It was the dreaded annual physical time, and I kept glancing at the phone, wondering if I missed the call about my results. Checked email. Nothing. After a couple days, I called my doctor, which apparently made him laugh.

 “No news is good news,” he said.

How funny. That old salve sure doesn’t apply to media these days, especially if they’re writing about conservation: It seems they’ve adopted the “no good news makes the news” approach, especially when it comes to conservation progress in Iowa.  

It’s nothing new. Before the Des Moines Water Works lawsuit was dismissed by a federal court, media wrote about the need to perpetually run the nitrate removal plant at Des Moines Water Works.  

Even though that’s not the case now, they...