Librarians at the State Library of Iowa and the University of Iowa Law Library have launched The People’s Law Library of Iowa, an online resource that helps people understand legal issues in “plain language.” The website guides Iowans through difficult topics, such as landlord and tenant law, and then connects them with additional resources, such […]
Statewide
Posted inCommunity/News
Advocates, candidates gather to discuss cannabis legalization — ‘This is a winning issue’
Both the setting of the meeting, a hotel conference room in Des Moines on a Saturday morning, and the average age of attendees, over 50, were standard for Iowa politics. The subject matter, however, wasn’t. “This is probably the first public event since at least the 1970s in Iowa for anybody to have a serious […]
Posted inStatewide
Recipe: Mediterranean Chicken Meatballs
These are not your average meatballs. Adding more colorful vegetables to your meals doesn’t have to be complicated. These meatballs get a veggie boost with chopped spinach, bell peppers and onions and an infusion of flavor courtesy of feta cheese, olives and Italian herbs & spices. Plus, replacing breadcrumbs with oats ups the fiber content. […]
Posted inBread & Butter Dining Guide
Sacraments
As an annoyingly inquisitive child with parents who encouraged critical thinking, I struggled to believe in God. We still went to church on Church holidays, though — not out of a sense of obligation, but out of an appreciation of ritual. The multisensory stimulations of Catholic mass enchanted and mystified me, with the silk and […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘Healing is fundamentally a political act’: Future doctors grapple with the encroachment of anti-abortion laws on Iowa health care
Medical students in Iowa watched with growing concern as the Iowa Supreme Court decided in June to no longer recognize the right to abortion as a fundamental right. A week later the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Both of the state’s medical schools, the University of Iowa’s Carver College of Medical and Des […]
Posted inCommunity/News
New Iowa Poll finds Franken almost tied with Grassley, Reynolds still far ahead of DeJear
Over the weekend, the Des Moines Register published the results of a new Iowa Poll on the two big races in the Nov. 8 general election. The reported results show the Republican incumbents still lead their Democratic challengers, but in the case Iowa’s longest-serving senator, that lead continues to get smaller. Mike Franken is now […]
Posted inBread & Butter Dining Guide
Recipe: Spicy peanut sweet potato stew
Sweet potatoes and peanut butter are a classic combination in African cuisine, which is the inspiration behind the recipe. Warming flavors of curry and ginger round out the flavor profile. Jalapeño gives it some heat but feel free to use half or omit, if needed. Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 30-40 minutes / Serves […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Penny Peach — ‘EGO PARTY’
EGO PARTY by Penny Peach Have you ever been invited to an Ego Party? Me neither, but I bet they get real loud and standoffish and are filled with folks who are never unsure behind the wheel even when given the murkiest of driving directions. On Penny Peach’s new album, her first full-length and the […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: James Tutson — ‘Happy’
Fans of James Tutson’s lovely voice, guitar stylings and well-crafted songs will be more than happy with his new release, a six-track recording called Happy. The album, which features Tutson’s longtime collaborator Tyler Carrington on keys and drums and Blake Shaw on bass, is of a piece with his previous work. The songs are R&B […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Book Review: ‘Searching for Petco’ by Skylar Alexander
Searching for Petco (Forklift Books, 2022) opens like someone suddenly turned on a speaker. I felt accosted by author Skylar Alexander’s opening poems: clearly meant to be spoken, clearly friends with slam poetry. Extra-sensory and openly branded “millennial.” Alexander brazenly powers into an image, hands her reader an archetype and disarms them on entry. “Oh,” […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Book Review: ‘Team Photograph’ by Lauren Haldeman
Little Village comic contributor Lauren Haldeman’s fourth book, Team Photograph (out Nov. 8 from Sarabande Books) is a poignant exploration of how we’re shaped by the places where we grow up. This graphic novel combines Haldeman’s iconic wolf-headed style with erasure poetry to rehash her youth on soccer fields 800 feet away from the battlefields […]
Posted inLetters
Letter to the editor: Flip your ballot over to vote NO
By Pat Bowen, Iowa City In America, we value our freedoms. Freedom to retire in dignity, freedom to decide whether and when we grow our families, and freedom to know our kids will make it home safe. But Trump Republicans want to take away our freedoms — ending Social Security and Medicare, outlawing abortion, and […]
