At its formal meeting on Tuesday night, the Coralville City Council voted to cancel its contract with Flock Safety and remove the two Flock automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras already installed on city property. There had been growing community opposition to the use of Flock’s ALPR cameras in Coralville since last July when the city’s […]
Eastern Iowa Community/News
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Judge: City’s arrest of critic is ‘quintessential viewpoint discrimination’
Declaring that a citizen was “targeted because he criticized the police department and city leadership,” a federal judge has ruled that the City of Newton violated the rights of a critic by twice having the man arrested at city council meetings. The decision means that Noah Petersen’s lawsuit against the city for violating his constitutional […]
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Sol Butler, Olympian and football star of the Jim Crow era, is a Dubuque icon — and the subject of a new book
One hundred years ago, Sol Butler’s name was well known throughout the sports world. A multi-sport athlete, Butler set records at the University of Dubuque, was a quarterback in the early days of the NFL, competed in track and field at the Olympics and played pitcher and shortstop in the Negro Leagues. His achievements came […]
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Protesters sing hymns inside Coralville Target as part of nationwide campaign pressuring the company to change its ICE stance
Emily Patton was standing outside the Target at Coral Ridge Mall a little before 2 p.m. on Sunday, holding an American flag and a sign with a simple, direct message: “ICE OUT!” Patton had driven in from Wilton to participate in a protest aimed at the Target Corporation and its relationship with ICE. “Early on, […]
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Iowa City students walk out of class to protest ICE
Students from Iowa City West High School gathered on the Pentacrest Thursday afternoon after walking out of classes to protest the actions of ICE and the Trump administration’s immigration policies. They were joined by students from City High and Southeast Middle School, as well as students from the University of Iowa and other supporters outraged […]
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Hundreds turn out in Cedar Rapids to support immigrants at ICE check-ins; Ashley Hinson ‘disturbed’ by legal observer trainings
More than 400 people gathered outside the ICE field office in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday to observe and support seven immigrant families attending mandatory check-in appointments. The crowd of supporters shared coffee, hot chocolate, donuts, blankets, hand warmers, books, toys for kids of the families, as well as monetary donations. As each immigrant emerged from the […]
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Iowa Senate Republicans advance bill to eliminate possibility of reopening Iowa City State Historical Society research center
A Senate subcommittee advanced a measure Tuesday to remove the state requirement to maintain a State Historical Society of Iowa research center in Iowa City — a point of litigation as the state has already moved to close the facility. SSB 3033 strikes the state requirement for the Iowa Department of Administrative Services to maintain […]
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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 […]
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Judge orders release of ICE detainee in Muscatine County Jail who faces capture, torture if deported
A federal judge has ordered the Muscatine County Jail to release an ICE detainee who had been incarcerated for almost a year after a judge ruled in his favor on an asylum request. Court records indicate Jose Yugar-Cruz, 36, entered the United States in July 2024 after fleeing his home country of Bolivia. In court […]
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‘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 […]
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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 […]
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A fashionable writer from Iowa City inspired silent films and tabloid news
The paths in Hickory Hill Park were covered in leaves, and Oakland Cemetery was full of deer — whole families, plodding in the grass, lying down — when my wife and I began our search. We’ve walked through there so many times, but coming with a mission, it seemed that we’d hardly seen any of […]
