Dan Piller was a business reporter for more than four decades, working for the Des Moines Register and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He covered the oil and gas industry while in Texas and was the Register’s agriculture reporter before his retirement in 2013. He lives in Ankeny.

The gas pump has emerged as the issue du jour in this campaign cycle, and the focus is on $4 gasoline and $6 diesel, numbers that have proved politically fatal to incumbents in past elections. But this year a side issue has emerged about gasoline pumps.

Is Iowa ready for a Buc-ee’s?

For those who have never experienced the adventure of driving in Texas, Buc-ee’s is to roadside gas stations what Disney World was to theme parks and Walmart has been to retail. Buc-ee’s is less a fuel dispensary than an icon with its own cult following.

It is also a new front in the fast-moving cultural war. Buc-ee’s is Texas, the Old Confederacy, a monument to the freedom from “Big Guvmint” or Ivy League pantywaists on Wall Street. Buc-ee’s is one of the last vestiges of the greatest American tradition of all; to Think Big.

Douglas Burns is a fourth-generation Iowa journalist. He is the co-founder of the Western Iowa Journalism Foundation and a member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, where this article first appeared on The Iowa Mercury newsletter. His family operated the Carroll Times Herald for 93 years in Carroll, where Burns resides.

Carmen Jungbluth drove from Boone to eastern Iowa on October 1 to hear two pioneers of school desegregation from the American South speak in Muscatine to a rapt crowd of 120. It was the lead-off event in a three-day tour of Iowa dedicated to barrier-breaking events that civil rights icons Dr. Leona Tate and Carlotta Walls LaNier described in both historic and urgent terms.

Carlotta Walls LaNier (left) with Dr. Leona Tate at the Muscatine event (photo by Douglas Burns)

Robin Opsahl covers the state legislature and politics for Iowa Capital Dispatch, where this article first appeared.

Governor Kim Reynolds signed into law on October 2 a measure changing a state’s economic development program that could provide nearly $1.4 billion in tax incentives for a $15 billion steel mill project planned in southeast Iowa.

“Today, we advance the most consequential economic development project ever to come to our state,” Reynolds said.

The governor signed House File 2801 just hours after lawmakers approved the proposal during a special session, convened for the sole purpose of considering the legislation. The Iowa House approved the bill in a 75-17 vote, and the Senate approved the bill in a 28-19 vote. The proposal would modify the state’s Major Economic Growth Attraction (MEGA) program to include further incentives for businesses within rural areas, a targeted change to benefit the Mesabi Metallics project planned in Lee County.

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. 

Succession planning and public celebration typically accompany executive retirements. They provide for an orderly leadership transition and public acknowledgment of a job well done.

So, two simple questions arise whenever top government employees leave their jobs in hastily announced retirements — and receive more than the customary coffee-and-cookies going-away reception in return for signing customized contracts containing waivers, releases, and promises not to criticize.

What exactly are we paying for? And why?

Larry McBurney is a Democratic member of the Iowa House representing part of Urbandale.

For years, Iowa Republicans have argued that lower taxes will attract people, businesses, and investment to the state. Governor Kim Reynolds made that case in 2022 while promoting her income tax plan, telling people elsewhere, “Come, move to Iowa.”

The results have been less dramatic than the sales pitch. Iowa’s population grew 1.5 percent from 2020 to 2025, compared with 3.1 percent population growth nationally. More notably, Iowa experienced net domestic outmigration during that period: 10,148 more people moved from Iowa to another state than moved here from another state.

At the same time, Iowa is spending more than it takes in through recurring revenue. For fiscal year 2027 (which began on July 1), the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency projects about $8.4 billion in adjusted revenue and $9.645 billion in appropriations, with the difference covered in part by accumulated balances and a $617.8 million transfer from the Taxpayer Relief Fund.

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 

Growing up, organized sports consisted of little league, or high school baseball in the spring and summer. Fall and winter meant basketball, since our school was too tiny for football. No adult had yet figured out NBA, and MLB dreams were a sure money maker—so there were no sports academies or traveling leagues.

But we did have the town basketball court. It was a kid sanctuary where kid law prevailed. No adult supervision, no minimum or maximum age, and both genders were welcome. 

The rules were simple and strictly enforced. If you cried, you left. We called our own fouls loosely. If you overshot, and the ball went into the crick, you retrieved it. There were arguments, and fights, but there was urgency to end conflict, because finishing the game was more important than the fight.

President Donald Trump has attacked press freedom in many ways, using private litigation as well as the powers of his office. While some corporations settled meritless lawsuits to curry favor with the administration, the Des Moines Register, its parent company, and its former pollster fought back.

They were vindicated this week, when a Polk County District Court dismissed Trump’s lawsuit against Ann Selzer, her polling company, the Des Moines Register, and the Gannett Corporation. Trump, U.S. Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks, and former State Senator Brad Zaun claimed the final Iowa Poll before the 2024 election constituted consumer fraud. That poll indicated that Democratic candidate Kamala Harris led the presidential race in Iowa by 3 points. Days later, Trump carried the state by a 13-point margin.

Robert Corn-Revere, who argued on Selzer’s behalf as chief counsel for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said during a January court hearing that in 40 years of practicing First Amendment law, he’s never seen a more frivolous lawsuit than this one.

Over more than 60 pages, District Court Judge Scott Beattie comprehensively rejected the plaintiffs’ arguments and dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled. The judge wrote that the lawsuit “seeks to stretch both Iowa statutory and common law beyond their current bounds, turning speech that enjoys the highest category of First Amendment protection into a liability. After considering the parties’ arguments, the Court must conclude that the protection is too great and the reach is too far.”

It’s worth walking through the key points, since a spokesperson for Trump told some media the president “will take his powerful case to the Iowa Supreme Court […].” I doubt he’ll have better luck there.

Katie Byerly of Cerro Gordo County is also known as Iowa Prairie Girl on YouTube.

When I find a plant listed in multiple Midwestern states as “threatened” or “endangered,” I can’t help but wonder what the location looked like prior to the plant becoming a “special concern.”

We prairie lovers have all tried to imagine the tallgrass prairie waving and rolling over millions of acres across the great plains before they were settled. But what about the other habitats?

Iowa was also once covered with prairie potholes. I assume that like the tallgrass prairies, these too were blanketed with wildflowers. Many of those wetland plants are now hard to find. Earleaf false foxglove (Agalinis auriculata) isn’t necessarily a wetland plant, but it does like wet meadows, and sadly is listed as “rare” on many wildflower websites. 

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. 

In recent weeks, people from Cherokee, Des Moines, and Ottumwa have contacted the Iowa Freedom of Information Council with concerns about the refusal of local officials to share documents distributed to city council and school board members before they meet.

Typically, Iowa government boards and councils send their members document packets before each meeting so they have important background facts to help them make informed decisions. The materials often include staff reports on agenda topics, financial statements and analyses, proposed contracts, correspondence and recommended agreements.

The board packets promote informed governance. Members have time to read and digest relevant materials, study the facts, and prepare any questions in the days leading up to the public meeting.

Citizens deserve no less of an opportunity.

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

Suddenly, Ashley Hinson is trying to convince us she’s OK with Democrats; that she’s working with them to lower costs.

This is quite a change for Iowa’s wannabe senator. A year ago, she accused Democrats of trying to create a “crazy liberal dystopia.”

She said “radical left lunacy” had ruined states run by Democrats.

She accused Democrats of trying to push the U.S. “past the brink,” and she pledged her unending loyalty to Donald Trump, who regularly calls members of the Democratic Party “radical left dumocrats.”

“I will not let you down,” Hinson adoringly promised the president last year.

But now Hinson is trying to tell us she’s not so much MAGA as moderate; that she’s “working with people in both parties” to lower costs.

Tony Thompson, Ken Runde, and Kevin W. Techau jointly wrote this column. Thompson served as Black Hawk County sheriff and is a veteran of the U.S. Army and Iowa Army National Guard.

Runde served as Dubuque County sheriff and U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of Iowa. He is a Marine Corps veteran.

Techau served as Iowa’s Commissioner of Public Safety and U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa. He is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and Iowa Air National Guard.

Attorney General Brenna Bird recently traveled with the Quad City Back the Blue Flight to Washington, D.C., where participants visited the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. Bird rightly noted that law enforcement officers put their lives on the line for us every day and deserve our gratitude. U.S. Representatives Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA-01), Ashley Hinson (IA-02), and Zach Nunn (IA-03) have also declared their unwavering devotion to law enforcement, citing “Back the Blue” as a core pillar of their public service and campaign platforms.

We wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment. Consider the case of Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick, whose name is inscribed on that very National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.

Hannah Grip is the Iowa Environmental Council’s Energy Communications Associate.

Iowans who are concerned about the state’s interconnected water quality and public health crises have the opportunity to learn more and engage in solutions at the 2026 Iowa Environmental Council Annual Conference.  

The event takes place from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 29, at the Olmsted Center at Drake University in Des Moines. General admission tickets are just $60, and students can attend for free (pre-registration is required.) Click here to see the full line-up and to register. 

The conference includes two keynote sessions that offer different lenses on water quality.

Diane Porter of Fairfield first published this post in late August on My Gaia, an email newsletter “about getting to know nature” and “giving her a helping hand in our own backyards.” Diane also maintains the Birdwatching Dot Com website and bird blog.

My garden has been a golden extravaganza this summer. Masses of Partridge Peas (Chamaecrista fasciculata) planted themselves with the seeds that fell from last year’s plants. For a couple of months, they have bloomed with enthusiasm and with no help from me.

And they’ve been mobbed with bumblebees.

The Partridge Pea patch 

Rick Morain is the former publisher and owner of the Jefferson Herald, for which he writes a regular column. This essay first appeared on Substack.

Last week the United States and its people soberly remembered the stunning terrorist attacks that weaponized jetliners to kill thousands of people in the American homeland on September 11, 2001. Their deaths constitute the most tragic effect of the episode, and they continue as open wounds for family and friends of the victims.

The attacks also generated a number of other consequences for U.S. leaders at the time and in the following months and years, as well as for U.S. government agencies and their practices, American attitudes, and our relations with other nations. It’s hard to overestimate the importance of the 9/11 effects, many of which continue to drive our thinking and actions yet today.

Nick Covington is an Iowa parent who taught high school social studies for ten years.

The culture war battles we fight over our public schools are fundamentally disagreements about American values: what does it mean to be an American, and in whose image do we build our public schools?

“When Americans start fighting over their schools, you can be fairly sure of one thing: it probably isn’t really about school.”

— Jennifer Berkshire & Jack Schneider,

The Education Wars: A Citizen’s Guide and Defense Manual

From working as Assistant Secretary of Education in the George H.W. Bush administration to laying the foundation of the modern conservative education reform movement, Diane Ravitch—a one-time champion of No Child Left Behind—spent most of her life as a Republican with conservative values. The story of her life, as told in her 2025 memoir, is the story of the American Century. As today’s culture war on “wokeness” and “leftist indoctrination” targets diversity, equity, and inclusion in schools, Ravitch’s memoir makes a powerful case study for teaching these core American values.

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. 

You would think a school district readily knows its A-B-C’s.

Not the Des Moines Public Schools — at least not when informing the public what its 6,600 employees were paid during the academic year that ended June 30.

Yes, grade school teachers still call roll in alphabetical order. And next spring’s high school graduates will walk across the stage as their names are announced, starting with the A’s and moving through to the Z’s.

But when publishing a list of its employees in July and how much taxpayers paid each one, the Des Moines Public Schools’ alphabet started with Tiara S. Ziegler. Next was Pia Marcell Stites, and the list continued in an anything-but-organized manner.

Jay Brown is a retired physician in Ames.

The enemy of authoritarianism is community. Our country needs more community. Now there’s a simple way to resurrect childhood friendships in the battle against President Donald Trump and his efforts to ruin our beloved country.   

Hallways.vote is a free website that uses public voter and public donation data crossed with high school yearbooks. The result allows the user to effortlessly find former classmates who share their convictions.

Kathie Obradovich is editor in chief of Iowa Capital Dispatch, which first published this article.

A coalition of Iowa organizations launched a campaign on September 9 opposing the November 3 ballot issue that will ask Iowa voters whether to amend the state constitution to require a two-thirds majority vote of lawmakers to raise state personal and corporate income taxes.

Fair Taxes for Iowa’s Future, which includes labor unions, progressive nonprofits and others, is planning an informational campaign opposing Amendment 1.

Anne Discher, executive director of Common Good Iowa, said people’s first impression of a law making it harder raise taxes tends to be favorable. But, she said, “When you actually talk to people about the tradeoffs that are required, the equation gets a lot more complicated. The more we talk to people about this amendment, the less people like it.”

Dave Miglin serves as treasurer on the Broadlawns Board of Trustees.

Polk County voters have an important choice to make for Broadlawns Medical Center, our county’s public hospital and one of the region’s most essential community institutions. At a time when health care is changing quickly and public hospitals face increasing pressure, Broadlawns needs steady, experienced, community-minded leadership. That is why voters should vote to return Emily Webb and Emily Westergaard to the Broadlawns Board of Trustees (labeled on the ballot as “County Hospital Trustee”).

Hospital trustees do not make headlines every day, and that is exactly why their work matters so much. They are responsible for asking hard questions, protecting the hospital’s mission, supporting safe and high-quality care, and ensuring that decisions are made with the long-term health of the community in mind. The best trustees bring judgment, preparation, independence, and a deep respect for the people who rely on the hospital in moments of vulnerability.