolves most of them quickly.

Interestingly, whenever a newspaper (usually a small weekly) was about to close, I would get a call from that community’s Chamber of Commerce or banker asking what could be done to get another newspaper in the community. Why? Local news. Local news ties the community together. And it promotes local commerce.

That’s why I jumped at the chance to volunteer to help launch the Ames Voice. This locally owned, locally controlled media site has the potential to do great things for the Ames community. What is my role? Well, I’m back covering the city council again and loving it.

Bill Monroe | Staff Reporter
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Top Story

ISU research project in plant genome editing leads to a promising new startup

by Jack McClellan | Published on August 27, 2025

A new Ames start-up is offering a product with the potential to make new waves in the world of editing plant genetics.

Hermes Biomaterials sprouted from a research project at Iowa State University looking into ways to improve the delivery of genetic code into plant cells. The startup is now offering products that promise to significantly boost the delivery and efficiency of genetic information into plants.

Today, genetically modified plants make up a majority of the agricultural production in Iowa, drastically increasing the crops farmers are able to produce and their resistance to environmental factors such as droughts or pests.

Genetic modifications are made to plants through a process called biolistic delivery, which includes using a high-pressure “gene gun” to shoot a small particle loaded with DNA into a plant cell, with the intent of incorporating some of the DNA into its genetic makeup.

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