Amie Rivers

Owning a small business has always been difficult, particularly if you’re facing discrimination because of your gender or race. Add in an economic crisis brought on by the perfect storm of a pandemic, supply chain problems, inflation, overseas conflicts, and empty legislative promises, and Iowa’s small business owners have had it rough lately. At a…

It’s tempting, easy, or—let’s be honest—lazy to only think of Iowa as a flat state divided into squares of corn and soybeans. That’s what everyone else thinks of us, looking down from their airplane as it flies over, right? Sure, we’re an agricultural state. Many of Iowa’s once-defining features of windswept prairies, wild woodlands, and…

Was Keir Hichens surprised that his small, private Iowa college would vote overwhelmingly to unionize its undergraduate student workers, becoming the first college in the entire country to do so? Not at all, the Grinnell College junior said. That’s because Hichens and other organizers before him spent five years putting in the work. The unionization…

Cargill, JBS, National Beef, Smithfield Foods, and Tyson, all of which operate meatpacking plants in Iowa, are accused of conspiring with the Trump Administration to shield themselves from legal liability after they forced workers back on the line during the COVID pandemic, despite being “aware of the high risks,” according to a damning new report…

Drivers at King’s Ready Mix in Cedar Rapids went on strike Tuesday for better wages while the company argues their pay is fair. Jesse Case, secretary/treasurer of Teamsters Local #238, said 16 drivers were striking for higher wages, the only thing workers were bargaining for. “We are hopeful for a resolution, but the members are…

Carly Matthew was excited in 2020 when she began working at Seed Savers Exchange, a Decorah nonprofit dedicated to the preservation of heirloom seeds. She went to The Organic Farm School in Washington State for six months to learn all about the trade. This April, when she was promoted to the position of evaluation manager,…

A private meeting Wednesday between select Marion-area parents, Gov. Kim Reynolds, and US Rep. Ashley Hinson had state Sen. Liz Mathis calling it a “secret meeting” to promote Reynolds’ “unpopular bill” on school vouchers. Hinson disputed that, saying it was instead to hear concerns from parents about schools’ policies on transgender students. However, handouts passed…

Iowa Democrats and Republicans lined up Monday and Tuesday to denounce or affirm a leaked ruling that would overturn a federal right to abortion. Those looking to represent Iowans in November sounded off after the release of a draft ruling by the US Supreme Court, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, that would overturn both Roe…

Another United Auto Workers (UAW) union strike is on. More than 1,000 unionized workers at CNH Industrial (CNHi) in Iowa and Wisconsin, where they manufacture Case and New Holland agricultural products, began striking at noon on Monday. The union failed to reach an agreement with the company on wages, retirement benefits, and better working conditions,…