For your convenience, click to go directly to the section and topic of interest:

Politics / Around Iowa / Agriculture / Humor / Sports / Mental Health / Food & Entertainment / History / Letters from Iowans / Poetry

Top, left to right: Kathie Obradovich, Dave Price, Dave Busiek; Second Row: Doug Burns, Ed Tibbetts, Art Cullen; Third Row; Laura Belin, Ed Tibbetts; Fourth Row: Barry Piatt, Dennis Goldford, Dana James; Fifth Row: Bob Leonard, Julie Gammack and Doug Burns

For political buffs: introducing the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative Politics Panel Podcast.

Our new offering, the Iowa Writers' Collaborative Politics Panel, will be led by a team of seasoned political analysts. This esteemed group, including members of the IWC and the editor of Iowa Capital Dispatch, Kathie Obradovich, will kick off their discussions in July. The best part? It's free to subscribers, thanks to the support of our generous benefactors. These benefactors will have the exclusive opportunity to join the live recording of the panel discussion, a unique chance to be part of the political discourse, and with their names listed on the site:

Politics Panel with The Iowa Writers' Collaborative

Benefactors

We Thank you! This page is dedicated to those who make it possible to pay our panel for their time and expertise. We intend to keep the Politics Panel Podcast free for all subscribers, but we also want to compensate our panel for their time and expertise…

2 years ago · 1 comment · Iowa Writers Collaborative

Politics

Eminent Domain Jolt

The polarizing pipeline is the topic of ’ outstanding column, Unfinished Business. In this week's column, Power to the People, Cheryl Tevis digs below the surface to explore the perils that pipeline infrastructure poses for Iowa property owners and asks why the state government is failing to perform its fundamental role of counter-balancing the powerful excesses of private companies.

uses the Iowa Utilities Board decision granting eminent domain powers to Summit Carbon Solutions to draw comparisons between Iowa ethanol and West Virginia Coal.

Presidential Debate

After Joe Biden’s terrible debate, some Democrats think he should step aside. Still, at Along the Mississippi writes that probably won’t happen and that for all Biden’s flaws, the debate also showed he’s still far better than Donald Trump. Plus, Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ latest embarrassment.

Writing from Washington, DC, in his column “Barry Piatt on Politics: Behind the Curtains,” tells Democrats: “Hold your horses. There is no need for a stampede to buck President Biden off the ticket in 2024.”

Senator Tom Harkin, retired, has a different point of view on the presidential debate. Read his note to friends in ’s Potluck.

U.S. Senator Tom Harkin, retired, addresses a group before a lecture by analyst Charlie Cook for the Harkin Institute at Drake University

Paragraph Stacker writes that if the Democrats don’t bench Biden, a Trump presidency redux is virtually assured.

on Media reports the only thing Americans will remember about this debate is Biden’s feeble performance.

questions the debate format in his column, Second Thoughts.

Douglas Burns writes that a wandering Biden may lead Trump to VP running mate selection of Doug Burgum
.

reviews the CNN "Dumpster Fire" of a presidential debate at Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture.

writes that Iowa, a state of 3.2 million people, is also home to millions of hogs, chickens, turkeys, beef cattle, and dairy cattle. Together, they produce a volume of waste equivalent to the amount produced by 168 million people. While Iowa's cities must dispose of their human waste through sewage treatment systems regulated by the state and federal governments, ag waste disposal faces no similar regulations. Evans' column, Rules should not be optional for some, but mandatory for others, can be found here.

Art Cullen finds that God has a wicked sense of humor and that we could all do better, but so could God. Sacrificing Isaac? What was that about? Donald Trump on TV? Come on, man, lay off!

has an analysis of the Iowa Supreme Court decision on abortion.

Publisher Steve Semken says when a publisher and an author come to an agreement, it’s a chance at a good old-fashioned square dance. Today, he offers part II likening the relationship of an author and a publisher as a dance.

Subscribe now

Around Iowa

Major flooding has divested parts of Northwest Iowa. Photo from Taylor Deckert’s Column

Flooding

Northwest Iowa has seen historic flooding. has been reporting on Mother Nature's Fury in Northwest Iowa and Southeast South Dakota. The Big Sioux River crested on Monday and has caused homes to wash away. The McCook Lake neighborhood is destroyed, roads are eroded, and clean-up has begun. It makes you sigh. It is another column about how people are managing their stress over the loss and images coming from the destroyed area.

offers her personal experience with the catastrophic flooding in NW Iowa.

questions decisions made by local officials that play a part in the flood destruction happening in the Okoboji Lakes area.

Otherwise clear blue waters of Okoboji turn into a muddy mess when the bank slides into the water. From Arnold Garson’s column.

Iowa Boy says it was a rough week for many in Iowa and across America. “It's a Good time to make a gratitude list,” he reminded himself. He did and shared it in “Well then, God bless America! And you, too!”

Baseball in the summertime, Bancroft, IA, courtesy of Chuck Offenburger.

reviews the large or notable highway projects in the Iowa Department of Transportation’s recently approved five-year plan.

A Vietnam hero and Medal of Honor recipient has some company on his namesake bridge in Cedar Falls. Read it in the new "View from the Cedar Valley" column.
Cedar Falls spruces up its bridge of honor.

went to a joyful Juneteenth event in Ottumwa last week, and the next day, encountered a Trump supporter in Knoxville who told Bob that Juneteenth "inconvenienced" him. Bob shares what happened next at Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture.

is too preoccupied with watching birds to write his column - but he sends a note highly recommending work from other IWC members.

was busy serving young children with type 1 diabetes at her favorite place on earth this past week. She reran a column that explains the impact diabetes camp has had on her throughout the years.

Subscribe now

Agriculture

The shocking verdict by the Iowa Supreme Court regarding the polarizing pipeline is the topic of the column. Will farmers revolt?

In this week’s Emerging Voices column, Annette Matjucha Hovlad writes of heirloom tomatoes and how they’ve become a metaphor for her family’s immigration. Gardening skills were passed down through Matjucha Hovland’s family—from Germany to Poland to Ukraine to the United States. Growing tomatoes and other vegetables provided solace and a centering activity for a family forced to move from one country to another.

Dana James, , features an interview with a family of Black farmers.

Vanishing topsoil. Farmer, banker, and conservationist Liz Garst says it is time for a taxpayer revolt. Listen to the podcast or read the transcript of ’s Potluck.

Subscribe now

Food and Entertainment

reviewed the high-end Proudfoot & Bird restaurant in the Hotel Fort Des Moines and found much to admire, but there were a few things that needed to be corrected

Scoop

Wini has a scoop, too, on the opening of a new spot coming to Sherman Hill.

is a fan of the Des Moines Arts Festival. He's picked four artists to see and offers his vote for the best single food item this year.

—In the Iowa Mercury, Doug amplifies the work of La Prensa Iowa Spanish language newspaper (recently featured in a cover piece in The Columbia Journalism Review). He explains why La Prensa’s owner and editor Lorena López is, as Burns told CJR, “the most influential community journalist to inhabit a newsroom in western Iowa in the history of the state.”

And Burns leaves us on a sugary note with a feature on a Black-owned Iowa bakery he says makes the best cinnamon rolls in the world.

This feature was developed in partnership with , a multi-media platform elevating small Black-owned businesses in Iowa, Chicago, California, and soon, more states and locations. This story first appeared in The Seven Times.

Subscribe now

Sports

Jane Burns at The Crossover offers some summer reading for women's sports fans, with new books ranging from track legends to Iowa basketball to "A League of Their Own."

reports that former Iowa State star quarterback Brock Purdy relished his return “home” last weekend. Purdy’s gone from being "Mr. Irrelevant" because the San Francisco 49ers picked him with the last pick of the 2022 NFL Draft to being a bona fide star, but he’s as humble as ever—as he proved at his youth camp last Saturday.

Long before Caitlin Clark, players like Luella (Gardeman) Boddicker made girls 6-on-6 high school basketball a phenomenon across Iowa. Discover how picked up this story when she visited a friend’s “she shed” near Jefferson and uncovered this noteworthy story.

Subscribe now

Mental Health

continues her deep dive into the pervasive but little-known mental health condition called anosognosia and beneficial approaches to help improve communication with someone suffering from anosognosia: I’m Not Sick, and I Don’t Need Help.

History

In this week's “Showing Up" column, assesses whether a 91-year-old labor conflict was the nation’s first sit-down strike. Meanwhile, he stumbles upon a "remarkably progressive” union demand. It all makes for a good history lesson.

Humor

, on an adventure with the Quad Cities Women’s Outdoor Club, sends a postcard from the U.P., where she’s experiencing awe — and the realities of bunking with 32 women in a lodge with three bathrooms.

The view beyond a slice of carrot cake, by and Vicki Minor.

chocolate cake on white ceramic plate — Photo by K8 on Unsplash

Letters from Iowans

We welcome essays submitted by our subscribers! Today’s column is by Charlotte Beyer Hubbell.

Poetry

and the simple act of observing a sunset.

responds to a week filled with floods, storms, and political turmoil with a poem called “Cloudy With a Chance of Storms.”

Leave a comment

Graphic of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative member locations by Vicki Minor

Iowa Writers’ Collaborative

Your support of our members is critical to our sustainability. Thank you so much to those who can afford to pay to subscribe. If you can’t afford to but want to be in support, please help spread the word.

As a thank-you to our paid subscribers, we hold a virtual meeting on the last Friday of the month so our collaborative members can chat with readers. It’s fun and lively! is our host.

Share

IOWA WRITERS’ COLLABORATIVE

Nicole Baart: This Stays Here, Sioux Center

Ray Young Bear: From Red Earth Drive, Meskwaki Settlement

Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights

Tory Brecht: Brecht’s Beat, Quad Cities

Dartanyan L. Brown: My Integrated Live, Des Moines

Douglas Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll

Jane Burns: The Crossover, Des Moines

Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines

Rachelle Chase : Reading with Rachelle, Ottumwa

Iowa Writers Collaborative: Roundup

Steph C: It Was Never a Dress, Johnston

Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake

Suzanna de Baca: Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley

Taylor Deckert : Taylor’s Millennial Mindset, Sioux City

Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County

Randy Evans: Stray Thoughts, Des Moines via Bloomfield

Daniel P. Finney: Paragraph Stacker, Des Moines

Marianne Fons: Reporting From Quiltropolis, Winterset

Arnold Garson: Second Thoughts, Okoboji and Sioux Falls

Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji

Dennis Goldford: Let’s Talk Politics, Clive

Avery Gregurich: The Five and Dime, Marengo

Fern Kupfer and Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames

Rob Gray's Area: Rob Gray’s Area, Ankeny

Nik Heftman: The Seven Times, Iowa

Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilla

Iowa Capital Dispatch, an alliance with IWC

Iowa Podcasters' Collaborative

Iowa Writers Collaborative Roundup Sunday Roundup

Black Iowa News: Dana James, Iowa

Chris Jones: Chris’s Substack, Iowa City

Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo

Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey

Letters From Iowans

Darcy Maulsby: Keepin’ It Rural, Calhoun County

Hola Iowa: Iowa

Alison McGaughey: The Inquisitive Quad Citizen, Quad Cities

Kurtis Meyer: Showing Up, St. Ansgar

Relatively Minor: by Vicki Minor, Winterset

Wini Moranville: Wini’s Food Stories, Des Moines

Jeff Morrison: Between Two Rivers, Cedar Rapids

Kyle Munson: Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines

Jane Nguyen: The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines

John Naughton: My Life in Color, Des Moines

Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines

Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politics Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.

Dave Price: Dave Price’s Perspective, Des Moines

Steve Semken: Ice Cube Press, LLC, North Liberty

Macey Shofroth: The Midwest Creative, Norwalk

Larry Stone: Listening to the Land, Elkader

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona

Mary Swander's Emerging Voices: Emerging Voices, Kalona

Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County

Bill Tubbs : Impressions, Eldridge

Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport

Jason Walsmith: The Racontourist, Earlham

Kali White VanBaale: 988: Mental Healthcare in Iowa, Bondurant

Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines

Share Iowa Writers Collaborative Roundup

Iowa Writers Collaborative Roundup

Debate chatter, Harkin weighs in, Brock…