When debating the first of many pieces of legislation targeting diversity, equity and inclusion Tuesday in the Iowa House, Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, D-Ames, said she’s already heard from individuals and groups seeing the negative impacts of stripping away DEI at Iowa colleges and universities. An Iowa State University professor was asked to stop requiring students […]
Community/News
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
Gov. Tim Walz says at Iowa town hall he is ‘soul-searching’ after 2024
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz told Iowans on his first stop of a national town hall tour that he wanted to give a voice to people who feel unheard by Republicans in Washington. But he said there was another motive for these events: he is “soul-searching” following the 2024 general election, when he and Vice President […]
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 inArts & Entertainment
NaNoWriMo no more? After a series of scandals, some Iowans are leaving the nonprofit writing challenge behind
Update: On Monday, March 31, the interim executive director of the NaNoWriMo, Kilby Blades (a pen name; their real name is unknown) announced in a video update that the nonprofit is official shutting down due to financial strain and a “downward trend in participation.” Halloween night. A stream of costumed people enter the brightly lit […]
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
Physical media is (still) king at The Source, Davenport’s storied two-story used bookstore
Started by George Pekios and passed down through several generations to longtime owner Dan Pekios, The Source has recently been moving out of the family’s ownership. Briefly owned by a loyal employee, it has now been sold to Stephen Zbornik and Anne Brown, a couple who’s passion for doing things has carried them through many walks of life.
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa State University rescinds some admission offers for graduate students
Iowa State University graduate school programs have started rescinding offers to prospective students as departments scramble to respond to funding uncertainties. Someone who identified themselves as an international, prospective Ph.D. student posted a letter online they received from ISU on March 5 stating an offer the student had previously received from the university’s department of […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa House advances bill to block CO2 pipelines from eminent domain rights
The Iowa House Judiciary Committee advanced bills Thursday to block hazardous liquid pipelines carrying carbon dioxide from the use of eminent domain. Two bills also advanced granting rights to intervene in Iowa Utilities Commission proceedings, which GOP lawmakers have done against the case of the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline project. HSB 287 specifies that the […]
Posted inCommunity/News
This is Not My Beautiful House: A new column from behind bars
Although I’ve never considered myself a criminal, for as long as I can remember I’ve always worried about going to prison. The unrelenting fear of incarceration has long been my personal existential cross to bear. Some people obsess over what happens after we die. I panicked over whether or not I could go to the […]
