By Dave Leshtz, Iowa City I’ve written about and gotten to know several members of Iowa’s Satanic Temple. They are young and intelligent. They come mostly from small towns in Iowa, where their families still live. They have a sense of humor and like to dress in black. They consider the poet John Milton’s Paradise Lost their foundational […]
Letters
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Letter to the editor: Reelect Jon Green to the Johnson County Board of Supervisors in District 2
By Paul Deaton, Iowa City Jon Green should be re-elected in the newly created Johnson County Supervisor District 2. He was first elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2021. As board chair, Green led the process of gaining consensus on a jail proposal. When you see the jail referendum on the November ballot, Jon’s […]
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Letter to the editor: Grassley is unlikely to grow a spine, or bow out gracefully
By Bill Radl, Iowa City I am heartened by Ed Flaherty’s optimism as he calls on citizens to write Grassley to urge the senator to oppose the war in Iran. Ed is a good man and a dedicated protester against misdirected and just plain stupid military intrusions by our government around the world. I am […]
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Letter to the editor: Senator Grassley can stop this war
By Ed Flaherty, Iowa City The Iran war is not going well for the U.S. And, please, call it war, not a conflict, not a military operation. This war began on Feb. 28, with no congressional approval and with no notification to the U.S. public. I believe Iowa’s senator Charles Grassley is uniquely situated to […]
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Letters to the editor: We need leaders like Rod Sullivan to build up Johnson County
By Mark Patton, Iowa City; retired executive director of Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity I have known Rod Sullivan as a member of the Johnson County Board of Supervisors for more than 25 years. In all of that time, he has never shied away from taking on the tough issues of the day: from more […]
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Letters to the editor: Reelect Rod Sullivan to the Johnson County Board of Supervisors
By Emily Domingues, Iowa City My name is Emily Domingues, and as a decade-long resident of Johnson County, I am proud to endorse Rod Sullivan for Supervisor. I had the pleasure of meeting Rod and working closely with him through the 2020 Democratic Caucus season when I served as his co-captain for our precinct. Through […]
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Letter to the editor: The University of Iowa must end their relationship with Aramark
By Sam Golden, Iowa City Aramark is a multi-billion dollar company that provides food, facility management, and more services to health care facilities, universities, schools, prisons, stadiums and more. At the University of Iowa, they manage the athletic dinner services. Most notably, they run the concessions at Kinnick Stadium and other arenas on campus. There are three main […]
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Letter to the editor: Regulate kratom, don’t ban it
By Chad Timblin, Coralville I’m writing about HF 2133, the bill to ban kratom in Iowa. I’m a Coralville resident who uses kratom tea a few times a week from a reputable company that lab-tests its products. It’s a meaningful quality of life benefit for me, and I’m one of thousands of Iowans who use […]
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Letter to the editor: HSB 657 is a pathetic response to Iowa’s dirtiest problem
By Jennifer Sotelo, Atalissa There has been a lot of crap coming from the Iowa House of Representatives lately, and Study Bill 657 is no exception. It would require the DNR to determine what percentage of excrement came from what animal in a polluted river before it could be added to the impaired waters list. […]
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Letter to the editor: Stop asking young people to defend the status quo
By Finch VanDyk, Iowa City I’m a 28-year-old community organizer in Iowa City and I am younger than everyone I work with by an average of 30 years. Many of my colleagues express relief at my presence on the scene; they’re not used to seeing someone my age. Everywhere I go, at every meeting and […]
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Letter to the editor: Iowans should continue to fight discrimination, despite SF 579
By Anthony J. Zarzycki, Des Moines On March 10, Governor Reynolds signed Senate File 579 into law. The act, among other measures, prohibits cities from adding more protections from discrimination than what is in the Iowa Civil Rights Act. Although I serve on the Des Moines Civil and Human Rights Commission, I speak only on […]
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Letter to the editor: Democracy does not protect itself
By Joel E. Wells, Iowa City What would you do if armed federal agents were pounding on your door? Not in a movie or a history book — but tonight. Your house. Your family. History shows that free societies rarely lose their freedoms overnight. They lose them gradually, while citizens assume the institutions of democracy […]
