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It was a big local news week

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It was a big local news week

...your Sunday Roundup

Jan 22, 2023
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It was a big local news week

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Iowa Writers Collaborative is a reader-supported publication. To support our collective efforts, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. If you can only pay for one, pick a columnist below and become a paid subscriber.

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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.

empty chairs in theater
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
Unfinished Business
I'm staring at a 14" x 17" file box stashed away in an upstairs closet. It's all that's left from my 9 years of serving as a school board member in Boone County. I tossed the 3-ring school policy binders and other ISBA materials long ago. After 18 years, maybe it's time to let go of a half-dozen folders filled with new…
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5 months ago · 22 likes · 12 comments · Cheryl Tevis

DAVE BUSIEK

Who is behind the barrage of ads???

Dave Busiek on Media
Priorities for Iowa – Paid for by Out-of-State Money?
The 30-second television ad where Governor Kim Reynolds advocates for her school voucher program is just one part of a multi-prong effort by the governor and Iowa Republicans to try to change the narrative around the effort to give hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to private schools…
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5 months ago · 3 likes · 10 comments · Dave Busiek

LAURA BELIN

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

Iowa politics with Laura Belin
A busy first week for Iowa lawmakers
Governor Kim Reynolds’ revised school voucher plan is the talk of the town, but other bills are starting to move at the state capitol. You can find lots of information on the Iowa legislature’s website. At Bleeding Heartland, I compiled who’s who in the Iowa House…
Read more
5 months ago · Laura Belin

ART CULLEN

Art Cullen’s Notebook
I think I know what My Old Man would have said
The Iowa Senate moved swiftly in its first week to advance a bill granting vouchers to families of private school students worth nearly $8,000 per head. It leaves me queasy for the speed and commitment of the Republican legislature and governor, and sets off alarm among others…
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5 months ago · 17 likes · 2 comments · Art Cullen

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:

Julie Gammack's Iowa Potluck
Vouchers were the talk of our Zoom town hall
Watch now (61 min) | Oh my, last Monday’s Zoom call was a doozy. Watch for yourself. If you’ve not participated in one of our Monday Zoom lunch sessions, you will see when you watch the video above it’s as if you were attending a dinner party with some of the most intelligent, most engaged citizens of Iowa…
Read more
5 months ago · 2 likes · Julie Gammack

ED TIBBETTS

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

Along the Mississippi
Lousy choices
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds says her plan to use taxpayer money to pay for private schooling gives people a choice to educate their kids where they want. But that’s not what her plan says. Just look at the details: Only certain families with kids in public schools will get that choice…
Read more
5 months ago · 8 likes · Ed Tibbetts

BARRY PIATT

Barry Piatt on Politics: - Behind the Curtains
Do New Committee Posts for Iowa's US House Members Matter?
Iowa’s new US House delegation received their committee assignments for the new Congress. In any normal year, those new appointments would be worth celebrating. This year, however, they are worth maybe a yawn or two, but not much more. All members of the House are appointed to multiple committees, but Iowa’s all Republican delegation now has what would n…
Read more
5 months ago · Barry Piatt

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

PAT KINNEY

View from the Cedar Valley
Another milestone for Waterloo civil rights icon
The woman who brought the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to Waterloo in 1959 had better prepare her pipes to blow out a bunch of candles. Longtime Waterloo civil rights leader Anna Mae Weems will turn 97 years old on Feb. 6. View from the Cedar Valley is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becomin…
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5 months ago · 2 likes · Pat Kinney

DOUG BURNS

The Iowa Mercury
How to live to be 99 or almost die (a lot) trying
The headline to this column is just the sort of thing Harold Gifford would have said. He was 99 going on 35 — right up until his death Saturday Jan. 7. He was the most ageless person I’ve encountered in a 30-year career. We are all, of course, mortal, and as much as anyone I have covered, Harold put that to the test. I sometimes figured he just wouldn’t d…
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5 months ago · 3 likes · 1 comment · Douglas Burns

ROBERT LEONARD

Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture
A Ride on a CH-47 Chinook Helicopter!
An Iowa National Guard CH-47 Chinook Helicopter at the Knoxville Airport Tuesday Social media was abuzz in Marion County on Tuesday, with people wondering what the deal was with the helicopter flying over Lake Red Rock and back. And it wasn’t just ANY helicopter. It was a…
Read more
5 months ago · 4 likes · 2 comments · Robert Leonard

KYLE MUNSON

Kyle Munson's Main Street
6 habits to be a better neighbor, courtesy of the Lyceum Movement
I suppose the NFL playoffs were the popular entertainment over the weekend, but I was most excited to join a public forum Saturday evening in downtown Des Moines for lively conversation among neighbors. I make no apologies for my geekery. The more we live our lives in the digital cloud, the more I’m convinced we must go out of our way to preserve and pri…
Read more
5 months ago · 7 likes · 3 comments · Kyle Munson

SUZANNA DE BACA

Dispatches from the Heartland
It started with words
Read more
5 months ago · 5 likes · 8 comments · Suzanna de Baca

CHUCK OFFENBURGER

Our own Iowa Boy is cooking up quite a project.

Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger
Doing baseball in Cuba – a year from right now
DES MOINES, Iowa – It was cold, gray and snowing in Iowa as I started writing this. The weather forecast was for up to a foot of snow in parts of the state. Mid-January. A perfect time in Iowa to, uh, be in Cuba. Know what I mean?Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a…
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5 months ago · 7 likes · 4 comments · Chuck Offenburger

MARY SWANDER

Pure delight.

Mary Swander’s Buggy Land
Beets on the Ceiling
The beets were about to explode, steam rising in the pressure canner. “Stand back,” her mother said. “You never know what’s going to happen.” Jane Yoder-Short hurried to the darkest corner of the kitchen, her hands over her head and fingers in her ears. Her mother turned the valve, and wi…
Read more
5 months ago · 5 likes · 4 comments · Mary Swander

BETH HOFFMAN

In the Dirt
Transitions, of Land and Life
It felt like we had been cast in a movie; the scene the Intensive Care Unit, the patient a frail almost-91-year-old man, my father-in-law Leroy Hogeland. John (my husband), his two sisters, their spouses, and children stood on three sides of the bed holding his hand, stroking his arm, telling him they loved him. Leroy lay in the center, mumble-whisperin…
Read more
5 months ago · 4 likes · 3 comments · Beth Hoffman

KURT MEYER

Showing Up
Iowa Author Revisited
“There is only one way to eat an elephant: a bite at a time.” … Desmond Tutu I recently happened upon a literary “elephant” and have started taking bites. MacKinlay Kantor, native Iowan (Webster City), joins other writers I’ve gone deep on – Hamlin Garland, Edna Ferber, and Frederick Manfred. Although I’ve not yet savored…
Read more
5 months ago · Kurtis Meyer

JOHN NAUGHTON

My Life, in Color
Ex-NFL player delivers powerful MLK message
Sam Acho walked onto a stage that Martin Luther King Jr. graced 64 years ago to share a powerful, yet personal, story with Iowans. Acho, a former NFL linebacker, appeared in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day ceremony as a keynote speaker. He shared his vision at Lutheran Church of Hope+Elim entitled “The Beloved Community…
Read more
5 months ago · John Naughton

NIK HEFTMAN

Become Inspired...
ADVERSITY
Watch now (2 min) | Paola Elena Acuña faced a number of challenges when she immigrated to the U.S. nearly two decades ago. She worked a number of jobs to support herself. At times, she struggled to put food on the table. Acuña never gave up, and she now owns her own business …
Read more
5 months ago · The Seven Times

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

Fern and Joe
Fern and Joe: Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire
Read more
5 months ago · 1 like · Fern Kupfer and Joe Geha
Julie Gammack's Iowa Potluck
Sh*t Richard says
OKOBOJI, IA—-Thoughts on the 215-some miles Iowa road trip from Des Moines to here: —There's a different climate north of Highway 20–colder, windier, snowier. —Driving through miles of snow-packed fields along Highway 71 North. It reminds me of scenes from 'Doctor Zhivago.' I ask Julie: 'Can you name the four stars in that movie? Spoiler…
Read more
5 months ago · 19 likes · 10 comments

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

white and black chess pieces
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash


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
To receive a weekly roundup of all Iowa Writers’ Collaborative columnists, sign up here (free): ROUNDUP COLUMN

We are proud to have an alliance with Iowa Capital Dispatch.

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