Bleeding Heartland
An independent website about Iowa politics
 Bleeding Heartland
The Des Moines River as it flows under NW 66th Avenue in Johnston. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Hundreds gather for presentation on Polk County water quality report


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Dr. Emily Boevers

One year later: The real impact of Iowa's near-total abortion ban


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JD Vance wants to put a MAGA stamp on citizenship


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Former Iowa lawmaker gives master class on sucking up to Trump


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Iowa State Capitol reflection in the windows of the Henry A. Wallace Building

Wallace Building demolition reflects poorly on Iowa officials' stewardship


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Students working in the SHSI building in Iowa City (photo courtesy of Mary Bennett)

We could lose a piece of Iowa history


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Governor Kim Reynolds with Attorney General Brenna Bird in January 2023

The enforcers of Iowa RightThink have a new target


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Threats to clean water affect all Iowans


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Senator Booker echoes our concerns: What’s happened to Grassley?


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Iowa's teacher shortage is getting worse


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French President Emmanuel Macron with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on February 24, 2025 (official photo by Joyce N. Boghosian)

A French gamble


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Protesters chant for the return of deported Iowan Pascual Pedro Pedro and detained Muscatine resident Noel Lopez outside the doors of the federal courthouse in Cedar Rapids. (Photo by Tom Foley/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Pascual Pedro Pedro recounts deportation after routine ICE check-in


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All photos are by Katie Byerly

Iowa wildflower Wednesday: American lotus


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President Lyndon Johnson hands President Harry S. Truman a pen at the signing of the Medicare and Medicaid Bill at the Harry S. Truman Library, Independence, Missouri on July 30, 1965. Lady Bird Johnson, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, and Bess Truman look on. (official White House photo)

As Medicare and Medicaid turn 60, we should be celebrating—not mourning


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Amy Adams (second from left) speaks at a Grassroots Iowa Network event in Monticello on June 21 (photo by Laura Belin)

Your voice: Why letters to the editor still matter


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U.S. Representative Randy Feenstra

CO2 pipeline politics in Iowa's 2026 gubernatorial election


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National Garden concept proposed by the South Dakota governor's office

When waste-cutters miss what looks like, umm, waste


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Woody Guthrie, photographed in 1943 with guitar labelled "This Machine Kills Fascists" (Photo by Al Aumuller is part of the New York World-Telegram and Sun collection in the Library of Congress)

"This Land Is Your Land"—Woody Guthrie's story


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A county sheriff stood up to Brenna Bird—and she backed down


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President Donald Trump and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon

Trump, GOP legislators create a storm aimed at Iowa's public schools


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