I lost my job when the U.S. housing market collapsed in 2008 and unemployment soared, pushing homeowners into foreclosure and the nation into crisis. For the first time in my life, I filed for unemployment benefits, which would keep me afloat for nine long months. A bachelor’s degree didn’t insulate me from financial distress nor […]
COVID-19
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Faire play: On the road with a traveling troupe of pirates, bards and jesters
Spring has come around again! That can mean different things to different people; for me, spring signals the return of Renaissance faire season. I have been a member of Pass Four Productions since 2014. We are a troupe of actors who perform short, one-act comedy skits with choreographed stage combat at Ren faires across Iowa […]
Posted inCommunity/News
After years of delay, the Forest View relocation program begins to move forward
Cindy Onnen has lived in Forest View Mobile Home Court for half a century. She moved there with her husband and 2-year-old son in 1971, when the rent was $25. “It went up to $35 the next month, and I was mad. Gosh, to say that now, people would say, ‘Really? You’re that old?’” Onnen […]
Posted inCommunity/News
University of Iowa Labor Center, slated for closure in 2019, celebrates 70 years
The University of Iowa Labor Center will celebrate 70 years of empowering workers in the Hawkeye State this Saturday, May 7. Surviving the threat of closure and a pandemic, the Labor Center continues to play a vital role in tackling the challenges facing workers statewide. “The Labor Center is our state university’s commitment to the […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘Gone but not forgotten’: Iowa City commemorates 68 workers who died last year in Iowa
For Workers’ Memorial Day on Thursday, union-sponsored events across Iowa sought to “put a human face and name” to the 68 Iowans who died while at work in 2021. “Every worker on this list has a story, a family and friends whose lives have been forever altered, when their loved one went to work one […]
Posted inCommunity/News
State senator calls COVID-19 vaccines ineffective before committee approves bill to ban vaccine requirements in schools and daycares
A Republican state senator falsely claimed COVID-19 vaccines are ineffective and called the idea of requiring them the “political belief of authoritarians who want to force their belief in… the hive-mindset,” just before the Iowa Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill that bans COVID-19 vaccine requirements at schools, universities and child care facilities. Sen. Jason […]
Posted inCommunity/News
For Sudanese immigrants in Iowa City, visiting home is a long, expensive and all too rare privilege
When Dalia Musa moved to the United States, her youngest child was in the second grade. Musa, a mother of three, emigrated from Sudan in 2013. By the time her family traveled back to Sudan, her children were high schoolers. “They didn’t see their family since the elementary, and when they come back, they are […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Watch: Katie Roche catches up with William Elliott Whitmore backstage at the Englert
Ahead of his first show back at the Englert since pre-COVID (March 4, 2022), William Elliott Whitmore sat down with Englert Development Director and Awful Purdies accordionist Katie Roche for a wide-ranging conversation about kids, lyrics and Iowa roots. “I love coming [to the Englert],” Whitmore said. “It’s like family, it’s people that we know […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Auditor concludes Gov. Reynolds has failed to justify almost $450,000 in pandemic relief spent on staff pay
Just hours before Gov. Kim Reynolds boasted about her handling of the pandemic (“we honored your freedoms”) in the Republican response to the State of the Union address on Tuesday, Iowa Auditor Rob Sand published a report that reiterated his finding from last October that the governor had misappropriated almost $450,000 in federal pandemic relief […]
Posted inCommunity/News
The Iowa City Public Library wants to know what the heck you experienced during the pandemic
For Candice Smith, the pandemic blurred the last few years. “It has wiped my sense of time from my brain,” she said. The pandemic was another heavy stone tied to the heels of an already terrible year. Smith was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer on April Fool’s Day in 2019. At the same time, […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Following new CDC guidance, Iowa City lifts mask mandate
Starting on Tuesday, Iowa City will no longer have mask mandates for city buildings or other public spaces. According to a news release, the city is acting based on updated masking guidelines issued on Friday by the CDC. “We want to give people a break from things like mask-wearing,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said […]
Posted inCommunity/News
As national GOP leaders praise Gov. Reynolds’ handling of the pandemic, Iowa COVID deaths surpass 9,000
One day after national Republican leaders praised Gov. Kim Reynolds as “a national leader in effectively balancing lives and livelihoods” during the pandemic, the Iowa Department of Public Health disclosed that more than 9,000 Iowans have died from COVID-19. In its update on Wednesday, IDPH reported another 137 deaths from the virus, bringing the state’s […]
