What Do Joni Ernst, Rob Sand, Superman, and Pie have in Common with Willie Nelson?
...they are mentioned in today's Roundup. That's it.
From the delicate “First Tomato of the Season” by
, which celebrates patience and the quiet miracles of the garden, to by Abena Sankofa Imotep, who offers her observation on white women parading tan lines, this week’s roster of 40+ columns captures the rich tapestry of life in Iowa—its joys, and urgent challenges.We confront hard truths together:
writes about the brutality of ICE raids carried out under federal funding, families torn apart and left searching for answers, while the heartbreaking tragedy in Texas, where floodwaters claimed the lives of sleeping children at summer camp, and FEMA’s silence in its wake. And has an urgent warning for Iowans who, too, could be swept up by climate-related catastrophe.Here in the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, we have outstanding commentary about climate from
, and today.We’re reminded that elections have consequences, ignorance has consequences, and willful denial is itself a choice. It’s the kind of reporting and reflection that keeps democracy honest—and underscores why the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative exists: a statewide network of 80-plus independent storytellers and journalists dedicated to holding power to account and giving every Iowan a voice.
Meanwhile,
lays out the grim statistics of disappearing local newsrooms and the watchdogs they once employed, a wake-up call that resonates louder than ever. And on another note— revisits E.B. White’s prophetic essay on New York City in honor of his birthday, inviting us to wonder: What wisdom might the man who gave us Charlotte’s Web offer about our own changing world?The outstanding reporter/writer
has one amazing story in the Business category and three about sailing in the Sports category. Her range and depth of reporting is beyond compare.
National Politics
Cheryl Tevis: Cheryl Tevis advocates commonsense federal and state partnerships to protect the landmarks of our lives from natural disasters. READ MORE
Douglas Burns: In The Iowa Mercury, Douglas Burns explains why Donald Trump is “American carbon monoxide.” READ MORE
Ed Tibbetts: Republicans got their $1 trillion in health care cuts. Now, they’re trying to pretend nobody will get hurt. Ed Tibbetts at Along the Mississippi exposes their lies. READ MORE
Nicole Baart: Feeling overwhelmed by our current political climate? Nicole Baart offers a reason to hold onto hope. READ MORE
Matt Russell: Russell unpacks last week’s workforce strategies at the Trump Administration starting with the Secretary of Ag offering up Medicaid recipients to fill agricultural worker gaps created by deporting all the immigrant farm workers. READ MORE
Rekha Basu: The Trump administration's degrading, violent and unconstitutional treatment of migrants without papers goes well beyond building fences or deporting criminals. It’s a brutal campaign steeped in inhumanity. READ MORE
Robert Leonard: Bob Leonard and his family made an emergency trip to New Mexico and he learned from railroad workers that there is nothing wrong with the work ethic of Americans. He wrote “Men Going to Work in Emporia, Kansas, July 10, 2025.” READ MORE
Dennis Goldford: Our constitutional framework was set up to ensure that majorities rule, but not over everything. As it’s developed, however, we have a framework in which minorities rule, period. READ MORE
Iowa Politics
Laura Belin: As a new round of retirement rumors swirled around Senator Joni Ernst, Laura Belin pondered whether Democrats would be better off running against Ernst or Ashley Hinson in Iowa's U.S. Senate race next year. READ MORE
Dave Price: Hey fool! Does anyone care about civility any more?! Dave Price wants to know. Plus, Dave has some thoughts on President Trump apparently deciding an Iowa congressman’s future. READ MORE
Art Cullen: Gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand skirted questions about water pollution in Iowa during an introductory visit to Storm Lake. We should expect that Iowa’s leading Democrat would confront our most pressing issue, Art Cullen argues. READ MORE
Laura Belin: Laura Belin and Spencer Dirks covered lots of Iowa angles on the budget reconciliation bill, Donald Trump’s rally in Des Moines, and the latest news from Iowa’s 2026 campaigns on the latest edition of “KHOI’s Capitol Week.” READ MORE
Letters from Iowans: In Letters From Iowans, Gordie Felger asks Rep. Ashley Hinson to show compassion for constituents who disagree with her. READ MORE
Agriculture
Ken Chester: Domestic Bees in Crisis! The interconnected nature of our technological and ecological challenges becomes clear when considering the crisis facing both domestic honeybees and native wild bees. As pollinators of 80% of flowering plants worldwide, their decline poses a significant threat to our food security and biodiversity. How are you adapting to the converging challenges of mobility, climate change, and environmental sustainability? READ MORE
Around Iowa
Chuck Offenburger: It’s impossible to watch “Pie Lady” Beth Howard’s new documentary “PIEOWA” without thinking you’re going to bake, eat, buy or beg more pie — now! READ MORE
John Crabtree: Though the Heavens Fall – Cancer in Iowa – 99 Counties Project Update. READ MORE
Marianne Fons: Paid subscribers are in for a treat, July 26 in Quiltropolis . . . Winterset. READ MORE
Tory Brecht: An unsettling evening chat with an AI bot. READ MORE
Business
Phoebe Wall Howard: A blind engineer who invited cruise control and forever changed automotive technology is the focus of a new documentary film featuring Jeff Daniels, now streaming. READ MORE
Rick Jost: Invasion of the Job Snatchers – Scary headlines might make it appear that artificial intelligence is taking over the world. But some businesses are already experiencing downside with AI. READ MORE
Suzanna de Baca: Suzanna De Baca shares the latest from Leading Outside the Box with a striking lesson drawn from Mary Oliver’s reflections on creativity. In “Modern Leadership: ‘Rising Like Fire Through the Mountain,’” she invites leaders to go deeper than trends and build lasting impact through thoughtful, rooted innovation. READ MORE
Diversity in the Heartland
Alison McGaughey: A quick pop in to a new business owned by a Honduran family—one to check out if you're anywhere near Davenport. READ MORE
Pat Kinney: A Waterloo woman's activism is born from a childhood neighbor's death in an Alabama church bombing in 1963. READ MORE
Christina Fernandez-Morrow: Leveraging Latina entrepreneurs’ $800 billion economic power, the second annual Latina Business Excellence Summit on August 9, 2025, at Drake University invites you to transformative panels, hands-on health workshops, and community-driven networking to strengthen your financial, physical, and mental well-being. READ MORE
Jane Nguyen: Jane Nguyen writes about the 17th annual Citizenship Ceremony at the Iowa Cubs baseball game on July 3rd. READ MORE
Law and Justice
Dan Henderson: The United States incarcerates a lot of people, especially those who we don’t like. What if Trump's current round of immigrant round ups isn’t about deportation, but about creating a massive private convict leasing industry? Read Henderson's article to learn how this effort is really an extension of American practice, and it isn’t new. READ MORE
Media
Dave Busiek: Who's watching city hall? The answer should scare you. Dave Busiek on Media reports on a new study that asks "where are the journalists?" READ MORE
Daniel P. Finney: MOVIE REVIEW: “Superman” refuses to let Superman be the hero. READ MORE
Mental Health
Kali White VanBaale: In a new Minding the Gaps column Kali White VanBaale writes about a squandered opportunity to create more desperately needed supportive housing in downtown Des Moines. READ MORE
Poetry
Suzanna de Baca: Suzanna de Baca shares a new poem, this week not inspired by news headlines but by the garden. In "First Tomato of the Season," she offers a sensory celebration of patience, memory, and the small joys that nourish us. READ MORE
Sports
Phoebe Wall Howard: A young sailor talks about how competing in long distance races with her father, mother and grandfather have changed her and the family. READ MORE
Phoebe Wall Howard: Skipper of a champion sailboat gets a heart warning and explains why competition must go on. READ MORE
Phoebe Wall Howard: An award-winning navigator reveals strategies that win sailboat races. READ MORE
The Iowa Angle (a local tie-in to a national or international story)
Abena Sankofa Imhotep: Hue Don’t Know? READ MORE
Abena Sankofa Imhotep Avery Gregurich: In this edition of The Five and Dime, Avery Gregurich examines one of our great American traditions: the Willie Nelson concert. READ MORE
Weather and Environment
Chris Gloninger: Young PhDs come to the Plains to talk climate. READ MORE
Mary Swander (Buggy Land): Mary Swander wonders where exactly she is going, taking the ferry from Cleggan to Inishbofin Island, Ireland, to teach in an ecology seminar. READ MORE
Chris Gloninger: Three Degrees Podcast: Meet the Scientists Bringing Climate Truth to the Heartland—inside the grassroots road trip that’s putting real climate science—humble, honest, and face-to-face—back in the conversation. READ MORE
David Thoreson: How Not to be Texas—Look out Iowa. Climate denial is endangering the Hawkeye State also. READ MORE
World Affairs
Michael Judge: “How E.B. White Saw It All—A City, Its Future: On E.B. White's birthday, TFP revisits the great American writer's prophetic essay, ‘Here Is New York.’” READ MORE
Winterset, Here We Come!
Come meet some of your favorite Iowa Writers’ Collaborative members in Winterset on July 26. We are holding a thank-you event for those who are paid subscribers to any of our members, or this roundup.
Starting at 3:00 p.m., our paid subscribers are invited to join the screening of the film Storm Lake, a documentary about the struggles a family-owned newspaper in Iowa faces. The focus of this story is
, who will be on hand to meet y’all.There will be an after-party, too.
All you need to do to come is RSVP, and be a paid subscriber to any one of us. Still lurking? May we suggest you start with our Madison County hosts, Marianne Fons, Deb Engle, or Vicki Minor.
will be joining us, trekking back to his home state from Washington, D.C. , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and plan on being there. Possibly others, too.We are eager to meet this amazing community of readers from across the state.
Here are more details from Marianne:
