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.

Xavier Carrigan is a Democratic candidate in Iowa’s third Congressional district.

I appreciate Bleeding Heartland’s analysis of ballot access challenges in Iowa’s 2026 cycle. There are real lessons there for candidates, especially around timing, margins, and understanding the rules.

I want to be clear on one point up front: I understood the rules.

I spent significant time making calls, asking questions, and working through the requirements to ensure I was operating correctly. Like many candidates, I also had to navigate inconsistent or unclear guidance at times, and I worked through that as responsibly as I could.

Where my campaign differs is not in whether I understood the process, but in how I chose to approach it.

Iowa’s 2026 ballot access controversies lacked the drama of the last midterm election cycle, when one statewide official almost missed the Democratic primary ballot, and a leading candidate for U.S. Senate had to go to the Iowa Supreme Court to keep her candidacy alive.

Still, four candidates failed to qualify for this year’s June 2 primary ballot. Two others had close calls before the State Objection Panel determined they (barely) met the legal standard.

Future candidates, staff, and volunteers can learn from the mistakes that tripped up Julie Stauch, Xavier Carrigan, Jared Gadson, and Eric Pearson, and nearly ended the campaigns of Eddie Andrews and Mike Bousselot.

Bill from White Plains is an Iowa lawyer and political observer with a keen interest in promoting candidates with the character required by the positions they seek.

Alexander Pope mocked literary critics of his day with his comment, “For Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” The literary references in his 1709 piece, “An essay on criticism,” are lost to time and the short attention span of most people in modern life, but that line endures.

Putting aside the hideous 1997 romantic comedy starring Matthew Perry, the line endures because stupid people are no less stupid in 2026.

Last week, State Representative Eddie Andrews stepped up to become the latest in a long line of idiots, hoping to become the leader of his party and this state. He is helping to pave the way for a brainless stiff from northwest Iowa to win the Republican party’s gubernatorial primary in June.

Adam Zabner represents Iowa House district 90, covering part of Iowa City.

Last May, when Iowa Republicans passed the health and human services budget for the current fiscal year, I asked the bill’s floor manager, State Representative Ann Meyer, a simple question. What would happen when U.S. Representatives Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Randy Feenstra, Zach Nunn, and Ashley Hinson voted to cut federal health care funding?

Iowa Capital Dispatch reported at the time:

Brooklyn Draisey is a Report for America corps member working for Iowa Capital Dispatch, where this article first appeared.

Researchers and public health experts are urging lawmakers to turn knowledge of Iowa’s cancer crisis into action, with a new report detailing Iowans’ risks of exposure to different carcinogens and offering first and future steps to mitigating dangers.

On March 25, the Harkin Institute for Public Policy and Citizen Engagement and the Iowa Environmental Council released a report examining the environmental factors impacting Iowa’s high — and rising — cancer rates, including pesticides, per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), nitrate and radon.

Presenters said during a news conference the report goes beyond the topics seeing the greater focus, like personal behaviors and decisions leading to greater cancer risks, and filling the gaps in knowledge that have stopped forward momentum before now.

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. 

City leaders in Des Moines are making it difficult to understand why they selected the current police chief, considering how they have imposed a code of silence about their recent $975,000 payout to one of the candidates who did not get the job.

The payout and, even worse, the sealed lips are just another example of how common sense and good government suffer whenever public officials refuse to detail how and why they spend taxpayer money.

This textbook example of misplaced priorities began in 2024 when Des Moines Police Chief Dana Wingert announced his retirement after nearly a decade leading the department.

Sami Scheetz is a Linn County supervisor.

Across Linn County, I keep hearing the same question: What’s in it for us?

As massive data center projects are proposed across Iowa, residents are rightly asking why communities should shoulder resource-intensive development while trillion-dollar corporations generate enormous profits. It’s a fair question — and one the Linn County Board of Supervisors has taken seriously.

Last month, the board voted unanimously to finalize our data center ordinance after three readings, multiple public hearings, and weeks of community input. More than 100 residents attended our first reading in Palo, and their feedback directly shaped the final product. This is likely the most comprehensive data center ordinance a local government has adopted in Iowa.

Jeff Morrison is a member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative and the publisher of the Between Two Rivers newsletter, where this article first appeared. Find more of his work at betweentworivers.substack.com and iowahighwayends.net.

The Iowa Department of Education’s press release from December 19 said, “State projections developed prior to the passing of the Students First Education Savings Account (ESA) program showed a downward trend in public school enrollment starting in the 2023-24 school year. Likewise, the National Center for Education Statistics projects enrollment at public schools to decrease by 2.7 million students by 2031, a decrease of almost 5% nationally.”

The statement, on its face, is true — but it obscures some essential elements.

• There are now fewer students in Iowa public schools than any time in the modern era, edging out the previous low of 2010-11.
• Excluding a pandemic-related drop between 2019-20 and 2020-21, the percentage loss of public enrollment between 2024-25 and 2025-26 is more than double the greatest loss since 2001-02. It’s the largest percentage loss, period, since 1982-83 to 1983-84.
• The numerical drop in two years (FY25+26) is greater than that of any period in the last four decades (since FY84+85).
• State enrollment projections made through and including 2023 did show a downward trend, but they did not expect the low public numbers seen in the last three years, nor did they anticipate enrollment in private schools surpassing 40,000 for the first time since 2000-01.

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 

Everyone at one time or another has been driven crazy by a backseat driver, sometimes sitting in the front. “There’s a stop sign.” “You’re too close to the curb.” “That car is turning.” “Slow down.” 

There are three general reactions, and none are productive. The driver may nod and ignore, begin to second-guess themselves, or explode, making the remainder of the ride resemble a “red wedding” from “Game of Thrones.”

Second-guessers like to make sure other people are doing things the same way they would do it. When that happens, everyone wants to shout, “If you’re so good at it, why didn’t you do it yourself?”

Ben Nizzi is President of Ironworkers Local 67 in Des Moines.

In more than fourteen years as a member of Ironworkers Local 67, I have never seen our union make an elected official a dues-paying member. Not once. Until now.

A few weeks ago, Ironworkers Local 67 welcomed Iowa State Senator Zach Wahls into our union. This is the first time in our history we have extended this honor to an elected official. I want to explain why, because it speaks to Zach’s character and why Iowa workers need him in the U.S. Senate.

Steve Peterson is a former teacher from rural Winneshiek County.

Decorah has a long tradition of strong public schools. But budget shortfalls have eroded what our school can provide for our students and our community. In our case, fewer elementary teachers already mean larger class sizes for our youngest students. But I fear the worst is yet to come. 

Districts across the state are grappling with how to deal with a decade of underfunding and a more than $300 million a year voucher program that siphons off public money to fill the balance sheets of private schools. 

Cuts don’t discriminate–rural, urban, or suburban. Our public schools are in trouble. And the pain is being felt across the board. Once again, the Iowa legislature failed our public schools this session, approving yet another meager 2 percent increase in state funding per pupil, which fails to keep up with rising costs. The shortfalls that follow have forced a record 200 districts–or two-thirds of Iowa’s schools–onto a “budget guarantee” that ensures school districts with declining enrollment will see only a 1 percent increase in yearly funding, even as costs rise well beyond that figure.

Xavier Carrigan is a Democratic candidate in Iowa’s third Congressional district. The State Objection Panel will consider a challenge to his nominating papers on March 24.

Tomorrow morning, a decision will be made about whether I will appear on the ballot for Iowa’s third Congressional District.

A formal challenge has been filed against the petition signatures we submitted. The Secretary of State’s office initially indicated that we had met the required threshold of 1,726 signatures based on a preliminary review. After a more detailed examination, the objection asserts that the valid total is closer to approximately 1,640.

We will respect whatever decision is made.

But before that happens, it’s important to be clear about what this campaign was and what it was not.