Dan DeWitt

1 week ago | brevardnewsbeat.substack.com | Dan DeWitt

BREVARD — The always-moving Gettysburg Address stirred up a new emotion when I listened to County Commissioner Larry Chapman read it at the Memorial Day ceremony in downtown Brevard. A slow-burning resentment, a feeling that this guy’s got a lot of nerve. The Address, as you no doubt know, is a distillation of the nation’s highest ideals written by a leader who embodied them.

2 weeks ago | brevardnewsbeat.substack.com | Dan DeWitt

BREVARD — Ella Jones’ tiny, 77-year-old house on North Lane has seen a lot of hard use and not enough maintenance in the last few years, she said. “It’s just gone down,” she said of the condition of the 830-square-foot home that she previously rented and that is now occupied free of charge by her son and his family. “I couldn’t make house payments on it, pay taxes on it and keep it up,” she said.

2 weeks ago | clintonherald.com | Dan DeWitt

Protect energy tax creditsThe Inflation Reduction Act was a Democratic boondoggle passed without any Republican votes in 2022. But we shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. The energy tax credits have generated billions of dollars of investments in Iowa, these are investments that Iowa’s businesses rely on to make financial decisions and that directly benefit Iowans. kAmpD 7@C C6?6H23=6 7F6= AC@5F4E:@?[ x@H2 :D E96 E@A 7F6= 6E92?@=\AC@5F4:?8 DE2E6 :? E96 ?2E:@? 2?5 92D D=:89E=J >@C6 E92?

3 weeks ago | brevardnewsbeat.substack.com | Dan DeWitt

I got things turned around in one section of the story. The phrase, “proof that the damage was due to the storm rather than the cleanup,” should have read, “proof that the damage was due to the cleanup rather than the storm.”It’s been changed on the website. To share, please click on the updated version here. Thank you. Dan

3 weeks ago | brevardnewsbeat.substack.com | Dan DeWitt

CEDAR MOUNTAIN — Not to go all Bio. 101 on you, but in nature death begets life. Trout and salamanders thrive in streams cooled by the shade of fallen trees. Cavities in their trunks are nests for owls, woodpeckers and bluebirds. Deadfall diverts flow into intermittent wetlands, aka factories of life, and slows that flow in channels, allowing fish to rest and feed, mussels to gain purchase on riverbeds. In other words, our “debris,” is, for wildlife, habitat.