Iowa Starting Line
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☀️ Your guide to summer fun in Iowa
Share with a friend It’s Tuesday, June 24, 2025. These Fourth of July fireworks shows in Iowa will have you “ooh-ing” and “ah-ing.” (Arthur Chauvineau/Unsplash) We just survived our first heat wave—must be officially summer in Iowa now! So here’s a quick guide of some of the best ways to enjoy it. Like:…
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Why are queer Iowans leaving the state?
Share with a friend It’s Monday, June 23, 2025. Amie here. I talk about loss and grief sometimes here (normalize it, right?), so I wanted to also take time to share my joy: Over the weekend, my brother and his wife had a child: my new nephew! The squishy newborn photo is my brother’s…
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💜 Fairfield photographer wins top prize
Share with a friend It’s Friday, June 20, 2025. 🗣️ It’s Friday; time for the takes! My take: Juneteenth was yesterday, the anniversary of when our country actually granted freedom to all. I’ll be celebrating at the 30th annual Waterloo Juneteenth this weekend (while trying to stay cool amid this heat wave). If…
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Investigating Iowa’s growing cancer rate
Share with a friend It’s Monday, June 16, 2025. Amie here. We’re starting a big project at Iowa Starting Line that I’m really excited about: Investigating why Iowa’s cancer rates are so high, and growing so fast. We’re looking for your stories. I’ll start with mine. My mom with her mother and father,…
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🎧 Guess who’s next up running for Ernst’s seat?
Share with a friend It’s Wednesday, June 11, 2025. On this week’s episode of Cornhole Champions, Amie, Zachary, and Avery discuss: State Sen. Zach Wahls of Coralville announced this morning that he’s running against Joni Ernst for her US Senate seat. Less than 12 months after Perry lost 1,200 jobs when Tyson shuttered their pork plant,…
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All the No Kings Protests in Iowa This Weekend
Share with a friend It’s Monday, June 9, 2025. Amie here with some interesting things to start your week: No more 99 counties? Getting rid of some of our counties is something Iowa DOGE is apparently considering. Email me: Would you want your county on the chopping block? Want to help track Iowa’s bumblebees? Learn more…
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🎧 She Told Ernst ‘People Will Die’
Share with a friend It’s Wednesday, June 4, 2025. Following a scandal involving an alleged romantic relationship with a military lobbyist, US Sen. Joni Ernst faces new controversy. As a member of President Donald Trump’s party, she was on the road recently to defend his tax bill that will force an estimated 13.7 million people to lose health insurance…
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❗️ Joni Ernst Defends Medicaid Cuts: ‘We Are All Going to Die’
Share with a friend It’s Friday, May 30, 2025. 🗣️ It’s Friday: Time to hear from ISL readers! 🐶 This is Crosby. “We have a music icons naming convention for our pets— we’ve had Dylan and (Mama) Cass, and Crosby’s feline sister is Cher,” says Crosby’s human Matt U. “The two things he values most…
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🎧 What’s the Argument for Staying in Iowa?
Share with a friend It’s Wednesday, May 28, 2025. On this episode of Cornhole Champions, the holiday-shortened week has Iowa Starting Line’s Zachary Oren Smith all by his lonesome on hosting duties. So he’s making up for it by interviewing a couple other podcasters at Pints and Diplomacy. This week, they talk about a big…
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🎧 This Week’s Podcast: Iowa’s Book Ban Halted (Again!)
Share with a friend It’s Wednesday, May 21, 2025. On this episode of Cornhole Champions, Iowa Starting Line’s Zachary Oren Smith, Amie Rivers, and Avery Staker discuss a federal judge’s preliminary injunction against key portions of Iowa’s SF 496, the state’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” law. We also explore Republican Rep. Megan Jones’s accusations that the Iowa Division of Criminal…
