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Vouchers, RAGBRAI, Hayden Fry, and Rekha Basu

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Vouchers, RAGBRAI, Hayden Fry, and Rekha Basu

...throw in a poem. a trip to California, and some sensitivity training and a welcome newcomer

Jan 29
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Vouchers, RAGBRAI, Hayden Fry, and Rekha Basu

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Our columnists weighed in on the most radical push to privatize schools the state has experienced. Dave Busiek, Laura Belin, Art Cullen, Ed Tibbetts, and even John Naughton cover the topic, with our sports writer quoting high school coaches on the impact.

DAVE BUSIEK

Dave Busiek on Media
We Get Squeezed Out as Legislators Change the Rules
A disturbing trend in American governance these days is when legislators eliminate opposition by simply changing the rules of the game. These rules changes are squeezing out legislators in the minority party, journalists, and citizens. There are a number of examples this week. Here in Des Moines, Republicans in control of the …
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2 months ago · 9 likes · 17 comments · Dave Busiek

ED TIBBETTS

Along the Mississippi
On a collision course
Say what you want about Kim Reynolds, but she knows how to break the furniture. Over the past two years, Iowa’s governor has convinced Republican legislators to pass two radical new bills – a big tax cut to carve about 20% out of the state’s $8 billion annual budget and a private school funding plan that will cost taxpaye…
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2 months ago · 5 likes · 5 comments · Ed Tibbetts

JOHN NAUGHTON

My Life, in Color
Prep moneyball: Vouchers can impact sports
Numbers have always been a big part of the Iowa high school sports scene. A new figure entered the playbook Tuesday — $7,598. That’s the voucher amount projected per student in the Students First Act signed into law by Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds. The concept is families who want to choose a private school education can qualify for a state-sponsored subsidy: “…parents who enroll their eligible children in an accredited private school will receive an amount equal to the per pupil funds allocated by the state to all public school districts each year. The funds are estimated at $7,598 per pupil for the 2023-2024 school year and will be deposited into an education savings account (ESA) to be used for tuition, fees, and other qualified education expenses,” according to a press release from the governor’s office…
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2 months ago · 1 like · John Naughton

LAURA BELIN

Belin’s take on the IDP chair race:

Iowa politics with Laura Belin
Rita Hart has her work cut out for her
This reporting first appeared at Bleeding Heartland and is shared here as part of the Iowa Writers Collaborative. For previous analysis of the 2022 elections, click here. For regular emails linking to other Bleeding Heartland coverage, subscribe to the free Evening Heartland ne…
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2 months ago · 1 like · 2 comments · Laura Belin
Iowa politics with Laura Belin
Vouchers, vouchers, and more
It was a late night at the Iowa capitol and a later night in my home newsroom as state House and Senate Republicans approved Governor Kim Reynolds’ top legislative priority: an unlimited entitlement for Iowans who send their kids to private schools…
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2 months ago · 1 like · Laura Belin

ART CULLEN

Art Cullen’s Notebook
Republicans are determined to test their limits
Republicans are bearing full steam ahead on their platform to shift Iowa hard to the right, and in doing so might give Democrats the opening they sorely need. The minority party was left in a shambles following the midterm elections. The GOP controls the governor’s office, both legislative chambers, and the state congressional delegation. State Auditor R…
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2 months ago · 7 likes · 3 comments · Art Cullen

Welcome to our newest Iowa Writers’ Collaborative member, Macey Spensley. She’ll lower our collective age curve a few notches. We look forward to reading her perspective, not too far away from becoming a college graduate.

MACEY SPENSLEY

The Midwest Creative
The Midwest Creative: A Becoming
When I was around fourteen or fifteen, I sat in the sunroom of my parents’ house. Surrounded by my mom’s ever-growing collection of novels (my niece recently counted and she owns well over 1,000 books), I shot off a text to a friend. The Midwest Creative is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a fre…
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2 months ago · 7 likes · 3 comments · Macey Spensley

SUZANNA DE BACA

Dispatches from the Heartland
I hope you make your flight
Let me get that for you The stranger says And opens the heavy door Of the convenience store As the snow falls around us. Here I got this for you My husband says Handing me a steaming cup of coffee From the drive-through kiosk across town The warm aroma fills the room. There’s bundt cake in the kitchen My colleague says The new gu…
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2 months ago · 3 likes · 13 comments · Suzanna de Baca

KYLE MUNSON

Columnist Kyle Munson sums up the only-in-Iowa tradition of RAGBRAI in his column this week by telling us about one of the first riders.

RAGBRAI represents both a fixed destination and an infectious ideal. It has become an acceptable way for adults to run away to the rural Spandex circus each summer. The rest of the year we strive (and too often fail) to live up to the spirit of “RAGBRAI Nation” in our everyday lives: goodwill to fellow travelers, no bike locks, no ego, no stress, etc.

Kyle Munson's Main Street
50 years ago, he was among the few to finish the first RAGBRAI.
The young bicyclist was hungry for freedom. Eager to chase adventure along the open road. It was the summer of 1973 in northwest Iowa. By week, Stephen Gaul, 18, toiled for a moving company. On weekends the young guy from the town of Spencer worked a second, sunny job at Manhattan Beach Resort, 22 miles north on the shores of West Okoboji Lake…
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2 months ago · 1 like · 2 comments · Kyle Munson

Four days ago, Julie Gammack announced a new venture she and former Register columnist Rekha Basu are cooking up:

What the hell happened to Iowa?

Julie Gammack's Iowa Potluck
A big announcement for Rekha Basu
Rekha Basu and Julie Gammack will soon launch a podcast titled: What the hell happened to Iowa? Here’s another effing learning curve and growth opportunity. I’ve downloaded Adobe’s Audition software, and Bob Leonard has given me a tutorial over a Zoom call on how to edit audio. Substack offers podcast hosting capability, and…
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2 months ago · 15 likes · 1 comment · Julie Gammack

NIK HEFTMAN

Nik Heftman uses his television production skills to tell stories about businesses owned by people of color through his column series, The Seven Times. Catch this week’s piece:

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 …
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2 months ago · 1 like · The Seven Times

PAT KINNEY

Our Waterloo columnist tells a heartwarming story about Coach Hayden Fry and a football player.

View from the Cedar Valley
Playing for the man
This is a…
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2 months ago · 3 likes · Pat Kinney

ROBERT LEONARD

Our heartland chronicler, Robert Leonard, is always up to something interesting. Catch his post from Friday, and look forward to his perspective on a variety of topics:

Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture
Midwestern History, Academic Freedom
I would like to invite you to our monthly gathering of the Iowa Writer’s Collaborative today at noon via Zoom. This is for everyone who is a paid subscriber for any of our columnists, who will be able to get the link to the meeting below. If you aren’t a subscriber, please consider doing so if you can afford it. It’s always fun and interesting…
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2 months ago · 2 likes · Robert Leonard

KURT MEYER

One of our newer members is Kurt Meyer, who writes about evolving perspective on insensitivities to Native American culture in this week’s column, It’s a start:

Showing Up
It's a Start...
“The Guthrie would like to acknowledge that we gather on the traditional land of the Dakota People and honor with gratitude the land itself and the people who have stewarded it throughout the generations, including the Ojibwe and other Indigenous nations…
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2 months ago · 1 like · 1 comment · Kurtis Meyer

JANE NGUYEN

The majority population of this state is not regularly offered stories about immigrants to Iowa and the United States. Columnist Jane Nguyen is changing that here in the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative.

The Asian Iowan
From South Korea to Iowa; a lavish life left behind to chase the American Dream
As a little girl, in Busan, South Korea, Le Wang loved pretty dresses. Her father, Hou Shiang Wang, owned an upscale restaurant on the very top floor of the posh Commodore Hotel Busan. His restaurant served elegant Korean and Chinese dishes. Le recalls the lowest level of the hotel was lined with shops and her favorite was the dress shop was filled with…
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2 months ago · 6 likes · Jane Nguyen

MARY SWANDER

She introduces readers to various new voices through Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices column. This week, we glimpse how a young climate activist from Iowa City sees the world around him. Here’s a piece by Massimo Paciotto Biggers:

Mary Swander's Emerging Voices
The Climate Crisis in a Theatre (and Town) Near You
James Cameron’s long-awaited sequel to his first film, Avatar: The Way of Water, has hit the theatres. Movie goers have been transported to the planet of Pandora in a battle over environmental protection and greed, and the fallout of climate change. For Gen Z viewers like me, it’s not like climate crisis has been missing in f…
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2 months ago · 1 like · Mary Swander

CHERYL TEVIS

Unfinished Business
Unfinished Business
When the company of Vaudeville comedian Herb Williams arrived at Sioux City, Iowa, in 1926, sisters Eunice and Nelle Adams were at the front of the line to buy tickets. After the first show, a performer named Robert Q. began flirting with them. Robert asked Eunice for a date, followed by another one or two before the troupe left for its next booking in …
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2 months ago · 3 likes · 2 comments · Cheryl Tevis

BARRY PIATT

Barry Piatt on Politics: - Behind the Curtains
Echo Chambers Don't Foster Sound Thinking
As a cub political reporter for Iowa’s Dallas County News, I was in the audience on November 13, 1969, and heard Vice President Spiro Agnew launch his famous - some say infamous - attack on the news media. The speech was delivered in Des Moines at the Hotel Ft. Des Moines. The TV networks were there to cover it live, in prime time. No speech by an Ameri…
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2 months ago · Barry Piatt

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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
Nik Heftman, The Seven Times, Iowa and California
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 Curtains, Washington, D.C.
Macey Spensley, The Midwest Creative, Davenport/Des Moines
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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Vouchers, RAGBRAI, Hayden Fry, and Rekha Basu

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