The Izaak Walton League of America’s Iowa division has started a grassroots campaign to raise funds for a water quality monitoring program, formerly funded by the state, at the University of Iowa. The Iowa Water Quality Information System, or IWQIS, gives real-time measures of pH, nitrate, dissolved oxygen, discharge rates and temperature in streams across […]
Statewide
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Mindy Mejia’s Iowa Mysteries series continues with ‘The Whisper Place.’ Refresh on all the action before you crack it open
Midwest thrillers are few and far between, but every time one crops up it scratches a special itch in my heart. There is something rich and powerful at having scenes from your childhood play out with hints of something absolutely foreign. Mindy Mejia is helping build the Midwest mystery genre with the third installment of her “Iowa Mysteries” series…
Posted inLetters
Letter to the editor: Deportation is wrong, period
By Nate Holdren, Des Moines I write this letter to the editor on the evening of Friday, Sept. 26 after hearing the news that Ian Roberts, the superintendent of the public school system here in Des Moines where I live, has been taken into ICE custody. ICE are a wing of law enforcement and it […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘Today it’s our family. Tomorrow it can be another’: Hundreds rally to demand release of man violently seized by ICE in Iowa City
Hundreds of people crowded around the stage on the Ped Mall late on Friday morning to rally in support of Jorge Elieser González Ochoa, the Iowa City resident violently seized by ICE agents as he was working at the nearby Bread Garden Market on Thursday morning, a little over 24 hours earlier. He requires medical attention, […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Book Review: ‘Dear Marty, We Crapped In Our Nest’ by Art Cullen
Being an Iowan has been difficult for those of us who love our home and are horrified by its policies. Art Cullen, in his new book Dear Marty, We Crapped In Our Nest (Ice Cube Press), lays bare the complicated web of events that made it this way…
Posted inCommunity/News
Sierra Club report gives Iowa utilities an F for clean energy plans
Iowa utilities, along with the majority of utilities across the country, scored an F grade in a report from the Sierra Club that rates utilities’ plans to transition to clean energy and to meet increased demand rates through 2035. Iowa utility companies said the report “oversimplifies utility planning” and that they are still striving for […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
‘Clarence Darrow’, a play about the storied American lawyer, is coming to five Iowa cities in October
“History repeats itself — that’s one of the things wrong with history,” Clarence Darrow once said. Darrow, who died in 1938 at age 80, understood history, or at least how to make it. The most famous trial lawyer of his era, he mounted eloquent and ingenious defenses for the accused in some of the biggest […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Republicans mourn Charlie Kirk, compare his murder to abortion at Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition fundraiser
The death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk — and the national response — was a major talking point Saturday at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition fall banquet for GOP speakers, who said his shooting was a call to action for Republicans. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio and […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa public universities to investigate employee social media posts about Charlie Kirk death
After hours of closed discussion, the Iowa Board of Regents directed state universities Wednesday to investigate social media posts allegedly made by university employees relating to rightwing influencer Charlie Kirk and his death. The board began its first meeting of the fall semester with a closed session, added to the agenda after multiple Iowa State […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Iowa theater companies aren’t afraid to unsettle as they hold a mirror up to our times
Let’s start this survey of Iowa’s local theater landscape with a bit of a dramatic flourish: The start of the COVID-19 pandemic was half a decade ago. Apologies if that messes with your tethering to time, but I bring it up for a reason. When looking at the last five years of local theater output, […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Sioux City roofer held in jail by ICE sues over being denied a bond hearing
An Iowa man who claims he is being held in jail while facing deportation, without the opportunity to argue for release on bond, is suing county and federal officials for alleged violations of his due process rights. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa, alleges the actions of federal […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘I’m looking forward to getting to work’: Catelin Drey sworn in as the newest member of the Iowa Senate, ending the Republican supermajority
Catelin Drey officially became a member of the Iowa Senate on Monday, taking her oath of office at the State Capitol. “There is something very humbling about taking the official oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and the state of Iowa at a moment when it feels like that has become increasingly […]
