U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is heading back to Iowa this month as part of a new tour criticizing the Trump administration and associates like Elon Musk. Sanders, who won second place in the Iowa Caucuses as a Democratic presidential candidate in 2016 and 2020, announced Wednesday the launch of his “Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go […]
Eastern Iowa Community/News
Posted inCommunity/News
Ron Steele is leaving KWWL after more than 50 years on eastern Iowa airwaves
After more than 50 years on the air, Ron Steele is leaving KWWL. The state’s longest-serving news anchor announced his coming departure at the end of the 10 p.m. news broadcast on Tuesday. “I have come to an agreement with, and have accepted an offer from, KWWL, which will end my career here at KWWL […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Early voting in the Iowa City Council special election starts on Wednesday
Early voting in the March 4 special election to fill the open seat on the Iowa City Council in District C starts on Wednesday. There will be two candidates on the ballot: Oliver Weilein and Ross Nusser. Weilein won a landslide victory in the Feb. 4 primary, receiving 69 percent of the vote. Nusser finished […]
Posted inCommunity/News
COGS asks for a 25% raise for UI grad student workers; Board of Regents offers 3%
“The university works because we work,” members of COGS chanted as they rallied outside the Iowa Memorial Union on Thursday. The Campaign to Organize Graduate Students, to use the union’s full name, represents the graduate student workers at the University of Iowa. Members teach most of the general education courses UI offers to undergraduates. On […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Shiloh’s popular fireworks show played cover for an abusive cult: ‘We were conditioned for so long to be obedient and submissive’
From 1990 to 2018, thousands of southeastern Iowa families flocked to an amphitheater south of Kalona for a high-budget, wholesomely patriotic Fourth of July show. The spectators (the vast majority, at least) didn’t know it, but the fireworks bursting in the sky, the near-professional song-and-dance numbers onstage and the very land they were gathered on […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
Oliver Weilein wins almost 70% of the vote in Iowa City’s District C primary
Oliver Weilein won a decisive victory in Tuesday’s primary election for the open Iowa City Council seat in District C. According to the results published by the Johnson County Auditor’s Office, Weilein received 641 votes, which represents 69 percent of the votes cast in District C. Weilein will face second-place finisher Ross Nusser in the […]
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Woman faces hate crime charges in vandalism spree that defaced two Muscatine restaurants with swastikas
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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
