Iowa Starting Line
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How Iowans are supporting Minnesota’s ICE strike
Plus: Your emails and Positively Iowa Share with a friend 🗣️ It’s Friday: Time for Only in Iowa, Positively Iowa, this week’s pet photo, and reader replies. Okoboji is still holding its annual Winter Games this weekend, despite the below-zero temps. You may be unaware of the true context of MLK’s “I Have a…
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Are you walking out of work today?
Plus: Meet a candidate, protests, and a viral post Share with a friend Amie here. Happy 11th anniversary to Iowa Starting Line, started by Pat Rynard as a deep dive into Iowa politics on Jan. 19, 2015. We’ve grown and broadened our scope of news since then, but we still love our politics. Are…
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🗣️ ‘Listen, commie,’ and more angry reader letters
Plus: Your emails and Positively Iowa Share with a friend 🗣️ It’s Friday: Time for Only in Iowa, Positively Iowa, this week’s pet photo, and reader replies. Iowa’s first women’s sports bar, Heroics, is now open, and they’re having an official launch party Saturday. Iowa is the first state to ‘gain more control…
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Growing backlash to AI traffic cameras in Iowa
Plus: Protests, viral post of the week, and more Share with a friend Amie here. The Iowa Legislature started up for the year on Monday. We’ve still got the Republican trifecta we’ve had for years now, but thanks to special elections going Democrats’ way, there’s only a GOP supermajority in the House—meaning Senate Republicans need…
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🪧 Venezuela, ICE protests around Iowa
Plus: Your emails and Positively Iowa Share with a friend It’s Friday, January 9, 2026. 🗣️ It’s Friday: Time for Only in Iowa, Positively Iowa, this week’s pet photo, and reader replies. ICE and Venezuela protests: After a woman was shot and killed by a federal agent in Minneapolis this week (donate to a…
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Have you caught the ‘super flu’ yet?
Plus: Protests, viral post of the week, and more Share with a friend Amie here. Lucky me, I caught one of the viruses going around Iowa during break. It’s likely the “super flu” variant going around (not covered by the shot), as flu activity is “very high” across the state right now (and the nation…
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🎇 What’s giving you hope in 2026?
Plus: Positively Iowa and what got us through Share with a friend Amie here. It’s been a tough year. For those of us who believe a better, more just world is possible, watching our state and federal leaders make it smaller and meaner has been disheartening and demoralizing. For those of us going through…
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Miller-Meeks represents Iowa’s 1st. She lives in Iowa’s 3rd
Plus: Protests, rallies, and more Share with a friend Amie here. Happy shortened holiday week! This will be the only email from us this week; I’ll have one for you on Dec. 30, and then we’re back the week of Jan. 5. In this issue: A special election for Central Iowans, protests and rallies,…
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💜 9 Iowa acts of kindness we loved in 2025
Plus: Your emails and Positively Iowa Share with a friend 🗣️ It’s Friday: Time for Only in Iowa, Positively Iowa, this week’s pet photo, and of course, reader replies! Polk County baby gets measles: An infant who was too young to get vaccinated has contracted measles after they “recently traveled to an area where…
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Conservative Iowa mom denied care during fatal pregnancy
Plus: Protests, rallies, and more Share with a friend Amie here. Happy week-before-Xmas! In this issue: Candidate meet-ups, protests and rallies, and this week’s viral post. What is nitrate, and why is it my problem? Prairie Rivers of Iowa has launched a new short video series explaining it all. Amie Rivers Newsletter Editor,…
