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 […]
COVID-19
Posted inCommunity/News
Father Guillermo Treviño, a leading advocate for immigrants and workers in eastern Iowa, dies at 39
Father Guillermo Treviño, Jr., pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church in West Liberty, died on Friday. His sister, Mariela Treviño-Luna, said in a social media post on Friday evening that Treviño had died unexpectedly after a brief illness caused by complications from diabetes. He was 39 years old. In addition to his pastoral duties in […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Film review: Ari Aster’s ‘Eddington’ depicts a small town spiraling in May 2020. It’s as bleak and familiar as you’d think.
“Don’t make me think. Post it.” Sevilla County Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) blurts out this line during his haphazard campaign against mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) in Ari Aster’s latest film Eddington. Set in May 2020, pandemic panic slowly infects the titular New Mexican town before any nasal swabs come into play. Though our […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Our liberties she pries: Eight years into a decade in office, Gov. Kim Reynolds has cemented her legacy
A range of emotions could be heard in Gov. Kim Reynolds’ voice as she spoke to reporters at the annual Terrace Hill Easter Egg Hunt on April 12. It was the day after her surprise announcement that she wouldn’t run for reelection in 2026, and Reynolds was clearly feeling sentimental as she reflected on her time […]
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: Ben Miller — ‘Pandemonium Logs’
We don’t talk about the tolls the pandemic has taken on each of us. In Ben Miller’s new book Pandemonium Logs: Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 2020-2022 (Rutgers University Press, November 2024) he says the quiet part aloud.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Contact Buzz: The Toon’d In pop-up art show returns to Des Moines with some nerdy new themes
Toon’d In Art Show: 50th Anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, The Fremont, Des Moines, Saturday, July 13, 6-10 p.m., Free A golden age for small indie art shows flourished from 2008 to 2021, when the now-defunct Des Moines Social Club was bursting with activity. It was an epicenter for all arts disciplines, including several small, […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Months after rejecting $29 million in federal aid for food-insecure families, Gov. Reynolds announces ‘competitive’ grants offering 3% of that funding
A little more than four months ago, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced she would not permit Iowa families who receive federal food assistance from receiving an extra $40 per child a month in benefits over three months to help cover the increased costs of feeding children who won’t be eating school lunches or breakfasts during summer […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Broadway Sinfonietta’s live score (and then some) ‘Spider-Verse’ concert to swing through Des Moines
You’ll want to sit through the credits of this Marvel movie, just not for the usual reason. “The movie ends … and then we score the whole credits for eight minutes,” said Emily Marshall, the New York-based conductor who will be leading the Broadway Sinfonietta for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Live in Concert when it […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Cindy Smith, ICCSD’s liege of lunch, strives to put locally grown food on students’ trays
Have you ever wondered what really goes into making a school lunch? Feeding an area the size of the Iowa City Community School District (ICCSD) requires balancing students’ nutritional needs, dietary restrictions and preferences under a limited budget and federal regulations. I had the opportunity to speak to Cindy Smith, the purchasing and procurement director […]
Posted inStatewide
Gov. Reynolds is sending state troops to the Texas border (again), spending federal COVID relief funds
Gov. Kim Reynolds announced on Wednesday that she is deploying 109 members of the Iowa National Guard to Texas, along with officers of the Iowa State Patrol, to assist Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s state-level border control program, Operation Lone Star. “The deployment will last until Sept. 1, 2023, with the mission of deterring illegal border […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘We all suffer from the loss of them’: How the AIDS crisis shaped the next generation of LGBTQ activism in Iowa City
This is the final article in a three-part series examining the legacy of HIV/AIDS in Iowa City. In the early 1980s, Rev. John Harper was a fresh-faced graduate student at the University of Iowa and a semi-active member of the Gay People’s Union. He’d heard about some disease affecting gay men in New York and […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘No one believed that it would ever come to this place’: Fear and hatred clouded efforts to care for Iowa’s early AIDS patients
This is the second article in a three-part series examining the legacy of HIV/AIDS in Iowa City. Read part one here. It’s October 1980, and Jack Stapleton is treating a 19-year-old girl diagnosed with a rare lung infection: pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. Stapleton, then an internal medicine intern in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, became interested in […]
