About 420,000 Iowans owed a combined total of $12.8 billion in student debt, as of September 2020. The average amount for Iowans with student loan debt was $30,500. People in Iowa are more likely to have student loan debt but owe “significantly less on average” compared to individuals in other states, according to data and […]
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Furniture, vinyl, watches and paintings: Inside Ulysses Modern, Iowa City’s newest vintage shop

Ryan Quinn attended auctions and scoured thrift stores and junkyards for car parts with his family as a kid. In his teen years, he started searching on his own for punk rock albums from artists like The Clash. These days, he travels thousands of miles a month in his minivan, hunting down art, watches, vintage […]
Iowan’s ‘menacing’ behavior in the Capitol illustrates how much worse the insurrection could have been

A short video captured inside the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6 shows perhaps the most heroic (and heroically restrained) performance by a police officer on that day, as well as the criminal trespassing of an Iowan on the halls of Congress. The officer is Eugene Goodman of the U.S. Capitol Police, the Washington Post […]
‘Our state has never been stronger’: Reynolds calls for accelerated tax cuts and full-time in-person school, despite pandemic

More than 4,200 Iowans have died from COVID-19, and food insecurity in the state has been pushed to it highest level in living memory by economic damage from the pandemic. Still, Gov. Kim Reynolds told the Iowa Legislature at the beginning of her Condition of the State speech on Tuesday night that “the condition of […]
Iowa may soon start vaccinating all older adults; anti-vaxxers protest without masks at State Capitol

A total of 91,501 Iowans, including 9,411 residents of Johnson County and 6,797 residents of Linn County, had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as of Monday, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health. The department has said it will now publish updates on the number of people vaccinated, at both […]
Linn County climate czar Tamara Marcus reflects on derecho impact, lays out sustainability plans for 2021 and beyond

The Aug. 10 derecho showed why environmental justice and listening to the voices of those most vulnerable to climate change are important, said Linn County Sustainability Program Manager Tamara Marcus. Last month, the Linn County Board of Supervisors adopted a climate resolution that calls for the prioritization of the voices of vulnerable communities in Linn […]
COVID-19: ICCSD’s waiver request was denied as Reynolds plans elimination of hybrid learning; deaths surpass 4,000

Late on Thursday afternoon, the Iowa Department of Education (DOE) rejected the Iowa City Community School District’s request for a waiver to switch to all online classes for two weeks. The district applied for the waiver on Tuesday as Johnson County’s COVID-19 test positivity rate continued to increase over the last two weeks, with fears […]
‘There must be consequences’: Rep. Cindy Axne calls for Trump’s removal while Iowa’s Republicans in Congress avoid criticizing him

All four members of Iowa’s House of Representatives delegation and both of its senators issued statements condemning the actions of the mob that overran the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. But only one of them actually addressed Donald Trump’s responsibility for inciting an insurrection aimed at stopping the certification of the Electoral College votes and preventing […]
The ‘demure white supremacy of the Midwest’

Beneath a veneer of “niceness,” the Midwest is among the very worst places to live in the United States if you’re a person of color. That’s what historian and University of Iowa history professor Colin Gordon discovered while completing a report for the Iowa Policy Project titled “Race in the Heartland: Equity, Opportunity, and Public […]
Sen. Joni Ernst won’t say if she’ll object to certifying Biden’s win; other Iowa Republicans accept Trump’s loss

With less than a day left before Congress is scheduled to certify the votes of the Electoral College, confirming Joe Biden’s win, Sen. Joni Ernst had not yet decided whether she will join Donald Trump’s latest attempt to nullify the results of the Nov. 3 presidential election. “Sen. Ernst is continuing to hear from Iowans […]
Reynolds administration decides it no longer needs the White House Coronavirus Task Force’s weekly reports

Gov. Kim Reynolds’ administration has decided Iowa no longer needs the weekly report on the state from the White House Coronavirus Task Force. “We are not requesting the report at this time,” Iowa Department of Public Health spokesperson Sarah Ekstrand told the Des Moines Register in an email on Monday afternoon. Ekstrand did not respond […]
Miller-Meeks sworn in as new representative for the 2nd District as the challenge to her election continues

Mariannette Miller-Meeks was sworn in as the representative from Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District on Sunday. But unlike the other 434 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Miller-Meeks status is still uncertain as the House considers a challenge to the results of the Nov. 3 election. Rita Hart, the Democratic candidate for the open seat […]