Adam Shriver is Director of Wellness and Nutrition at the Harkin Institute for Public Policy and Citizen Engagement. This essay was first published on his Substack newsletter, Canary in a Cornfield.

Iowa has a serious problem with nitrates in our drinking water that we’ve known about for decades, and these problems are only getting worse. Numerous studies—extremely high-quality studies—and detailed accounts of underlying biology all present a strong case that nitrates levels in drinking water lower than the current 10 mg/L NO3-N standard are linked to different types of cancer. We discussed that research in my interview with the Chair of a Denmark Ministry of the Environment Report, and the recent Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors in Iowa report covered those studies in detail.

For that reason, it’s extremely important for Iowans to have the best possible data measuring the amount of nitrate in our drinking water throughout the year.

Despite the urgency of the problem, the Iowa legislature cut off funding to the the University of Iowa’s IIHR Hydroscience and Engineering Water Quality Information System in 2024. The Walton Family Foundation agreed to step in and fund the network for two years, but they were very clear that this was only a temporary measure. In short, they were giving Iowa a couple years to get ourselves together.

What that means now: if the legislature does not restore funding in the state budget for fiscal year 2027, many of the sensors in the IIHR network may need to be removed or discontinued, putting Iowans at risk.

Ralph Rosenberg is a retired attorney, state legislator, and non-profit executive. He has followed Iowa environmental, energy, and agricultural policy for decades. He worked in Washington, D.C. for Public Citizen, while opposing the international export of nuclear fuels and materials. 

On April 15, the Iowa House handed NextEra Energy a sales tax exemption worth tens of millions of dollars to restart the Duane Arnold Energy Center near Palo. House File 2757 passed by 94 votes to 1, with Democratic State Representative Beth Wessel-Kroeschell the only dissenter.

Supporters are calling the proposal visionary. I’ve heard that word before. In fact, I’ve been reading about its use from the 1950s and heard it directly since the 1970s.

I’ve learned that powerful interests dress up a corporate subsidy in the language of clean energy and national security. Iowans should ask their legislators to take a very pronounced pause on what they’re doing.

As a longtime skeptic about nuclear power’s promises, I can tell this bill is bad policy dressed up in shiny clothes.

Gordie Felger is a volunteer member of two LGBTQ+ organizations (CR Pride and Free Mom Hugs) and a One Iowa volunteer activist. He is a friend of many LGBTQ+ folks and an ally to the community. He also writes about the state of Iowa politics at “WFT Iowa?”, where this post first appeared.

Republican State Senator Sandy Salmon introduced Senate File 2037 during the 2024 legislative session. The bill prohibits “counties and cities from regulating certain behavioral health and human services.” These services include so-called “conversion therapy.” If enacted in the future, the law would prohibit local governments from banning conversion therapy. 

Conversion therapy tries to “convert” LGBTQ+ individuals. Supporters believe counseling can “correct” a person’s “confused” sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Critics call the widely discredited practice quack therapy that seeks to “pray the gay away.”

But what does conversion therapy entail? And why is it discredited?

I literally shook my head as I read Alex Isenstadt’s scoop for Axios this week: Vice President JD Vance plans to come to Iowa on April 30 to campaign with U.S. Representative Zach Nunn. Isenstadt wrote that the vice president’s appearances (one with Nunn and another at a Turning Point USA rally in Ames) “will be aimed at helping Republicans in this fall’s elections.”

More likely, a joint event with Vance will hurt Nunn’s chances in one of the country’s top-targeted U.S. House districts.

No one could accuse me of being too optimistic about Democratic prospects in Iowa’s statewide elections. But if there’s one race I’m bullish on, it’s the third Congressional district. National forecasters currently rate this district as a toss-up (Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball) or lean Republican (Inside Elections).

I see this race tilting in favor of the presumptive Democratic nominee, Sarah Trone Garriott. Let’s walk through the reasons.

Clark Kauffman is deputy editor at Iowa Capital Dispatch, where this article first appeared.

The Iowa Supreme Court has blocked State Auditor Rob Sand’s efforts to access City of Davenport communications about $1.9 million in taxpayer-funded settlements.

The state auditor has been waging a legal battle to access the recordings of closed-door Davenport City Council meetings where aldermen appear to have discussed settlement payouts with the city’s attorney present.

Sand’s office is investigating those payments, but the city has refused to turn over the meeting tapes, arguing the discussions are protected by attorney-client privilege.

Bruce Lear lives in Sioux City and has been connected to Iowa’s public schools for 38 years. He taught for eleven years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association regional director for 27 years until retiring. He can be reached at BruceLear2419@gmail.com 

A few years ago, we visited Northern Ireland. During our trip, we repeatedly heard the Biblical phrase “The time of trouble,” describing the Protestants/Catholic war. This descriptor needed little elaboration, because those who said it lived it.

While our last couple snowbird months in Florida this year don’t compare to 30 years of brutal violence, they did introduce us to the seventh circle of Hell: health care and insurance coverage in the U.S.

It was “Our time of trouble.”

Charles Bruner is a former Democratic Iowa legislator (1978-1990), was the founding director of Iowa Child and Family Policy Center (1990-2015, now Common Good Iowa), and is national director of the InCK Marks Initiative’s Child Health Equity Leadership Group.

For more than two centuries, economists have understood the economy through three essential elements: land, labor, and capital. From Adam Smith to David Ricardo, this framework helped explain how wealth is created—and how it is shared.

But something fundamental has changed.

Today, land is no longer just a passive input. It is strained—by climate change, resource depletion, and environmental degradation, concerns long emphasized by ecological economists such as Herman Daly.

Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson demonstrate that technological change is increasingly shaped in ways that replace rather than augment workers. Capital—through automation, artificial intelligence, and digital platforms—has become powerful enough to produce growth while using less and less labor.

Ed Tibbetts, a longtime reporter and editor in the Quad-Cities, is the publisher of the Along the Mississippi newsletter, where this article first appeared. Find more of his work at edtibbetts.substack.com.

If only Iowa’s school librarians possessed the wisdom of a trio of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

The judges overturned a preliminary injunction against Iowa’s three-year-old book ban law on April and abruptly dispensed with the idea it was vague and difficult to apply.

Such contentions, the judges said, were “unavailing.” Which seems strange. Especially since one of the defendants in the case before them actually admitted there was confusion.

“You might be our secret weapon,” State Auditor Rob Sand told hundreds of people attending the Iowa State Education Association’s annual meeting in West Des Moines on April 11. He was speaking because the ISEA PAC decided to recommend the presumptive Democratic nominee for the 2026 governor’s race.

ISEA has tens of thousands of members across Iowa’s 99 counties, working in every part of public education: preschool, K-12, community colleges, Area Education Agencies, and school support staff. Those numbers alone would make the group’s endorsement valuable.

Sand sees educators as particularly powerful surrogates for his campaign, because of their diverse political leanings and how connected they are in their communities. Their voices could be helpful in another way, too: public education is a focal point of Sand’s promise to take Iowa in a new direction.

Randy Evans is executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes openness and transparency in Iowa’s state and local governments. He can be reached at DMRevans2810@gmail.com. This essay first appeared on his Substack newsletter, Stray Thoughts. 

The offices of the Des Moines Register’s opinion staff were mostly empty when my telephone rang late one afternoon about fifteen years ago.

The guard at the lobby security desk said two men were there and hoped I had time to meet with them. I said sure and invited them up to our office on the fourth floor.

Within minutes, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and his driver emerged from the elevator. They were on their way to Waterloo. But Jackson wanted to detour to the Register, just to talk about some concerns on his mind.

Al Charlson is a North Central Iowa farm kid, lifelong Iowan, and retired bank trust officer.

I sympathize with Iowa Republican legislative leaders as they wrestle with the realities of trying to reform property taxes. House Appropriations Committee Chair Gary Mohr’s comments from December 2025 tell the story: “What we learned last year is it’s a whack-a-mole game, which we didn’t all know – meaning if you do this with property taxes, it has an effect over here we didn’t think about.”

Guess what – the moles are still popping up! This is nothing new – the property tax system is complicated to begin with, and our history of trying to “reform” it has added layer upon layer of complexity.

Adam Shriver is Director of Wellness and Nutrition at the Harkin Institute for Public Policy and Citizen Engagement. This essay was first published on his Substack newsletter, Canary in a Cornfield.

Earlier in the year, I wrote a response to some of Republican State Senator Ken Rozenboom’s comments in the Senate Agriculture Committee where he made some interesting claims based on his recent trip to the Netherlands. I pointed out that, contrary to his claims, nitrates have been a very serious issue in the Netherlands for decades and that the European Union had a different way of representing nitrate concentration in water, which was the only plausible explanation I could think of for his claim that nitrates levels in Amsterdam were far higher than what we saw in Iowa last summer.

On April 1, Rozenboom delivered some remarks on the Senate floor that indicated more confusion about the science around nitrates. (He may have been triggered by Democratic State Senator Janet Petersen’s comments the previous day; she asked Rozenboom if a bill allowing boats to display blue lights would be the water safety bill the Senate will consider this year.)

Rozenboom claimed the connection between nitrates and cancer is a “myth,” suggested Republicans had been making great progress on Iowa’s water problems since 2017, and said that if you are really worried about nitrates, you should look at the amount of nitrates in spinach.

You can find the full video of his comments and the responses at this link but I’ve pulled out the relevant sections. Here’s the first relevant clip:

Bleeding Heartland’s Iowa wildflowers series returns for a fifteenth year. Past posts are linked here (alphabetized by the plant’s common name) and here (for posts covering many species).

Leland Searles has had a long interest in birding and wildflowers. He combines that with over fifteen years as a consultant in ecological assessment and restoration, along with graduate studies in environmental and psychological anthropology. His recent writing addresses some facet of ecology, often with awareness of social interests and power that shape our regard for the environment. This essay first appeared on his Substack newsletter, Home on Earth.

In the past two weeks, I have already visited three woodlands to see which early plants have emerged. Over those three visits, the phenology is clearly visible: a few small leaves poking from the chilly but warming soil and no trees in leaf; larger leaves and more species on the surface and swelling buds on trees and bushes; and finally, a few leaf buds bursting into miniature, sometimes crumpled leaves and flowers hovering above or nestled within the growing stems.

Among the emerging plants are: Black Snakeroot (Sanicula, leaves only), Bloodroot (Sanguinea canadensis, flowers topping encircling leaves only on April 5), Dutchman’s Breeches (Dicentra cucullata, at first leaves and now blooms), Elm-Leaved Goldenrod (Solidago ulmifolia, recognizable basal leaves), Fragile Fern (Cystopteris fragilis, from tiny fiddleheads to expanding blades), Heart-Leaved or Woodland Blue Aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium, basal leaves around last year’s dry stems), Violets (Viola, leaves only), Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginiana, from leaves to the first flowers), and Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense, the first fuzzy leaves).

Tiffany Allison is the founder of the Soaring Hearts Foundation. A survivor of domestic violence, victim advocate, and public speaker, she has received multiple awards for her leadership including a Congressional Medal of Merit and Guardian of Victim Victims’ Rights Award.

With domestic violence at an all-time high in Iowa, why is the Senate tabling a bill that would help protect victims and their pets?

It’s been three weeks since Majority Leader Mike Klimesh placed Senate File 2099 on the unfinished business calendar. The Iowa House unanimously passed the companion bill on felony animal cruelty in early March, but still no vote by the Senate. Under current Iowa law, acts of animal torture are still treated as misdemeanors, making Iowa the only state that has not elevated animal torture to a felony.

Felony level accountability matters because it can create earlier intervention points before violence escalates to human victims. It also strengthens prosecution in cases involving stalking, assault, and domestic violence. When we fail to take animal abuse seriously, we fail victims and survivors. When we act early, when we hold offenders fully accountable, we create opportunities to interrupt cycles of violence before they become fatal. Animal torture is violence. Protecting animals is protecting people. Full stop.

Herb Strentz was dean of the Drake School of Journalism from 1975 to 1988 and professor there until retirement in 2004. He was executive secretary of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council from its founding in 1976 to 2000.

A contrast between President Harry Truman and our would-be King Donald Trump is relevant and overdue because of the need to hold Trump accountable by the courts and the voters — given the failure of Congress to rein Trump in. For that, thanks go in part to Iowa’s U.S. senators and representatives, who support the reign of Trump whenever push comes to shove and promote his endorsement if seeking election.

So here is a contrast that leads to a look at our situation in the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.

I find a lot of reasons to admire Harry Truman — almost as many as I find to loathe Donald Trump. On the one hand, maybe it’s because of time spent in research at the Truman library in Independence, Missouri. Reading hundreds of letters to and from Truman during his years in office and having access to resources that tell you about the man. Perhaps the key impression for me is how Truman distinguished between the Office of the President, which merited respect, just shy of worship, and the person in the office, who was fair political game.

“He had an amazing ability to stay focused on what was important,” John Norris remembered at a March 7 gathering for Iowans who were involved with Reverend Jesse Jackson’s 1988 presidential campaign.

The group came to the Machinists’ Hall in Des Moines to swap stories before watching a livestream of Jackson’s “Homegoing Celebration of Life” at Rainbow PUSH in Chicago.

I was deeply moved by what I heard during the hour-long event. My full recording is at the end of this post. Here are some highlights.

Clark Kauffman is deputy editor at Iowa Capital Dispatch, where this article first appeared.

A federal judge has taken the government to task over its attempts to detain and deport a truck driver who was arrested in a joint immigration enforcement effort conducted by ICE and the Iowa State Patrol.

The case involves Suraj Vasal, who four years ago came to the United States from India seeking asylum and was then released on his own recognizance. On February 11, 2026, Vasal was driving a commercial semitruck on Interstate 80 in Iowa when he failed to stop at a weigh station. Iowa State Patrol Trooper Nathaniel Rippey ticketed Vasal, after which Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers took custody of Vasal and transferred him to the Polk County Jail.

Court records indicate the Iowa State Patrol and ICE are waging an immigration enforcement effort called “Operation ICE Wall,” in part by stopping commercial truck drivers at interstate weigh stations in Iowa.

Former Des Moines Register assistant sports editor Ira Lacher writes about the games and business of sports for various newspapers and magazines.

More than two decades ago, Jerry Seinfield laid it on the line for sports fans.

“Loyalty is kind of a hard thing to justify in the end,” the comedian, referring to professional athletes moving from team to team, told David Letterman in 1994. “Every year, it’s different guys, right? … You’re rooting for clothes, when you get right down to it. I’m rooting for an outfit. That’s what it’s come down to. I want my team’s clothes to beat the clothes from another city. Laundry. We’re screaming about laundry here.”

By that definition, regardless of how the NCAA refers to “student-athletes” at March Madness sites, too many Division I basketball players are merely paid professionals, shuttling from team to team via the transfer portal like passengers changing flights at hub airports. According to the online college basketball stats service SRCBB, just short of a third of players on this season’s men’s Elite Eight rosters – 38 out of 120 – had transferred at least once. 

Wayne Ford is the executive director of Wayne Ford Equity Impact Institute and co-Director of the Brown and Black Forums of America. He is a former member of the Iowa legislature (1997 through 2010) and the founder and former executive director of Urban Dreams.

There are moments when an issue that has existed for years suddenly becomes visible to everyone at once.

Not because it is new—but because it can no longer be ignored.

Conversations begin to happen in public, decisions begin to affect daily life, and attention turns quickly toward what appears to be the immediate cause.

But what we are seeing is often not where the problem begins.

Jason Benell lives in West Des Moines with his wife and two children. He is a combat veteran, Dallas County supervisor candidate, and president of Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers. This essay first appeared on his Substack newsletter, The Odd Man Out.

“Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

The battle over schools is not something we should take lightly or view as a blip in a partisan battle. This is a generational challenge, which threatens the very existence of our state and our country.

The arguments between public and private schools with voucher programs has taken up a lot of space in Iowa’s political discourse, and for good reason. With hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars going to private religious institutions and years of underfunding public education, we are seeing an attack on the very institutions that have made the United States and places like Iowa even possible.