Ty Rushing

For the first time in years, the mayor’s race in Waterloo is a competitive affair, as well as a particularly contentious one. Three-term incumbent Quentin Hart faces off against Councilwoman Margaret Klein and Waterloo resident Sophia Mays. Hart is campaigning on economic development, safety, community empowerment, and helping create a future vision for Waterloo. Klein,…

Editor’s Note: Story has been updated with a statement from Ottumwa Pride. Ottumwa mayoral candidate Rick Bick compared the LGBTQ community to pedophiles when questioned about whether he’d approve permits for things like gay pride events. Bick made the remark Monday during a candidate forum put on the League of Women Voters of Ottumwa. Bick…

Ross Wilburn knows he has two targets on his back at all times: He’s a high-profile public official and he’s Black. Wilburn, a state representative and chair of the Iowa Democratic Party, is used to being on the receiving end of racist remarks; however, three incidents earlier this month, including a threat of lynching, caused…

When the Waukee Community School District implemented an equity standard last year, it passed with little pushback. This year, however, it has become a target as part of a national wave of anti-critical race theory (CRT) candidates’ runs for school board. In Waukee, Morgan Hughes, Andrea Lawrence, Vin Thaker, and Jeff Rubino are running on…

Manape LaMere came home to Sioux City to make a difference. The son of the late Native American activist Frank LaMere, Manape is an activist in his own right. The 42-year-old spent five years living in South Dakota fighting for indigenous people’s rights, including participating in the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s fight against the Dakota…

Chris “Chrisco” Hill got his foot in the door of the shoe industry by selling custom-painted sneakers out of his dorm room at Iowa Central Community College. The big reason his work caught on at the school’s Fort Dodge campus was because he served as a walking billboard for his work. Hill, a sports fanatic,…

I honestly couldn’t tell you the last time I became really emotional in a movie theater before I saw “Storm Lake” on Monday. This is not me pretending I’m some super macho guy who doesn’t ever cry or express his emotions; I just don’t get teary in theaters. However, if I’m at home, it is…

Many of Iowa’s school board races in November are shaping up to be unusually hyper-partisan contests, with far-right candidates challenging incumbents over masking policies and the teaching of American history. In several high-profile cases, they’re being publicly backed by local fringe activists and groups who often promote disinformation about COVID, among other topics. In Ankeny,…

Some of Iowa’s anti-mask mandate parents have a new strategy to get what they want: threatening to defund public education by temporarily pulling their children out of school. Jeff Fahrmann of Ankeny started a petition that opposed the Ankeny School District implementing any sort of mask mandate following Monday’s ruling by a federal judge that…

The past is starting to catch up with an Arizona company whose traveling taco festivals have left a sour taste in the mouths of its attendees. Organizers in Wisconsin canceled the upcoming Madison Taco Festival citing complaints from other cities and media reports— including from Iowa Starting Line—about AZ Food Festivals LLC, the fly-by-night operation…