Eminent domain, Iowa State, presidential candidates, Barbie...

...and a new category: WHO KNEW?

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy drew heavy interest in Vail with a plan for tying the dollar's stability to corn and beans — as well as gold and silver. Photo By Douglas Burns

This week’s roundup includes well-reported columns about presidential candidates storming the state, a lovely essay by a granddaughter, lots of takes on the Iowa State Fair, an Iowa angle to the apocalyptic wildfires that devasted Hawaii, a sports column about news from Iowa State, and our Washington, D.C. columnist caused the editor to create a new category: WHO KNEW? (coin collectors will love it). Another columnist made it in the WHO KNEW? category. Mary Swander has a piece about stolen skulls, a story told as only Mary can.

• Bob Leonard offers a twist on the ‘Barbie’ movie you won’t see coming.

• An Iowa Vietnam veteran didn’t want to discuss the war but decided to write about it. Pat Kinney has the story.

• Last, but only because Suzanna de Baca has a way of wrapping things up beautifully, is a “I Pray You Leave us Gently.”

We begin the roundup this morning with another new category: Eminent Domain. Here is an up-close look at the threat of eminent domain being used to take land in the area of St. Ansgar. Columnist Kurt Meyer, who lives there, reports:

EMINENT DOMAIN

KURT MEYER

"Dear Landowner"

IOWA LIFE

Macy Spensley says goodbye to ‘one of the good ones,’ her grandfather.

To My Grandpa

Now, Let’s hear from our Fair-goers

CHUCK OFFENBURGER

My own ‘Fair-Side Chat’ with you readers

BETH HOFFMAN

How the Sausage is Made, Fair Style

DEB ENGLE

All's Fair

JOHN NAUGHTON

The tacky and talented: Iowa's State Fair

JOHN NAUGHTON

The tacky and talented: Iowa's State Fair

DAVE PRICE

Iowa's governor, the talk show host

JEFF MORRISON

The great, glorious, genuine Iowa State Fair

IOWA LIFE GOES ON

….what follows the Fair? Back to school stories. Jody Gifford puts state-mandated policies in the perspective of an Iowa family.

It's Back to School Time!

THE IOWA ANGLE TO WILDFIRES RAGING IN HAWAII

An Iowa angle to the wild fires in Hawaii

PAT KINNEY

'Thank your for your service' a long time coming for Greene Vietnam vet

DINING IN CLEAR LAKE

Good Eats + Great Fun up in Clear Lake, Iowa: A Highly Curated List

ROBERT LEONARD

Little Girls Review the Barbie Movie

AGRICULTURE

Unfinished Business

POLITICS

DOUG BURNS

Tie value of dollar to corn, beans, ag commodities, presidential candidate Ramaswamy says

DAVE PRICE

Iowa's governor, the talk show host

Who would want to work for someone who “never backs down”?

Another Trump indictment, a Texas deployment, ethanol lawsuit, and more

ART CULLEN

The message from our governor: We are Iowa Nasty

CHUCK OFFENBURGER

Repeating O’burger under this category, too.

My own ‘Fair-Side Chat’ with you readers

SPORTS (and gardening?)

ROB GRAY

Contemplating “Controlled Chaos” — in football and in life

WHO KNEW?

BARRY PIATT

Check That Jingle-Jangle in Your Pocket

MARY SWANDER

The Call of the Corncrake

POETRY

Suzanna de Baca

I Pray You Leave Us Gently

We, the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative members, are grateful for your support of our work. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to our individual columnists. They put great effort into providing content you won’t find elsewhere. If it is not possible, consider sharing this roundup with those you think might be interested in joining our subscriber base.

Iowa Writers’ Collaborative Columnists

Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights

Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll

Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines

Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, Roundup

Steph Copley: It Was Never a Dress, Johnston

Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake

Suzanna de Baca: Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley

Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County

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

Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames

Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines

Rob Gray: Rob Gray’s Area, Ankeny

Nik Heftman: The Seven Times, Los Angeles and Iowa

Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilla

Dana James: New Black Iowa, Des Moines

Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo

Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames

Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey

Letters from Iowans, Iowa

Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa

Alison McGaughey, The Inquisitive Quad Citizen, Quad Cities

Kurt Meyer: Showing Up, St. Ansgar

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

Macey Spensley: The Midwest Creative, Iowa

Larry Stone: Listening to the Land, Elkader

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, Kalona

Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County

Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport

Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines

The Iowa Writers Collaborative is also proud to ally with Iowa Capital Dispatch.