Early voting in the Nov. 4 city and school election began on Wednesday morning, as county auditors across Iowa mailed out absentee ballots requested by voters and in-person voting started in the auditors’ offices. Voters who want a mail-in absentee ballot have a few more days to send a completed ballot request form to their […]
Community/News
Posted inCommunity/News
How to vote early in Johnson County and Linn County
Early voting in the Nov. 4 city and school election started on Wednesday. County auditors’ offices have begun mailing out absentee ballots requested by voters and are opening their doors for early in-person voting. Early in-person voting will run through Monday, Nov. 3, the day before Election Day, and all mail-in absentee ballots must be […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowans across the state will rally on Saturday as No Kings Day returns
On Saturday, hundreds of cities across the country will see people take to the streets for a No Kings Day of Peaceful Action to protest President Trump’s policies. According to national organizers, there will be more than 2,500 No Kings Day events nationwide. Republican leaders have been denouncing this protest in even stronger terms than […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Former U.S. Rep. Rod Blum ends 2nd Congressional District campaign after 25 days
Former U.S. Rep. Rod Blum announced Monday he is suspending his campaign for Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District. “It has become clear to me that I can help President Trump in other ways that are more effective than being in the U.S. House,” Blum said in a news release. “I love our country, and despite our […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Nearly 50,000 Iowa children could lose food aid in government shutdown, report says
Federal funding for programs feeding thousands of young and vulnerable Iowans could run out if the government shutdown continues, according to a report from Food & Water Watch. The national nonprofit released a map and report Thursday compiling how many children under the age of 5 across the U.S. rely on the Special Supplemental Nutrition […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Johnson County shoppers can do good with canned goods (and other groceries) when Shop for Shelter returns Saturday
From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 11, staff, board members and volunteers from the Domestic Violence Intervention Program and Rape Victim Advocacy Program (DVIP & RVAP) will be at Johnson County Hy-Vees and Fareways to collect donated goods from shoppers during the 21st annual Shop for Shelter. “The goods collected at this […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘Collections are fragile,’ but conservationists say they’re being ignored as the State Historical Society moves out of Iowa City using prison labor
Behind the Centennial Building in downtown Iowa City on Monday morning, workers began to load a truck with parts of the collections housed in the research facility and archives of the State Historical Society of Iowa (SHSI), the building’s occupant since 1956. SHSI announced on June 17 that it would close the Iowa City facility, […]
Posted inCentral Iowa
Iowa Sen. Claire Celsi dies at age 59
Iowa Sen. Claire Celsi, D-West Des Moines, died Monday, according to a social media post from her daughter and statements from lawmakers. Celsi, 59, entered hospice care Sept. 18 and was no longer seeking curative treatment, according to her family. She had been battling an undisclosed medical issue for several months. She returned to the 2025 legislative […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘We’re on a knife’s edge’: Art Cullen chides Reynolds’ meanness, Big Ag’s death grip on Iowa land and livelihoods
“When I was a kid in the 1960s, you could drive from Carroll to Storm Lake, and see cattle lining green hills the entire way,” Art Cullen said in a matter-of-fact voice. “Now it’s all row crops, and cattle in feedlots. It’s a different situation. Those green hills are plowed up.” That transformation, the economic […]
Posted inCentral Iowa
DMPS sues consulting firm that vetted Ian Roberts; DOJ criminal complaint against Roberts unsealed
The Des Moines School Board is suing the consulting firm that conducted its search for a superintendent in 2023, resulting in the hiring of Ian Roberts. The board made its decision during a special session that began at 8 a.m. on Friday. The lawsuit against JG Consulting, a Texas-based firm, was filed in Polk County […]
Posted inCommunity/News
With elections in November, an Iowa City Council candidate forum is set for Monday night
Candidates for the Iowa City Council in November’s election will meet to discuss the issues at the League of Women Voters of Johnson County Candidate Forum on Monday night. The 90-minute forum will take place in the assembly room of the Iowa City Senior Center (28 S Linn St), and is scheduled to begin at […]
Posted inCommunity/News
DMPS was ‘victim of deception,’ says school board; former superintendent Ian Roberts transferred from Woodbury County Jail to DOJ custody
On Wednesday evening, the Des Moines School Board issued a statement in which Chair Jackie Norris called the board “a victim of deception” by Ian Roberts, who the board hired as superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools (DMPS) in May 2023. It was a noticeable shift in how the board has talked about Roberts since Friday, […]
