What separates average-to-good Iowa towns from thriving ones, former Governor Terry Branstad often said, is the presence of locally owned banks and a dedicated community newspaper.

Community newspapers are a big part of what makes Iowa, well, Iowa.

And that's why it's so troubling that some in the Iowa Senate are considering requiring legal notices to be posted on some to-be-created state-run website and would not be required to be published in a local newspaper.

Senate File 546 would in practical terms eliminate an essential part of your newspaper, limiting the news, and in so doing, cripp...