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Dubuque residents Tom Townsend and Dave George have a big decision to make Feb. 3. As current and former business managers of local labor unions, they’re not only caucusing for their own interests but considering the needs of each of their chapter members. Townsend...
Whenever a major political or world event happens, the attention during this presidential primary quickly turns to how the individual Democratic candidates will respond. Where's their statement on the matter? Will they tweet out a response? What will the candidate say...
President Donald Trump’s recent attacks on the Green New Deal demonstrate how taking a hard-line stance against the significant climate legislation may play a central role in his 2020 campaign platform. While speaking last Saturday to the Turning Point USA Summit in...
Though President Donald Trump was impeached and faces a trial to determine if he will be removed from office, his judicial nominees are still being heard and confirmed. Thirteen judges were confirmed the same week he was impeached in the House, bringing Trump’s number...
The end of the year has a way of stirring things in your memory, from family to heroes, to all kinds of inspiration. I have been inspired by books and by movies, and more importantly, I am always inspired by unique individuals who have struggled and came through to...
During the second day of Sen. Cory Booker’s open-press, all-on-the-record bus trip across Iowa, the Senator was more settled into his travel and was getting some additional work done. He went up to the front of the bus several times to make phone calls and conduct...
Sen. Cory Booker set off on his four-day bus tour of Iowa yesterday morning, loading into his newly-wrapped ride that was adorned with the names of voters from around the country who donated to his campaign. Now off the debate stage, Booker is devoting even more time...
Eighteen-year-old Amalia Hochman is a challenging teenager to get ahold of. As a senior in high school, she’s busy, but not with extracurricular activities or studying for chemistry tests. Hochman is consumed by her work as a Sunrise Movement youth organizer. After...
Patrick Rowley, the Lee County field organizer for Elizabeth Warren's campaign in Iowa, has an unlikely roommate. Like many young campaign staffers, Rowley lives with a local family in the county where he works. His Fort Madison hosts, however, did not discriminate...
Julian Castro took his new campaign message of ending Iowa and New Hampshire's status as the first presidential nominating states directly to Iowa caucus-goers last night. It did not go very well. Castro wanted to focus in on racial diversity and access problems with...
The Iowa Board of Regents is being asked this week to consider a complex proposal to turn the operation of the University of Iowa’s utility system over to an unnamed a business that will be paid to operate it for the next 50 years. The business will make a cash...
Sen. Joni Ernst will make yet another choice, likely this week, on a judicial appointee with limited credentials and a controversial ideological background. Lawrence VanDyke has been nominated for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the second-highest level of the...
The Local America Presidential Forum, welcomed to Waterloo by Mayor Quentin Hart, was hosted by Accelerator for America and the United States Conference of Mayors, and was sponsored by Iowa Starting Line and Mediacom. The forum connected the wide-ranging federal...
Down through the ages, a pretty comprehensive list of sins has been compiled to guide our daily lives. Some have been added over time as society’s norms have changed, and others have been stricken from the list. I’m not here to preach to you about envy, gluttony or...
New ratings recently released on the competitiveness of U.S. House districts reflect positive momentum for Democrat J.D. Scholten and spell trouble for Congressman Steve King. Inside Elections moved the race for Iowa's 4th Congressional District from "Lean Republican"...
Republican House candidates Bobby Schilling and Mariannette Miller-Meeks responded to criticism Tuesday condemning their participation in a Bettendorf political forum that featured far-right anti-Semite Nick Fuentes. Fuentes, according to the Quad-City Times, was the...
Guest op-ed from Jim Chrisinger, an Iowan assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Prague from 1987-1990 We celebrate the 30th anniversary of the 1989 revolutions in Eastern Europe in part because they followed decades of unwavering American support for democracy and freedom....
An expensive, surprisingly close run-off election for the Des Moines mayoral seat comes to a close tomorrow. The final weeks have featured attacks and counter-attacks as both candidates have criticized each others' records and backgrounds. Voters have been inundated...
Guest op-ed from State Sen. Eric Giddens of Cedar Falls. Our nation’s guiding principle is enshrined in our founding document: the government derives its power from the people, and the people direct the operations of their government. That’s what the Declaration of...
Bernie Sanders, a die-hard baseball fan, took a swing this week at Major League Baseball and its proposal to shutter 42 Minor League Baseball teams, three of which are in Iowa. The proposal is far from finalized — the current Professional Baseball Agreement expires at...
When Republican Bobby Schilling announced his candidacy for Iowa's 2nd Congressional District, he was the only GOP candidate in the race. Now, the former Illinois congressman faces a primary challenger in state Sen. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottumwa. Though...
The criticism of money in politics continued when Mayor Pete Buttigieg journeyed Monday through Western Iowa. When asked for his thoughts on former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s entry in the presidential race, Buttigieg was diplomatic. “Well, [I’m] always...
After drawing record crowds during a successful Iowa trip earlier this month, presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez again have joined together to introduce a new version of Green New Deal legislation, focused on...
Everyone knows Andrew Yang as the guy who wants to take on artificial intelligence and automation. To that end, one of Yang’s signature promises is the Freedom Dividend, which would give $1,000 a month to all Americans. But he’d also like to give people money to...
The issues and challenges that Iowa cities face will get their time on the national stage early next month, as the U.S. Conference of Mayors and Accelerator for America brings a major presidential forum to Waterloo. Mayor Quentin Hart of Waterloo will welcome...
Of all the states in the country, only two permanently bar felons from voting and require them to petition the state to restore that right. One is Kentucky, the other is Iowa. Earlier in 2019, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds joined the effort to change Iowa law by...
Iowa Senators Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley voted to confirm Chad Wolf as the Department of Homeland Secretary undersecretary. It's a move that propelled Wolf, a man who suggested immigrant children be separated from their families at the country's southern border, to...
Guest op-ed from Josh Smith, a law student at the University of North Carolina School of Law. I drove over 2,000 miles to work for Montana Gov. Steve Bullock in the summer of 2018. And more significant than that, in Montana’s 129 years of statehood, I am likely the...
Photo: Julian Castro tests out the beds at a supportive housing center before his Liberty and Justice event speech. Away from the rain and a slew of competitors' supporters last Friday, Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro toured affordable housing units at...
Photo: Matt Blake and Bridget Montgomery celebrate their election to the Urbandale City Council. Democrats' efforts to turn the Des Moines metro's suburbs blue made a big leap forward last night with the election of many progressive candidates to city councils and...
