The sun was shining on Saturday as people gathered on 2nd Street in downtown Davenport for the Quad Cities’ annual Juneteenth Festival. The location was different this year — it’s traditionally been held in LeClaire Park, closer to the river — but the celebration was the same as always, with music, dance, speeches, food and […]
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Posted inCommunity/News
An Ioway map drawn in 1837 offers a treasure trove of historical insight
The Báxoje (Ioway) leaders Na’je Nine (No Heart of Fear) and Ñiyu Mañi (Moving Rain) arrived in Washington D.C. at the end of September 1837 with two sheets of paper, stitched together by hand — careful work with needle and thread meant to create a canvas large enough to hold a world. The leaders, accompanied […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Auditor: School choice cost Iowans $258 million, is ‘paying tuition for the wealthiest families’
Nearly 79 percent of students who used Iowa’s funding program for K-12 private schools were “already projected” to attend private schools, according to a report released Wednesday by Iowa Auditor Rob Sand. The Iowa Department of Education called the report a “policy advocacy brief” that critiqued statutory provisions of the Iowa Education Savings Account (ESA) […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Hair Art, the tornado-proof salon that never raised its prices, is closing after more than 28 years in Iowa City
Man Kwi Park plans to treat June 30 like any normal Tuesday. She will open Hair Art, her one-chair salon at the corner of Linn and Court Street, at 9 a.m., and spend the next 12 hours cutting the hair of whomever walks in. (And it will be walk-ins; Park does not take reservations.) At […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Club Basix has brought gaiety to Cedar Rapids since 1997, from dime draws and darts league to drag shows and derecho aid
Since late 1997, you can drive down 1st Ave and and pick out Cedar Rapids’ only gay bar with ease. Club Basix has been out and proud from the start. The first day it was open, original owner David Thompson mounted Pride flags around the entire roof. “I boarded up that middle window in the […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
Iowa City couple who sued the Trump admin for delaying their naturalization ceremony are now citizens
Two months after they filed a federal lawsuit because their naturalization ceremony scheduled for January had been abruptly canceled for no apparent reason, longtime Iowa City residents Sunday and Regina Goshit were finally sworn in as U.S. citizens this week. “It’s 25 years of waiting; 25 years of being in this country,” Sunday Goshit told […]
Posted inStatewide
Gov. Reynolds outsources IT services to New Jersey corporation, eliminating 200 state government jobs
Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Tuesday that she is outsourcing all of the state’s executive branch information technology (IT) work to an out-of-state corporation, eliminating the jobs of approximately 200 people who work for the Iowa Division of Information Technology. Cognizant Government Solutions, based in New Jersey, will provide the IT services, and the state’s data will […]
Posted inCentral Iowa
Lawn watering ban enacted in central Iowa due to high nitrate levels, affecting 20% of the state population
Central Iowa Water Works (CIWW) imposed a lawn-watering ban on Monday. This is the second year in a row the water utility has banned watering by its 600,000 customers in the greater Des Moines area and beyond. “The lawn watering ban is not due to a lack of water in our rivers or reservoirs,” according […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Rob Sand chooses his running mate
Little Village · Rob Sand chooses his running mate – Read by Kim Miller Less than a week after officially becoming the Democratic nominee for governor, Rob Sand announced Dave Muhlbauer, a farmer and member of the Crawford County Board of Supervisors, as his choice for lieutenant governor. “Dave has a track record of working […]
Posted inCommunity/News
The Blazing Saddle is home to leather daddies, lesbians, cowboys, queens and queer elders who can remember a Des Moines before Pride
The Blazing Saddle is open 365 days a year, but a Thursday afternoon at the bar is very different from a Friday or Saturday night. The doors open at 2 p.m., and the bar quickly fills with men, most at retirement age or approaching it. They’ll drink a few beers, or a cup of coffee, […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
A friendship and a folk band, the Awful Purdies celebrates 20 years this summer with a ‘goulash’ of new songs
Awful Purdies are a group of five women who joined forces like an Americana Voltron. For the past 20 years, they have been rocking the region with their beautiful blend of folk, honky tonk, bluegrass and a little bit of soul. This synthesis is achieved through an amalgamation of instruments that range from cello, mandolin […]
Posted inElection Coverage
Feenstra and Lahn spent hundreds of thousands in the final days before the primary
As the June 2 primary drew closer, the two candidates leading the field of five Republicans running for governor spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in less than two weeks, according to the latest campaign finance reports from the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board (IECDB). This latest report covers the 12 days from May […]
