Donald Trump’s lawsuit over the Iowa Poll published by the Des Moines Register three days before the November 2024 election was rejected by a Polk County District Court on Wednesday afternoon. The poll, conducted by Selzer & Co., showed Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate for president, leading Trump by 3 percentage points among […]
Statewide
Nearly half of the Center for Intellectual Freedom advisory council resigns; emails reveal infighting with regents
Nearly half of the Center for Intellectual Freedom at the University of Iowa’s advisory council membership have resigned from their roles after issues were voiced about the Iowa Board of Regents’ dismissal of their concerns relating to control of the center and finding its permanent leader. The Iowa Board of Regents Tuesday stated in a […]
An increasing number of Iowa farms are owned by LLCs and trusts; 55% of Iowa farmland is owned by non-farmers
As agricultural land prices have increased drastically over the past two decades and young, want-to-be farmers have an increasingly difficult time starting their operations, politicians nationally, and here in Iowa, have questioned if corporate or foreign interests are to blame. Iowa gubernatorial candidates Zach Lahn and Rob Sand both have said corporate or out-of-state ownership […]
Judge overturns Reynolds administration order closing the State Historical Society’s Iowa City research center and archives
As last year came to an end, so did public access to the Centennial Building. The building, home to the Iowa City research facility of the State Historical Society of Iowa (SHSI) since 1956, provided researchers, students and anyone curious about Iowa history with access to 34,700 cubic feet of archival materials, including thousands of […]
Ethics complaint filed over Pete Hegseth’s Iowa State Fair fundraiser with Zach Nunn
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing an ethics complaint filed by a group of former national security officials who are questioning if his August appearance at U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn’s Iowa State Fair fundraiser violated federal ethics restrictions. The Steady State, a nonpartisan organization comprised of 430 former national security, intelligence, diplomatic, military and […]
John Cameron Mitchell reflects on 25 years of ‘Hedwig’ — ‘a story of trauma, abuse and the government deciding what you are’
For John Cameron Mitchell, the writer, director and star of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, punk rock has to be in the moment. Currently on tour for the film’s 25th anniversary, Mitchell will stop in Iowa City on Sept. 23 and 24 for a musical performance as part of Hancher’s Infinite Dream Festival, as well […]
‘We’re vetoing all the culture war bills’: Rob Sand brings his town hall campaign back to Johnson County
“I want to start with something that I think is common sense,” Rob Sand told the more than 950 people gathered in the Main Lounge of the Iowa Memorial Union (IMU) on Monday night. “Most people know it, but they don’t hear a lot of people who are running for office say it. I think […]
‘Bullying does not work on me’: Nate Willems, Democrat for Iowa AG, defends ad after ethanol company threatens to sue
Democratic candidate for Iowa attorney general Nate Willems said Wednesday that “bullying does not work” on him and he won’t be pulling ads targeting current Attorney General Brenna Bird in relation to an Iowa pollution case. Willems’ campaign has been threatened with a lawsuit from biofuel producer POET, after the campaign released an ad criticizing […]
Clean water candidate Chris Jones is realizing he ‘actually might win’ against Ag Sec Mike Naig, endorsed by Iowa Farm Bureau
“Back in November, I signed up to be a sacrificial lamb,” Chris Jones, the Democratic candidate for Secretary of Agriculture, told the overflow crowd at Captain Roy’s bar and restaurant in Des Moines on Sunday evening. “And then something happened — I don’t really even know what — and now it looks like we actually […]
Bounced checks, unpaid debts, lawsuits: Lahn running mate Derek Wulf is under investigation, may lose farm, Des Moines Register reports
Derek Wulf, running mate of Republican candidate for governor Zach Lahn, is under investigation by the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office, the Des Moines Register reported on Friday. The sheriff’s office “declined to comment on the nature of its investigation into Wulf,” the Register’s Tyler Jett wrote in his long, investigative story on Wulf’s legal […]
Coal increased its share of Iowa electricity generation in 2025, report shows
Iowa Environmental Council’s annual “condition of the state” report on Iowa’s electric generation shows that while wind continues to dominate Iowa’s electricity generation sources, there has been a “reversal” in the state’s progress to meet energy demand with renewable sources. For the first time in several years, according to the report, the share of energy […]
Study finds little evidence that Iowa’s Beginning Farmer Tax Credit has been effective
As a boy growing up in Spencer, Iowa, Trent Walker spent summers helping on his grandfather’s farm, picturing that he someday would follow in his grandfather’s footsteps and become a farmer himself. During harvest season, he trick-or-treated at his grandpa’s grain bin site as trucks came in from the fields. He was particularly drawn to […]




