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 […]
Eastern Iowa
Posted inArts & Entertainment
An early Velvet Underground ‘protégé,’ Jonathan Richman wrote his way into punk history while trying to troll the hippies
Jonathan Richman can still pinpoint how the Velvet Underground transformed his life with their collar-grabbing sound back in 1967. “It was on record and it was that drone! Oh my God! They changed everything!” As a teenager, he saw the band over 80 times and was a regular presence before and after gigs. “If the […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Review: Lost Woods Music Festival reached new heights in 2025, offering the ultimate escape in a Cedar Falls forest
Returning to the Cedar Falls forest for the third iteration of Lost Woods Music Festival felt like stepping into another dimension—a place where we could escape the chaos and stress of the real world for a single night of bliss. The brainchild of Iowa’s hardest working musicians, the Cedar Falls based indie pop group Salt Fox, Lost Woods 2025 went bigger and better while retaining its authentic, intimate, identity.
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 inArts & Entertainment
Review: Dubuque poses for the eighth Bluff Strokes Paint Out, a week of open-air art-making
The streets of Dubuque became more creatively engaging when 51 jury selected artists from across the country converged on the city for the Bluff Strokes 2025 Paint Out Sept. 28 through Oct. 4. With artists setting up easels around town, competing for awards and engaging the local community through the act of live art making, […]
Posted inLetters
Letter to the editor: Support Jayne Finch for Iowa City school board
By Angela Rogers, Coralville I strongly support Jayne Finch’s re-election to the ICCSD school board because she has been a steady and effective voice for students, families, and staff. For more than eight years, Jayne has been deeply involved in our community schools, consistently advocating for fairness, equity, and safe learning environments. She understands firsthand […]
Posted inLetters
Letter to the editor: Vote Newman Abuissa for Iowa City Council
By Jason Weeks, Iowa City These days the news is coming in thick and fast: the abuses of the Trump regime in Washington, which threatens our basic rights and liberties, the copy-cat reactionaries in Des Moines, inflation, rising job losses and the affordability crisis all around, genocide in Gaza. Progressive people know that it is […]
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 inArts & Entertainment
Film critic and frequent ‘Filmspotting’ podcast guest Michael Phillips talks adaptations, Trump fatigue and the Refocus film that feels most pertinent
Michael Phillips, former film critic at the Chicago Tribune, is coming back to Iowa City for the Refocus Film Festival. There, he will join UI Professor and Filmspotting co-host Adam Kempenaar for a live taping of the podcast Friday, October 10. Little Village met with Phillips to chat about the festival and reflect on his long career in a fickle field.
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 inArts & Entertainment
Refocus returns on Thursday! Here’s a guide to 18 films on the festival lineup
FilmScene’s Refocus Film Festival returns to Iowa City Oct. 9-12 with a full platter of cinematic goodness. We asked our resident film scribes Ariana Martinez and Benji McElroy to share the shows they’re most excited to see. We also broke down the lineup by mood, with only a little fighting about what fit where. Click […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Review: Des Moines Symphony’s debut concert featuring Viet Cuong was a goosebump-inducing start to an ambitious season
Des Moines Symphony kicked off their 88th season with the aptly titled debut concert Triumph–Tchaikovsky 5 on Sept. 27 and 28. Their program featured a stunning composition by a rising American composer sandwiched in between two beloved masterpieces hailing from Russia, a true celebration of the old and the new. The symphony embraced technology on […]
