Debate chatter, Harkin weighs in, Brock Purdy, shocking pipeline verdict...
...and major Iowa Writers' Collaborative announcement
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Politics / Around Iowa / Agriculture / Humor / Sports / Mental Health / Food & Entertainment / History / Letters from Iowans / Poetry
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
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.
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.
Around Iowa
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.
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!”
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.
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.
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.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.
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.
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.”
Iowa Writers’ Collaborative
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