Amie here. It’s gonna be October already, somehow?!
Have you noticed any leaves changing yet? Here in Waterloo, I noticed the Virginia creeper’s gotten red, and maaaybe a few maple leaves turning yellow, but not much else.
What about where you live? Reply and tell me.
In this issue:
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Happy National Coffee Day! Here are some chains giving away freebies and discounts.
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Looks like we’re falling back to standard time Nov. 1, since nobody in Congress cared enough to advance a bill changing it. Do you care about daylight saving vs. standard time? Reply and tell me.
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There’s a new advocacy organization, Survivor Impact, fighting to remove Iowa’s strict statute of limitations on reporting child sex abuse. (The announcement came in the middle of the Iowa leg of the Epstein Files tour.)
- The Iowa City Historical Society will reopen after a judge ruled recently its closure last year was unlawful.
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If you’re over 60 or disabled, applications for the low-income home energy assistance program, or LIHEAP are open starting Thursday; for all others in need of heating assistance, the application opens Nov. 1. You have to live at or below 200% of the poverty line, have an energy burden, and—yes, this is really a requirement—”verify citizenship status for all household members.” (Remember Jesus said, “Let those who are undocumented freeze to death.”) If you’re looking for help, or want to help, Iowa Community Action has resources here.
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Women who helped desegregate schools in the South when they were girls will speak about their experiences in Muscatine, Des Moines, Algona, and Iowa City this week. Carlotta LaNier (Little Rock Nine) and Leona Tate (New Orleans Four) will be in the first three cities (find out more and RSVP here), and Ruby Bridges (New Orleans Four) will be at Hancher in Iowa City next Monday. All events are free.
- Help accompany immigrant Iowans to their legally required check-ins in Cedar Rapids next Tuesday morning.
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Do you know about Harry Stine, Iowa’s lone billionaire?
You might not have heard of Stine, who is in his 80s and lives on a farm in Adel.
But he and his four children, who jointly own Stine Seed Company, have made a fortune breeding, selling, and licensing high-yield soybean and corn seeds.
Read that story here or watch it below.
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A high school welding teacher was surprised this morning at his school as one of 25 winners of the 2026 Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence.
Chad Donahue, a former sheet metal worker and welding shop foreman who teaches at Des Moines Public Schools’ Central Campus, was awarded the prize at a surprise ceremony at the school this morning.
Harbor Freight, a chain of tool and equipment retailers, runs the program to advance “skilled trades education in public high schools,” according to its Tools for Schools website.
The prize comes with $75,000 to go toward the school’s welding program, according to Harbor Freight—a program which Donahue has grown already, according to the school.
“Chad’s students have gone on to win state and national welding titles, and he was a driving force behind the welding bay expansion that grew program capacity by a third—and he hired his CURRENT students to build it with him,” the school posted when Donahue was announced as a finalist in June.
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Readers are invited to join the conversation. Please include your first name and last initial; your city is optional. Responses may be lightly edited for length, clarity, or typos.
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“Great post on Stine. The only thing I would add, is that like Elon Musk and so many other assholes, WE funded the research when it began at ISU, as you shared. Why don’t Iowans get a return on OUR investment? We funded the research, and only he profits? It’s BS.” — Bob L.
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Thanks for reading. This newsletter was written by Amie Rivers. It was edited by Crystal Niforos.
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