It was a big local news week

...your Sunday Roundup

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Vouchers

Vouchers, vouchers, vouchers. The Iowa Legislature is on the verge of passing legislation that will have far-reaching consequences in every corner of the state. Six of our columnists weigh in on the hottest issue in the state. What will happen to Iowa’s existing public schools?

Today, our columnists introduce you to a Civil Rights leader in Waterloo, explosive beets (gotta read it), building community, a Chinook helicopter ride over Red Rock, transitioning a family farm, Iowa’s congressional delegation’s committee assignments, and a possible baseball game in Cuba. We have poetry, a couple of inspirational columns, and a surprise message by an NFL player. Toward the end of the roundup, find a serving of humor from Fern, Joe, and Richard.

Enjoy your Sunday with the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

CHERYL TEVIS

We will start today’s roundup with Cheryl Tevis’s column from Pilot Mound. She offers her thoughts on the latest voucher bill based on her experience as a former school board member, a parent, and an educator:

I've been alarmed over the past 13 years to see deliberate efforts by the Iowa legislature to underfund public schools and withhold adequate resources. In her new 501(c)(4)-funded TV commercial, the Governor brags about how the state's public school funding has increased by almost one billion in the past ten years. Yet the annual percentage increases in Supplemental State Aid have averaged a miserly 2% -- well below the rising costs of inflation.

Unfinished Business

DAVE BUSIEK

Who is behind the barrage of ads???

Priorities for Iowa – Paid for by Out-of-State Money?

LAURA BELIN

Our watchdog keeps on top of what’s going on in the legislature as best as anyone can.

A busy first week for Iowa lawmakers

ART CULLEN

I think I know what My Old Man would have said

JULIE GAMMACK

Julie holds regular Zoom sessions on most Mondays for those who subscribe to her column. Previously, she limited participation to those who were paid as a way to thank them for supporting scholarships to the Okoboji Writers’ Retreat. Last Monday, she had Iowa Writers’ Collaborative columnists Laura Belin and Ed Tibbets on the call to talk about the Legislature. Listen to the conversation:

Vouchers were the talk of our Zoom town hall

ED TIBBETTS

Veteran political reporter Ed Tibbetts weighs in on the voucher proposal:

Lousy choices

BARRY PIATT

Do New Committee Posts for Iowa's US House Members Matter?

Not everyone wrote about the Iowa Legislature this week. Our man in Waterloo celebrates a civil rights icon.

PAT KINNEY

Another milestone for Waterloo civil rights icon

DOUG BURNS

How to live to be 99 or almost die (a lot) trying

ROBERT LEONARD

A Ride on a CH-47 Chinook Helicopter!

KYLE MUNSON

6 habits to be a better neighbor, courtesy of the Lyceum Movement

SUZANNA DE BACA

It started with words

CHUCK OFFENBURGER

Our own Iowa Boy is cooking up quite a project.

Doing baseball in Cuba – a year from right now

MARY SWANDER

Pure delight.

Beets on the Ceiling

BETH HOFFMAN

Transitions, of Land and Life

KURT MEYER

Iowa Author Revisited

JOHN NAUGHTON

Ex-NFL player delivers powerful MLK message

NIK HEFTMAN

ADVERSITY

For a dash of roundup humor, don’t miss FERN AND JOE, and SH*T RICHARD SAYS:

Fern and Joe: Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

Sh*t Richard says

Send this to your favorite current and former Iowans. They’ll appreciate your thoughtfulness.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

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Here’s our current roster. If you can become a paid subscriber to any of them, they’ll be grateful.

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

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

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

Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa

Kurt Meyer, Showing Up, St. Ansgar

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.

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

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