One of the things I find handy about living in eastern Iowa is my relatively close proximity to the Illinois border and that state’s, uh, produce markets. Every month or two I gaze into an empty jar, curse my home state’s regressive vegetable supply policies, gas up the car and drive east for exactly one […]
Emma McClatchey
Posted inEastern Iowa
Iowa City receives the nation’s leading anti-trans personality with trans-affirming chalk, chants, music and disruption
“I’ll be speaking at the University of Iowa tomorrow night,” Daily Wire host Matt Walsh tweeted on Tuesday afternoon. “I feel confident that I will be warmly welcomed with smiles and good cheer from all of the students on campus.” Walsh was being sarcastic; the conservative commentator who found his niche promoting misinformation about and […]
Posted inCentral Iowa, Central Iowa Food & Drink, Food & Drink
The Banshees of Ingersoll: Des Moines beer picks for St. Paddy’s Day
Been banished by your best mate and drinking buddy? Worried you’ll spend St. Patrick’s Day with none but yer sister and miniature donkey? Avoid a mental breakdown (and/or an Oscar nomination) and grab a pint at your neighborhood brewery, where you’ll find Iowa twists on Irish beer styles. From crisp reds to stormy stouts, these […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Revival’s vibrators are a bestseller — and spreading good vibes about sexual wellness
I can’t be the only Iowan who has found herself opening an incognito tab in a dispiriting search for a decent vibrator. Driving across the state on I-80, you’re bound to see a few billboards for adult stores selling plasticky sex toys out of warehouses with truck-friendly parking lots. Chains like Romantix, Spencer’s and Lion’s […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘Our public schools are not failing, elected officials are failing them’: Iowans opposing voucher bill flood legislature with comments
Since Gov. Kim Reynolds used her Condition of the State address to promote plans to divert funding from public schools to tuition vouchers in the form of “education savings accounts” (ESAs) for students attending private schools, the legislators expected to approve her proposed reforms have been inundated with messages from constituents. Under Senate Study Bill […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowan Doug Jensen sentenced to five years in prison for ‘leading role’ in Jan. 6 insurrection
One of the most notorious faces — and T-shirts — photographed inside the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021 belonged to an Iowan, Doug Jensen. On Friday morning, the 43-year-old former Des Moines construction worker was sentenced to five years in federal prison. This is just short of the 64 months’ imprisonment requested by […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Best of the CRANDIC: Comedian Travis Coltrain on what prepared him to bomb
This year’s Best of the CRANDIC winner for Best Stand-Up Comedian graduated from the University of Iowa in 2021, where he took Megan Gogerty’s stand-up comedy course and worked as a DJ at student radio station KRUI. These days, he teaches preschool and works as the booker at Joystick Comedy Arcade (formerly The Yacht Club), […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
Best of the CRANDIC: CommUnity CEO Sarah Nelson on how the 988 lifeline ‘changed everything’
Sarah Nelson is a graduate of Iowa City West High and the University of Iowa. She led Foundation 2 in Cedar Rapids before taking over as CommUnity Crisis Services’ CEO in 2021, and can now say she’s overseen the only two National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL) centers in the state. At CommUnity — winner of […]
Posted inStatewide
Holiday markets around Iowa to spice up your gift shopping
Receiving gifts is great, and giving them can feel even better. But even the best gift givers can find themselves scrolling glassy-eyed through Cyber Monday sales, sweating in a mile-long self-checkout line or cursing the supply chain gods as the estimated delivery date gets bumped to Dec. 26. Give yourself a present this year and […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Iowa beer picks inspired by new and classic horror movies
Whatever movies you watch this October, don’t just sit there with glazed eyes dipping your hand into the Halloween candy bowl over and over again until you realize the trick-or-treaters are knocking and all that’s left for them are a few Tootsie Rolls and orange Starburst. Drink some local beer as well! The concepts are […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Watch: Screenwriter and producer David Kajganich on adapting novels, cannibalism and Iowa City’s new film festival
For the first time in four years, screenwriter and Iowa Writers’ Workshop alum David Kajganich is back in Iowa City for the FilmScene premiere of his genre-bending, spine-tingling new work. Bones and All is the third adapted screenplay Kajganich has crafted for director Luca Guadagnino — audiences packed FilmScene during the 2018 Witching Hour Festival […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
‘Hockeyland’, a new documentary from the makers of ‘Saving Brinton’, hits theaters this month
It’s been 17 years since Minnesota-born filmmakers Tommy Haines, JT Haines and Andrew Sherburne founded their independent production company, Northland Films, with a focus on nonfiction storytelling. In that time, they’ve produced, directed and released six film projects — all while Sherburne was busy founding and expanding Iowa City’s nonprofit cinema FilmScene. Their best-known documentary […]
