By David Leshtz, Iowa City The heated public debate over a new jail in Johnson County has overlooked one player all Iowans should be worried about: the for-profit corporate prison industry. With privatized prisons already located in more than half of the United States, including Illinois and Indiana, the prison industrial complex is eager to […]
Eastern Iowa
Posted inLetters
Letter to the editor: Bring Fatou Traore home
By Sara Gilmore, Iowa City As an employee of UIHC (University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics), and on behalf of a great number of community members, we would like to voice our support for our co-worker Fatou Traore, who was unlawfully taken by ICE last Thursday morning on her way to work and is set […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Bruce Hornsby reflects on the way it was, “The Way It Is,” touring with the Dead, and entering the best stage of his career
I first heard Bruce Hornsby when I was 10 years old, back when I would spend hours on end hanging around my father’s doomed retail store because he couldn’t afford a babysitter. His small leather goods business boomed in the early half of the 1970s, but by the turn of the new decade, the belts and purses he […]
Posted inCommunity/News
The Reynolds administration is appealing the ruling that saved the Centennial Building and archives
The Reynolds administration is appealing the district court ruling that it cannot eliminate the Iowa City research center and archives of the State Historical Society of Iowa (SHSI). Lawyers from the Attorney General’s Office filed notice on Friday that the administration is appealing Judge David Cox’s Sept. 17 decision to the Iowa Supreme Court. Cox […]
Posted inLetters
Letter to the editor: We can build a new jail while working to reduce the jail population
By Mary Mascher, former state representative and retired educator I support the bond issue for the new jail. As a former elected official, educator, community activist, and long-time volunteer I also support our jail diversion efforts in Johnson County. I am extremely proud of our community and what we have done over many years to […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Photos: Epstein survivors speak in Cedar Rapids as bookmobile of released files tours Midwest
The rolling “Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room” stopped in Des Moines, Iowa City and Cedar Rapids last week. On Sunday, Raygun hosted the bookmobile at its CR retail store, as well as a reading by survivors of Epstein’s abuse. It marked the first time Epstein survivors have made an appearance with […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Review: A world premiere, ‘I, Will’ from Riverside Theatre gives Shakespeare a taste of his own medicine
1608. It’s miserable. The plague has rocked London to its core, and if it’s not that, the city is ruled by a bizarre and unpredictable regime that seems more interested in its own self-image than the well-being of its population. To make things worse, Shakespeare has lost both his audience and his touch. In short, everything sucks. This is where I, Will: A Late Romance, the kick-off production of Riverside Theatre’s 2026/27 season opens, and our story begins.
Posted inCommunity/News
Cedar Rapids Public Library’s new branch opens with a ribbon-cutting ceremony
Despite the inclement weather on Saturday, the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new westside branch of the Cedar Rapids Public Library attracted a large crowd. Work on the project began in 2022, when the Cedar Rapids Public Library Foundation acquired land for the new branch near the corner of 20th Avenue SW and Wiley Blvd SW. […]
Posted inLetters
Letter to the editor: As a mental illness advocate, I support the new jail and sheriff’s office
By Leslie Carpenter, co-founder of Iowa Mental Health Advocacy I have spent years advocating for people with serious mental illness and for a system that treats illness as illness — not as a crime. That is precisely why I support the effort to build a new jail and sheriff’s office. My support is not an […]
Posted inLetters
Letter to the editor: There is no Human Rights Commission consensus on the new jail, yet
By Eleanor Fuller and Susanna Rodriguez, Iowa City Human Rights Commissioners On Sept. 2, a group of FORMER Human Rights Commissioners publicly endorsed Johnson County’s proposed $94.5 million bond referendum to fund a new jail and Sheriff’s office facility. For many readers, it could easily create the impression that the CURRENT Human Rights Commission supports […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
‘All Fours’ author Miranda July reflects on fantasies, fears and being the boss of her body ahead of Infinite Dream
She places her phone on the tripod, presses record and steps back. Standing between the camera and a large mirror, she enjoys watching the doubling effect it creates. She starts to spin, her arms lifted, improvising the movement as she goes. For Miranda July, what matters is discovering what she doesn’t know. She moves back […]
Posted inLetters
Letter to the editor: Let’s have a conversation about the jail beyond Yes and No
By Finch Vandyk, Iowa City A handful of Tuesdays from now, Johnson County will vote on a deceptively direct bond measure. “Should we build the $124,000,000 new jail proposed by the sheriff?” There are two options: Yes and No. Emphatic camps have emerged on either side of those options. Yes, we should build the jail […]
