Amie Rivers

Amie Rivers

Amie Rivers

Amie Rivers is Iowa Starting Line’s newsletter editor. She writes the weekly Worker’s Almanac edition of Iowa Starting Line, featuring a roundup of the worker news you need to know. Previously, she was an award-winning journalist at the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier; now, she very much enjoys making TikToks and memes and getting pet photos in her inbox.

Have a story tip? Reach Amie at amie@iowastartingline.com. For local reporting in Iowa that connects the dots, from policy to people, sign up for Amie’s newsletter.

Latest from Amie Rivers

  • Local

    What will happen to 1,276 laid-off Tyson workers in Perry?

    What will happen to the 1,276 Iowans who will lose their jobs when the Tyson pork processing plant in Perry closes in June? Roger Kail, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1155, represents workers at that plant, and that is something he is working to figure out. Things had been going…

  • Local

    1,276 people to lose jobs when Tyson plant in Perry closes in June

    1,276. That’s how many people in and around the central Iowa town of Perry will lose their jobs by the end of June, after Tyson announced Monday it would permanently close its longtime pork processing plant there. That’s a HUGE number of workers (and the largest employer in Perry): It’s more than 12% of Tyson’s…

  • Politics

    When getting a raise means losing health care: Disabled Iowans fighting back

    By all rights, Sioux City resident Erica Carter should be a success story. Despite a spinal cord injury 13 years ago—which left her unable to get out of bed without help—Carter was able to complete both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in accounting. Today, she is the finance manager at a public school and is…

  • Local

    UPDATE: Seaboard ends contract after 9 kids found working illegally in Sioux City meatpacking plant

    At least nine children were working on overnight shifts cleaning dangerous meatpacking equipment at a Sioux City plant, according to court filings Wednesday from the US Department of Labor (DOL). The children were allegedly employed by Fayette Industrial, a Tennessee-based company that contracts with other companies to clean their facilities. Fayette had the children working…

  • Local

    Crafty Grandma: Waterloo craft-fluencer sharing her skills

    Sue Wright and I had been chatting over coffee for a while, about her crafting projects, her tiny cardboard houses, and her YouTube presence, when I noticed the buttons of her shirt bore a striking resemblance to buttons inside of the miniature house she was showing me. “Wait—you made this? All the clothes you’re wearing…

  • Politics

    Iowa Republicans have a new union-busting bill

    Labor advocates say a new Republican-backed bill that would force public employers in Iowa to submit a list of employees eligible to vote in their union election prior to each election—and, if the state doesn’t get it in time, they’ll decertify the union—is yet another union-busting tactic. Senate Study Bill 3158, introduced by  Sen. Adrian…

  • Politics

    Iowa Republicans want to ban local bans on conversion therapy

    Iowa Republicans are continuing their attack on Home Rule in the Legislature this year, this time going after bans on widely discredited conversion therapy for minors. Iowa Sen. Sandy Salmon—a Republican from Janesville who represents Bremer, Butler, Chickasaw and most of Floyd counties—introduced Senate File 2037 last week. It passed out of a Senate subcommittee…

  • Politics

    Ramaswamy downplays Trump attack, says he is the future of MAGA

    Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy downplayed a social media attack on him by Iowa Caucus frontrunner and former President Donald Trump who told people not to waste their vote on the political newcomer. In Waterloo, Ramaswamy, who has largely run on Trump’s MAGA agenda but says he would be “the future” of it, was careful…

  • Politics

    Haley stumps in Cedar Falls as temperatures continue to drop

    Nikki Haley played up the brutally cold weather conditions and general campaign fatigue during an in-person event Saturday morning in downtown Cedar Falls as the Iowa caucus continues to wind down. “Two days ’til caucus,” Haley, who is campaigning for the top of the Republican presidential ticket, told an overflow crowd packed into Second State…