TAURUS (April 20-May 20): May is Free Thinking Month for you Tauruses. It’s also Free Feeling, Free Wheeling and Free Healing Month. Wow! To observe this festive grace period, indulge in any of the following jubilant acts: 1. Declare your independence from anyone who tries to tell you how you should live your life or […]
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Posted inCommunity/News
Locals, elected officials protest effort to deport a Bolivian asylum-seeker with no criminal record to the Congo
“What has José done except ask for freedom from brutality?” Rev. Marc Schlegel-Preheim of First Mennonite Church of Iowa City asked at a protest in front of the Linn County Courthouse in Cedar Rapids on Thursday. About 100 people were gathered on the steps of the courthouse to support José Yugar-Cruz, a 37-year-old asylum-seeker from […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
A project led by two Iowa City filmmakers, 13 years in the making, is welcome in both art galleries and film fests
Experimentation and chance are at the heart of Homegrown Stories, a 13-year online collaborative media project founded by local photographer and video artist Sandy Dyas and filmmaker LeAnn Erickson.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
The Beyond Fashion Festival returns this weekend to turn downtown IC spaces into runways and boutiques
Building off of their very first fest in 2025, the Wright House of Fashion returns to the streets of downtown Iowa City this weekend for the second Beyond Fashion Festival. The festivities kick off with an alleyway fashion show behind Studio 13 on Friday at 6 p.m. The streetwear fashion show will see a mix […]
Posted inLetters
Letter to the editor: Adam Steen continues to fear monger about Satanists and ‘Sharia law’
By Dave Leshtz, Iowa City I’ve written about and gotten to know several members of Iowa’s Satanic Temple. They are young and intelligent. They come mostly from small towns in Iowa, where their families still live. They have a sense of humor and like to dress in black. They consider the poet John Milton’s Paradise Lost their foundational […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Republican candidates for governor talk cancer, water quality, school vouchers and Rob Sand at Iowa PBS forum
Who wasn’t there was almost as important as who was at the Iowa PBS forum of Republican candidates for governor on Tuesday night. Frontrunner Randy Feenstra skipped it, as he has skipped other forums where his fellow Republicans running for the nomination appear, but he still loomed over the three Republicans who did show up […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Using her gift of gab for good, Tiara Phillips hosts random social opportunities for Iowa City locals through Bitchin’ Events
Tiara Phillips invited the public to her 30th birthday party on Monday, April 20: a ’90s themed party at the Iowa City Big Grove. Instead of bringing her gifts, she requested attendees bring items such as cake mix, frosting, gift bags and blank birthday cards so she can build birthday kits to donate to the […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Five questions with FilmScene’s Ben Delgado on the new Aquí y Allá Latin American Film Festival
My favorite interaction regarding FilmScene’s upcoming Aquí y Allá Latin American Film Festival is on an Instagram post promoting the snacks available during the fest. The post sports a cross-section of Latin American snacks found in a tienda near you; Ricolino Duvalín’s, Gansito cakes, Chupa Chups and more.
Posted inLetters
Letter to the editor: Reelect Jon Green to the Johnson County Board of Supervisors in District 2
By Paul Deaton, Iowa City Jon Green should be re-elected in the newly created Johnson County Supervisor District 2. He was first elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2021. As board chair, Green led the process of gaining consensus on a jail proposal. When you see the jail referendum on the November ballot, Jon’s […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa Senate sends ‘MAHA bill’ with SNAP restrictions, over-the-counter ivermectin to governor’s desk
The Iowa Senate sent Gov. Kim Reynolds’ “Make America Healthy Again” legislation to her desk Monday, a package that includes SNAP restrictions, over-the-counter ivermectin and several school health and nutrition policies. HF 2676, passed 30-16, seeks to make permanent the state’s currently implemented waivers restricting the purchase of unhealthy foods through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance […]
Posted inCommunity/News
U.S. Attorney continues effort to deport South American asylum seeker in Iowa to Africa (Updated)
Update: On Monday, U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher lifted his order prohibiting ICE from removing José Yugar-Cruz from Iowa. Locher wrote that an April 18 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court left him “little choice” in the case, and ICE can now proceed to deport Yugar-Cruz to the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country in […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Farm runoff linked to elevated nitrate levels in drinking water serving more than 60 million Americans
More than 60 million Americans get their water from sources contaminated with elevated levels of nitrate pollution, which is most likely coming from agricultural manure or fertilizer runoff, according to a new analysis. The report from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) used federal drinking water data and found that roughly 6,114 US water systems that […]
