For 21 years, the Quad Cities’ David R. Collins Writers’ Conference has helped writers turn ideas into stories, first drafts into polished manuscripts and creative goals into achievable next steps. The conference returns to Augustana College in Rock Island June 25–27 with expanded programming, new opportunities for writers and its most diverse lineup of workshops and events to date.
Eastern Iowa
Posted inCommunity/News
After 23 months in ICE custody, Sudanese man seeks release from Muscatine County Jail
A judge has ordered the federal government to state why it has jailed, for almost two years, an immigration detainee now being held in the Muscatine County Jail. A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa by Mutasim Ibrahim Abdoulrahman Nour, a citizen of Sudan, against U.S. Immigration and Customs […]
Posted inCommunity/News
The 2026 Quad Cities Juneteenth Festival celebrated a long-running local tradition in a new location
The sun was shining on Saturday as people gathered on 2nd Street in downtown Davenport for the Quad Cities’ annual Juneteenth Festival. The location was different this year — it’s traditionally been held in LeClaire Park, closer to the river — but the celebration was the same as always, with music, dance, speeches, food and […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Photos: Pokey’s Fest 4 had the longhairs and baldies head-banging in Iowa City
The fourth, expanded iteration of hardcore and punk festival Pokey’s Fest commanded three venues over three stormy nights in Iowa City, and saw the debut of a slick new band. There were last-minute revisions to the lineup and day-of venue changes thanks to uncooperative weather, but would it really be Pokey’s Fest if there weren’t […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Hair Art, the tornado-proof salon that never raised its prices, is closing after more than 28 years in Iowa City
Man Kwi Park plans to treat June 30 like any normal Tuesday. She will open Hair Art, her one-chair salon at the corner of Linn and Court Street, at 9 a.m., and spend the next 12 hours cutting the hair of whomever walks in. (And it will be walk-ins; Park does not take reservations.) At […]
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Club Basix has brought gaiety to Cedar Rapids since 1997, from dime draws and darts league to drag shows and derecho aid
Since late 1997, you can drive down 1st Ave and and pick out Cedar Rapids’ only gay bar with ease. Club Basix has been out and proud from the start. The first day it was open, original owner David Thompson mounted Pride flags around the entire roof. “I boarded up that middle window in the […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
Iowa City couple who sued the Trump admin for delaying their naturalization ceremony are now citizens
Two months after they filed a federal lawsuit because their naturalization ceremony scheduled for January had been abruptly canceled for no apparent reason, longtime Iowa City residents Sunday and Regina Goshit were finally sworn in as U.S. citizens this week. “It’s 25 years of waiting; 25 years of being in this country,” Sunday Goshit told […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
A free festival for punks of all ages, Chroma63 returns to Waterloo with a local lineup, pop-up skate park and 40 years of Iowa show flyers on display
On the website for the Waterloo Center for the Arts, you’ll find a list of perennial outdoor festivals hosted in the museum’s RiverLoop Amphitheatre. You may notice one of the events is not like the others. Nestled amongst the likes of Cedar Valley Stem & Stein and the Holiday Arts Festival is the Chroma63 Arts […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Review: Veteran rock trio TsuShiMaMiRe and new Q.C. power group Sheer Image had scene kids reveling at Raccoon Motel
Amidst the growing humidity and heat of early June, a nearly sold-out crowd gathered on 2nd street outside and in of The Raccoon Motel in Davenport. The night’s enthusiasm was twofold. Not only did it see the return of the long-running Japanese girl punk trio TsuShiMaMiRe, but this was also the debut performance of a new Quad City hardcore band, Sheer Image.
Posted inCommunity/News
City Park Pool will not reopen this summer, Iowa City Parks and Rec announces
Construction delays have pushed the debut of Iowa City’s new public pool to 2027, the Parks and Recreation Department announced Friday afternoon. Last summer was the first time since Harry Truman was president that there was no outdoor public pool open in Iowa City. City Park Pool, which had been a central part of local […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Rob Sand warns Iowa is facing ‘a fiscal time bomb,’ calls for four debates with Zach Lahn
Iowa’s state budget deficits are a “fiscal time bomb,” and addressing the problem “before the bomb explodes” will be the top priority if he’s elected governor, Rob Sand told the annual conference of the Iowa Association of Business and Industry (ABI) in Coralville on Thursday. ABI had scheduled a nonpartisan forum for gubernatorial candidates at […]
Posted inCommunity/News
José Yugar-Cruz granted temporary release from ICE custody as Ebola outbreak impedes third-country deportations to Congo
José Yugar-Cruz, an asylum-seeker from Bolivia the Trump administration has been attempting to deport the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since April, has secured release from ICE custody, Escucha Mi Voz Iowa (EMV) announced on Friday morning. According to the news release from the Iowa City-based nonprofit that assists and advocates for immigrants, Yugar-Cruz was […]
