Rep. Dave Loebsack announced on Friday that he will not run for reelection in 2020. “I have enjoyed beyond my expectations serving the people of Iowa’s Second District for the past 13 years,” the Iowa City Democrat said in a statement. Loebsack was first elected to Congress in 2006, when he defeated Jim Leach, a […]
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Kamala Harris in Iowa City: ‘Our fight is born out of what we know can be, unburdened by what has been’
What wasn’t said at Sen. Kamala Harris’ town hall-style campaign event at the Iowa Memorial Union on Wednesday night was almost as interesting as what the 2020 presidential candidate did say. She never mentioned Donald Trump’s name or used the word “Republican.” But the California Democrat wasn’t ignoring the impact of Trump’s actions or Republican policies.
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Grassley on Trump’s tax returns: ‘I don’t want to see them’
During a Monday morning appearance on Fox News, Sen. Chuck Grassley was asked about the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee (or as the Fox host put it, “the Democrats”) requesting copies of President Trump’s tax returns from the IRS. Grassley began his reply by pointing out that as chair of the Senate […]
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Julián Castro, 2020 presidential candidate, will be at The Mill Sunday for a ‘Political Party Live’ interview
Former San Antonio mayor and current presidential candidate Julián Castro will sit down for an interview on the Political Party Live podcast recording live at The Mill on Sunday. Castro is the fourth 2020 Democratic candidate to be interviewed by Political Party Live hosts Stacey Walker and Simeon Talley.
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From eating at Hamburg Inn to digging into the issues: Beto O’Rourke makes his first campaign stop in Iowa City
The music that blasted through the second-floor ballroom at the Iowa Memorial Union on Sunday was the first indication Beto O’Rourke was incorporating local color into his first campaign stop in Iowa City since declaring his candidacy last month. Instead of his standard walk-up music, “Clampdown” by The Clash, the former Texas congressman bounded onto […]
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‘It rocked my world’: Catching up with the Grays, one of the first lesbian couples married in Iowa
Decades before Lois and Karen Gray became one of the first same-sex couples in Iowa to legally marry, they were Iowa farm girls, courting each other on the campus of Grand View College (now University) in Des Moines. In the mid-1980s, in fairly quick succession, the women became friends, then roommates, then girlfriends. This evolution […]
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A conversation with Kate and Trish Varnum, 10 years after Varnum v. Brien
Cedar Rapids couple Kate and Trish Varnum celebrate their 18th, 15th and 10th anniversaries this year: they’ve been together since 2001, had a religious marriage ceremony in 2004 and were legally married in 2009, after a landmark Iowa Supreme Court case that bore their name. Since the April 3, 2009 ruling in Varnum v. Brien, […]
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The BarbouRoskes, plaintiffs in Varnum v. Brien, reflect on Iowa’s fight for marriage equality
The day the Iowa Supreme Court announced they’d made a decision in Varnum v. Brien, the landmark case that would determine whether to legalize same-sex marriage in Iowa, Dawn and Jennifer BarbouRoskes’ two young daughters had covered their faces in temporary tattoos. “Jen’s at work and I’m scrubbing their faces,” Dawn recalled. “Bre had fallen […]
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Guerilla Toss on their chaotic origin story and psychedelic new album, ahead of Mission Creek
For a band that creates frenetic, rhythm-charged, psychedelic music, Guerilla Toss’s absurd origin story is perfectly on-brand. Back when Kassie Carlson first crossed paths with the group at a DIY basement venue named the Smokey Bear Cave, they initially had a saxophonist instead of a vocalist. Meanwhile, she was singing in a hardcore band
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‘Letter To My Body’ brings voices from around the state to the Iowa City Public Library
“Letter To My Body,” a unique exhibit about how people perceive their physical selves will be on display at the Iowa City Public Library on Monday. “The letters highlight sexual harassment and violence, gender norms, sexism, and taught beliefs,” according to Monsoon Asians and Pacific Islanders in Solidarity, the group that organized the exhibit.
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Waste not, want not: How Eastern Iowa is tackling the problem of food waste
From food sharing to organic composting, systems are being put in place to tackle issues of food waste, and they’re working. Stocking up on bulk goods at a wholesale warehouse club on a good sale. Over-catering for a party or event. Avoiding the slightly wrinkled pepper, bruised banana or about-to-expire dairy item at the grocery […]
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Meet Shayna Jaskolka, the UI student collecting presidential candidate signatures on her jean jacket
At a distance, the Sharpie marks on University of Iowa freshman Shayna Jaskolka’s denim jacket look random. But up close, it becomes obvious they’re autographs. And not random autographs — the signatures belong to six of the 2020 Democratic candidates for president, and Jaskolka is planning to collect more.
