The Muscatine Police Department (MPD) has arrested a person for the acts of vandalism last weekend that included spraypainting swastikas on Guadalajara Mexican Restaurant and Jibaro, a restaurant specializing in authentic Puerto Rican cuisine. In addition to swastikas, Jibaro was also defaced with the spraypainted message, “We don’t want you here.” In its statement on […]
Eastern Iowa Community/News
Posted inCommunity/News
Two candidates, two different approaches to Iowa City issues featured at Monday’s forum
The withdrawal of Sharon DeGraw from the race for Iowa City Council last week leaves two active candidates in the primary on Feb. 4, and then again in the special election to fill the District C seat on March 4. (Early voting was already underway when DeGraw withdrew, so the primary will be held even […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Vandals deface two Muscatine restaurants with swastikas; owners stand firm: ‘We do not know fear’
Buildings in Muscatine were vandalized on Sunday, with swastikas spray-painted onto their exterior walls, according to the Muscatine Police Department (MPD). Two restaurants — Jibaro, which specializes in authentic Puerto Rican cuisine, and Guadalajara Mexican Restaurant — were targeted by the vandals. In addition to defacing both buildings with swastikas, the vandals also wrote “We […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
Sharon DeGraw withdraws from Iowa City special election, leaving two candidates for council
Sharon DeGraw announced on Friday afternoon that she was dropping out of the race for the open Iowa City Council seat in District C. DeGraw attributed her decision to “a personal matter,” and said she was “requesting privacy from the press and the public.” DeGraw’s unexpected last-minute entry in the race brought the number of […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Peak Iowa: Poet John Berryman’s brief, troubled time in Iowa City
Content warning: Suicide The poet John Berryman’s chance to have a quiet, uneventful life ended early one morning in 1926 when he was 11. It ended when his father walked into the backyard with a gun and committed suicide. John was in his bedroom when it happened. The bedroom’s windows faced the backyard. It wasn’t […]
Posted inCommunity/News
New program will help an Iowa City-Cedar Rapids area nonprofit produce a video telling its story
It’s easy to focus on the grim at the moment with the new session of the legislature starting in Des Moines, a new (yet old) administration looming in Washington D.C. and the weather preparing to turn frigid again, but there are still good things happening in Iowa. The state has numerous nonprofits doing important work […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Three candidates are vying for Iowa City Council, prompting a Feb. 4 primary ahead of the special election
The ballot is now set for the special election to fill the vacancy on the Iowa City Council left by the resignation of Andrew Dunn, the councilmember for District C. Three residents of the district — Sharon DeGraw, Ross Nusser and Oliver Weilein — filed the necessary candidate paperwork for the election before the deadline […]
Posted inCommunity/News
The Wedge and its signature specialty pizzas are back in downtown Iowa City
After being gone for a decade, The Wedge Pizzeria has returned to downtown Iowa City. Known for its innovative specialty pizzas, The Wedge debuted in its new location at 113 Iowa Ave, next to Joe’s Place, on Wednesday. “The space is pretty cool,” Regina Miller, the pizzeria’s co-owner, told Little Village. “It’s got high-ceilings, we’ve […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Peak Iowa: Earth’s first apex predator — and a beloved UI museum exhibit — was much chonkier than we thought
For the homecoming parade in October, the student advisory board for the University of Iowa’s 160-year-old Museum of Natural History (UIMNH) made a paper mache model of a nearly 400-million-year-old fish species. Held above the heads of two people by three wooden poles, the prop was about six feet long with a flat head and […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Sheriff vows to pursue ethics complaint against lieutenant governor
The Scott County sheriff says although an Iowa Senate committee has rejected his ethics complaint against the state’s new lieutenant governor, he intends to pursue the matter. On Dec. 16, Scott County Sheriff Tim Lane filed a sworn ethics complaint against Chris Cournoyer, a former Iowa state senator from LeClaire, with the Iowa Senate Ethics […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Peak Iowa: The birth of the Black Triangle and the fight for Waterloo’s soul
Responding to the prospect of decent jobs in the booming railroad, manufacturing and meatpacking industries, many Black Southerners migrated north at the start of the 20th century, hoping to escape Jim Crow — only to see a Midwestern mutation of that racist system take hold. Between 1910 to 1950, Black Hawk County’s Black population grew […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Peak Iowa: Nesper Sign celebrates 100 years and a jillion jests
Long before the Iowa DOT began bombarding our senses with messaging tortured enough to ensure that drivers’ eyes stay on the road, travelers along I-380 had just one source of entertainment to liven up their route: the Nesper sign. Cedar Rapids mainstay Nesper Sign Advertising sits just past the Highway 30 interchange, offering northbound drivers […]
