Maquoketa artist Rose Frantzen was recently awarded one of the highest honors in portrait painting. Out of 2,200 submissions, Frantzen’s piece Last Light won the Grand Prize in the Portrait Society of America’s 2026 International Portrait Competition. When Frantzen accepted the award on April 11 in Atlanta, she described Last Light as “a love letter […]
Nicole Yeager
Posted inCommunity/News
Immigrant Welcome Network celebrates three years of helping new arrivals find homes, jobs and community in Johnson County
The Immigrant Welcome Network of Johnson County (IWNJC) held its third-annual gala on Saturday in Coralville. Themed “Dreams without Borders,” the event surpassed its fundraising goal by $3,000, taking in $38,000 in donations to support its mission of helping newly arrived immigrants in the area get settled. The Unitarian Universalist Society Sanctuary was alive with […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa’s largest population of Pacific Islanders are the Marshallese, ‘a very loving people’ displaced and sickened by U.S. nuclear testing
On May 23, government officials from the Republic of the Marshall Islands traveled 6,000 miles to commemorate their country’s Constitution Day in Dubuque. The Iowa city has gathered to mark the Marshallese holiday since 2005. “Today is more than a national celebration,” Isaac Zackhras, Vice Speaker of the Marshall Islands’ parliament told the crowd in […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
New Mary Oliver documentary inspires Iowa City orgs to celebrate a poet often disregarded in elite circles
Film director (and former University of Iowa professor) Sasha Waters first recalls being struck by the work of Mary Oliver as a new parent, listening to A Prairie Home Companion in her Iowa City kitchen. Years later, PBS would ask her to make a documentary about the late Pulitzer Prize-winning poet for the American Masters […]
Posted inLetters
Letter to the editor: WRAC, an important resource on the UI campus, is being restructured. We’ve seen this playbook before.
By Nicole Yeager, Iowa City We’ve seen this before. Fast yet slow, the dismantling of the Women’s, Resource, and Action Center (WRAC) appears imminent. In 2024, staff at the Rape, Victim, and Advocacy Center (RVAP) began to sound the alarms as university officials assured the public that they were simply “assessing” and making “strategic decisions,” […]
Posted inLetters
Letter to the editor: Due process is long overdue for migrant detainees in Iowa
On Feb. 25, 2026, community organizers and detainees learned that a class action lawsuit may preserve due process for migrant detainees in Iowa. The final judgment of Maldonado Bautista vs. DHS clarifies a path for attorneys nationwide to restore due process and prevent indefinite detainment amidst crowded jail cells.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Review: A cozy costume party inside a fever dream, Dada Prom brought surreal fun and funds to Public Space One
On a cold, snowy Saturday night in Iowa City, around 150 costumed art-lovers gathered at the historic Close House mansion for Public Space One’s Dada Prom. Despite the total snow accumulation topping off at around five inches, PS1 announced that the fourth annual fundraiser was the “most successful Dada Prom by far.” Dada Prom also […]
