State Rep. Jennifer Konfrst announced on Monday she is dropping out of the race in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District. Konfrst, who represents Windsor Heights in the Iowa House, launched her campaign for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House seat currently held by two-term Republican Rep. Zach Nunn in May last year. “I’m deeply proud […]
Paul Brennan
President Trump to speak in Clive on Tuesday
On Wednesday, White House Chief of Staff Susan Wiles told reporters President Donald Trump will travel to Iowa on Tuesday, Jan. 27, to deliver a speech on the economy and energy. According to details released on Thursday night, the speech will take place at the Horizon Events Center in Clive (2100 NW 100th St). Doors […]
Iowa House passes bill to restrict use of eminent domain for Summit’s CO2 pipeline
Companies would no longer be able to use eminent domain to appropriate privately owned land for carbon pipeline projects under a bill approved by the Iowa House on Wednesday. HF 2104 passed with bipartisan support, 64-28. Ten of the House’s 33 Democrats joined 54 of the chamber’s 67 Republicans in voting for the bill. “I […]
ICE legal observer training draws overflow crowd in Iowa City
“We are all here because we want to know what to do when ICE shows up in our communities,” Alejandra Escobar told the hundreds of people gathered for the Community Defense and Legal Observer training session Escucha Mi Voz Iowa (EMV) held in Iowa City on Saturday. Escobar is an organizer with EMV, a nonprofit […]
Ashley Hinson blames Renee Good for being shot and killed by ICE agent
During a phone conference with Iowa reporters on Wednesday, Rep. Ashley Hinson again repeated her contention that ICE agent Jonathan Ross was justified in shooting and killing Renee Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7. The 2nd District Republican congressmember, who is currently running for the U.S. Senate, blamed Good for the shooting. “I’ve seen those videos, […]
Reynolds poses plans to ‘change how local government works’ in Condition of the State speech preluded by protests
“As I’ve declared every time I’ve been at this podium, the condition of our state is strong,” Gov. Kim Reynolds said the Condition of the State Address on Tuesday night. This is the last legislative session in which Reynolds, who announced in April she was not running for reelection, will have the power to sign […]
Funny page mainstay The Family Circus made its very first appearance in the Des Moines Register — under a different name
Almost everything on the Monday, Feb. 29, 1960 front page of the Des Moines Register made for grim reading: Southern senators plotting to kill a civil rights bill. An armed robbery on School Street. Iowans weary of winter cold. But sandwiched between stories about a brewing Middle East border war and President Eisenhower’s state visit […]
‘Fear travels fast,’ but didn’t stop hundreds in Iowa City from protesting ICE, remembering Renee Good on Sunday
Despite freezing temperatures on Sunday, hundreds gathered on the University of Iowa Pentacrest and marched to the Ped Mall for a rally in response to the killing Renee Nicole Macklin Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis four days earlier. Good was serving as a legal observer of ICE and Border Patrol agents sent to […]
The tiny Iowa Pleistocene Snail has survived millennia in the Driftless Area
The giant ground sloth may be the most beloved of all of Iowa’s Ice Age animals, thanks to Rusty the Giant Sloth charming generations of students since he went on display at the University of Iowa’s Museum of Natural History in 1985. Rusty’s contemporaries, the mammoth and the giant beaver, also have a kind of […]
Rob Sand announces $9.5 million fundraising total for 2025
Rob Sand, the leading Democratic candidate for governor, raised $9.5 million last year, his campaign announced on Thursday. “A majority of the donations — two thirds — came from Iowans,” the campaign’s statement said. According to the campaign, “Nearly 97 percent of contributions were $100 or less, with an average individual donation of $74, and […]
A candid guide to the candidates running in Iowa this year
The 2026 election will be unlike any in decades. In addition to an open seat for governor and an open seat for U.S. Senate — a combination that hasn’t happened since 1968 — there are also open seats in two of Iowa’s four congressional districts and no incumbent running for State Auditor. In a state […]
Petition to reverse closure of Iowa City archives rejected as state defends against lawsuit, lawmakers
As 2025 was drawing to close, the Iowa Department of Administrative Services (DAS) finally issued its response to a petition submitted at the end of October that asked the department to reverse its decision to close the State Historical Society of Iowa (SHSI) research center in Iowa City. As expected, DAS rejected the request in […]

