We catch up with the three members of Salt Fox — the masterminds behind Lost Woods, a visionary music festival returning to the Cedar Falls forest this September — during a typically busy day. Andy Fuchtman (guitarist) is en route to the mechanic. Michael Rogers (vocals) and Jacob Pauli (synths and beats) are hanging out […]
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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 […]
Union Park is throwing 20 free concerts in one afternoon as PorchFest DSM returns Sunday
PorchFest DSM turns five this year, and has become a regional magnet for music lovers. The dynamic duo producing this capital city happening is Dave and Anne Ducharme-Jones, a husband-wife team originally from Austin, Texas. Their passion for music is an inclusive one. Knowing that a rising tide raises all ships, they envisioned PorchFest DSM […]
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 […]
‘I am in all of the paintings I do’: World-renowned portrait artist Rose Frantzen has an eye for capturing Iowans
Maquoketa artist Rose Frantzen was recently awarded one of the highest honors in portrait painting. Out of 2,200 submissions, Frantzen’s piece Last Light won the Grand Prize in the Portrait Society of America’s 2026 International Portrait Competition. When Frantzen accepted the award on April 11 in Atlanta, she described Last Light as “a love letter […]
Immigrant Welcome Network celebrates three years of helping new arrivals find homes, jobs and community in Johnson County
The Immigrant Welcome Network of Johnson County (IWNJC) held its third-annual gala on Saturday in Coralville. Themed “Dreams without Borders,” the event surpassed its fundraising goal by $3,000, taking in $38,000 in donations to support its mission of helping newly arrived immigrants in the area get settled. The Unitarian Universalist Society Sanctuary was alive with […]
‘These people are certifiable’: Ted Cruz complains of ‘communists and Islamists’ taking over at Hinson event in Clive
With hay bales lining the back of the stage, country music on the speakers and food from Jethro’s BBQ being served, Ashley Hinson welcomed donors to the Iowa Events Center in Clive on Saturday night for her big annual fundraiser, Ashley’s BBQ Bash. The three-term Republican congressmember is currently running for the U.S. Senate to […]
A D.C. PAC Brenna Bird co-leads is planning to launch an ‘offensive barrage’ of ads on her behalf
The main PAC for Republican state attorneys general announced Tuesday it is launching a $7 million advertising campaign to boost candidates in 13 states, including Brenna Bird in Iowa. The Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) said in a news release its “aggressive early offensive barrage” is “phase one of RAGA’s fall campaign and begins immediately […]
Iowa’s largest population of Pacific Islanders are the Marshallese, ‘a very loving people’ displaced and sickened by U.S. nuclear testing
On May 23, government officials from the Republic of the Marshall Islands traveled 6,000 miles to commemorate their country’s Constitution Day in Dubuque. The Iowa city has gathered to mark the Marshallese holiday since 2005. “Today is more than a national celebration,” Isaac Zackhras, Vice Speaker of the Marshall Islands’ parliament told the crowd in […]
Iowa HHS confirms more measles cases; first U.S. deaths from measles this year reported in Pennsylvania
“As of August 24, seventeen confirmed cases of measles have been identified in 2026, with evidence of person-to-person spread,” the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (Iowa HHS) reported Monday. That’s five more cases than Iowa HHS reported in its last update on the measles outbreak in the state on Aug. 16. The department […]
Polls show Sand beating Lahn, Turek closing in on Hinson; Cook Political Report shifts their forecast in favor of Democrats
Republicans should be in an excellent position to win both the open seat for governor of Iowa and the state’s open U.S. Senate seat. Donald Trump carried the state easily in each of the last three presidential elections. In 2024, he won Iowa by 13.2 percentage points, the biggest margin of victory in a presidential election […]
RFK Jr. visits Dubuque community health clinic facing major Trump budget cuts, as Iowa experiences a measles outbreak
“I love to visit places like Crescent, ’cause they do everything right,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told reporters after touring Crescent Community Health Center in Dubuque on Wednesday. “From the very beginning, the focus was on removing barriers and ensuring access to care — regardless of income, insurance, or background,” […]




