Accompanied by a security team and members of Elon Musk’s DOGE, Keith Sonderling arrived at the offices of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) on Thursday to take over the independent federal agency as its new acting director. President Trump appointed Sonderling to the position earlier on Thursday, even though Sonderling is already […]
Paul Brennan
Posted inCommunity/News
Responding to the moment, Iowa City’s Transgender Day of Visibility expands to seven days of shows, support groups and direct action
This year has seen a sustained assault on the rights of transgender people from the Trump administration and in Iowa, which became the first state ever to erase part of its civil rights act. Republicans in the Legislature pushed through a bill that eliminated protections on the basis of gender identity, which had been added […]
Posted inCommunity/News
University of Iowa sends email to grad students saying it will ‘no longer guarantee financial support’ for them
The University of Iowa is informing graduate students that it “can no longer guarantee financial support” for them. Grad students in the university’s English Department received an email from their department executive officer (DEO) on Wednesday night informing them of the change. It’s unclear how many other departments have sent out their own emails, but […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
Waterloo schools withdrew 1st graders from a Black History Month book event, citing Trump orders. So locals organized an even bigger version.
Acclaimed authors and readers of all ages are gathering in Waterloo for an event on Saturday, but it’s not a new book festival. It’s “a liberatory act of reading as resistance,” Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Nikole Hannah-Jones, a co-organizer of Saturday’s read-in, explained on Talk of Iowa last week. “And we’re going to do […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
80/35 officially canceled after nearly 20 years in Des Moines
In October, the future of 80/35, one of Iowa’s biggest annual musical festivals, was “not currently determined,” but even at that time it seemed unlikely the festival would return. That’s because the statement about 80/35’s future was part of the Greater Des Moines Music Coalition’s (DMMC) announcement that it was shutting down, and the coalition […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa loses $11 million as Trump administration cuts funding for schools and food banks to buy from local farmers
Iowa will lose $11.3 million in federal funding that would have been used to buy locally produced food for schools, childcare facilities and food banks due to cuts to USDA programs by the Trump administration. “This funding was meant to build upon the $7.8 million invested in Iowa since 2022 through similar programs,” according to […]
Posted inCommunity/News
UI’s International Writing Program makes drastic cuts after Trump administration terminates grants
The International Writing Program (IWP) at the University of Iowa announced on Thursday it is having to make drastic cuts, because vital grants awarded to the program by the U.S. State Department are “being terminated.”
Posted inCommunity/News
‘Change happens from the ground up’: Oliver Weilein wins the special election in Iowa City District C
Oliver Weilein won the special election for the Iowa City Council seat in District C in a landslide on Tuesday. Weilein received 60 percent of the vote. The other candidate in the race, Ross Nusser, finished with 40 percent of 6,902 votes cast.
Posted inEastern Iowa
Polls open at 7 a.m. on Tuesday for the special election to fill the Iowa City Council seat in District C
Election Day for the open Iowa City Council seat in District C is Tuesday. Unlike the primary election on Feb. 4, in which only residents of District C could vote, all registered voters in Iowa City will be able to vote in the special election on Tuesday.
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa becomes the first state to erase parts of its Civil Rights Act
Iowa has now made history as the first state to erase parts of its civil rights code to strip protections from some of its citizens. Despite the enormity of cutting gender identity out of the Iowa Civil Rights Act — thereby eliminating rights of transgender and nonbinary Iowans that have been in place for 18 […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Watch: Bernie Sanders talks to Little Village about Democratic failures and fighting back against Trumpism
Following his speech on fighting oligarchy and Trumpism at the Englert Theatre in Iowa City on Saturday, Little Village had the opportunity to interview Sen. Bernie Sanders. Videographer Jason Smith, photographer Kate Revaux and I sat down with Sanders in a dressing room at the Englert to ask him what he thought has changed in the […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Peak Iowa: ‘Meteor excitement’ brought a small fortune to the Amana area in the 1870s
On Friday, Feb. 12, 1875, shortly before 10:30 p.m., “one of the most brilliant meteors of modern times illuminated the entire State of Iowa, and adjacent parts of the States of Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.” “The meteor, in rapidly moving through the atmosphere, produced a great variety of sounds — rolling, rumbling, and detonations […]
