Before news of the shooting in Parkland, Florida started to spread through City High on Feb. 14, 2018, I was mostly worried about the flower I was giving to my newly minted boyfriend, Theo, for Valentine’s Day. That’s what my teenage life feels like: Every little thing is the decision of a lifetime, until something big throws life into harsh chiaroscuro.
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‘We need a moral and spiritual awakening in this country’: Marianne Williamson brings her 2020 presidential campaign to Prairie Lights
Marianne Williamson isn’t a traditional political candidate, but like a veteran politician, she began her campaign event at Prairie Lights Bookstore on Saturday with a joke. “I know there are about 1,736 people who’ll be running for the Democratic nomination, and I’m just honored to be one of them,” Williamson said. But then she added, […]
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Footnotes on the 2020 Caucus: What will Cory Booker eat at the Iowa State Fair?
Footnotes on the 2020 Caucus is an occasional series observing some of the traditions, rituals and oddities of the Iowa presidential caucuses. Sen. Cory Booker officially announced his candidacy for president on Friday. The announcement, which he made on Twitter and in an email to supporters, probably only surprised people who thought the New Jersey […]
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Iowa Supreme Court rules in favor of Cedar Rapids’ I-380 speed cameras
The Iowa Supreme Court ruled on Friday that Cedar Rapids’ speed cameras are legal. The decision came in a class action lawsuit that argued the city’s use of speed cameras, and its contracting of a private company that profits from the speeding fines to operate the cameras and issue tickets, violated a driver’s right to due process.
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Wednesday trash and recycling collection in Iowa City canceled due to extreme cold
There will be no curbside trash and recycling collection in Iowa City on Wednesday, Jan. 30, due to the extreme cold weather predicted for the area. “This cancelation is being implemented to ensure the safety of our staff,” the Iowa City Department of Public Works explained in a statement on Tuesday. Trash and recycling normally […]
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RAGBRAI 2019 route announced
RAGBRAI will feature a twist this year. Instead of arriving at the Mississippi on the final day of the week-long ride across Iowa, cyclists will have the chance to dip their wheels in the river on Friday night in Burlington, before following the river the next day to the ride’s final destination, Keokuk.
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Following backlash, the Iowa City Council has decided to replace some of the new Ped Mall benches
The Iowa City Council decided to alter the Ped Mall Improvement Plan to include benches with no center armrest, during its work session on Tuesday. Twenty percent of the 70 new benches, or a total of 14, will be without center armrests. The council also directed the city engineer’s office to determine how many of […]
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Judge strikes down Iowa’s ‘fetal heartbeat’ law
A district court judge in Polk County struck down Iowa’s so-called “fetal heartbeat” law on Tuesday. Judge Michael Huppert ruled the law, which banned almost all abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected at six weeks, violates the state’s constitution. “We are grateful the Court blocked Gov. Reynolds’ egregious attempt to ban safe, legal […]
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‘We’re on the road to better days’: Iowa City’s third Women’s March celebrated progress and the power of love
Bitterly cold temperatures didn’t seem to dampen the enthusiasm of the almost 200 people gathered on the Ped Mall Saturday morning for Iowa City’s 2019 Women’s March. “In Des Moines, they decided to move this inside the Capitol,” said state Rep. Mary Mascher, referring to the freezing weather. “We said, ‘hey, we can do it.’ […]
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‘Bright Radical Star’: When John Brown came to Iowa
Halfway to Springdale, Iowa — a town about 15 miles east of Iowa City — on a snow-laden December evening in 1857, Owen Brown decided to journal. “Very cold night,” he wrote, “prairie wolves howl nobly.” He recounted the “hot discussion” had on the road that day: about the Bible, war, racial prejudice and abolition […]
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Sen. Joni Ernst (or an Ernst staffer) tweets about Steve King and white supremacy (Updated)
On Saturday morning, Sen. Joni Ernst’s official Twitter account posted two tweets addressing the New York Times profile of fellow Iowa Republican Steve King published Jan. 10, which featured the congressman asking, “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” I condemn Rep. Steve King’s comments on white supremacy; they […]
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Steve King regrets the ‘heartburn’ caused by his white nationalist statements, but doesn’t regret making white nationalist statements
Iowa’s most famous congressman, Steve King, took to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday to assure the nation that, despite his long history of white nationalist statements, his loudly professed belief in white nationalist conspiracy theories and his endorsement of white nationalist political candidates, he is not a white nationalist. “But […]
