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, Iowa where Burns resides.

Democratic candidate for governor Rob Sand has selected Crawford County Supervisor Dave Muhlbauer, a cattleman-farmer and deeply rooted rural Iowan from Manilla who ran for the U.S. Senate five years ago, as his lieutenant governor running mate.

The pick fortifies Decorah native Sand’s efforts to bridge the partisan divide in rural Iowa and brings a geographic balance to the ticket.

“A fifth-generation family farmer and cattleman from Crawford County, Dave Muhlbauer represents the best of our state: hard-working, honest, and always willing to help out. I’m proud to have him on Team Sand,” Sand said in a statement. “Dave has a track record of working with everyone to deliver for western Iowa and knows it’s time to rotate the crops in state government. He’ll be a great partner on the trail and an even better lieutenant governor for the people of Iowa.”

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.

With the post-primary pause, it’s time for a candid chat about the state of political fashion, and I don’t mean left-right, progressive-conservative trends. I’m talking about the way our male candidates dress.

(I learned years ago to avoid commentary on women’s clothing except to note they are beautiful. Besides, women politicos today tend to dress very well. More about that later. For now, it’s the men I wonder about).

Noah Gratias is an Iowa State alum from Waukee.

Whether in political debates, Bleeding Heartland essays, or everyday conversations, the idea that Iowa is in decline is frequently invoked. Many Iowans worry about brain drain, water quality, health care access, and the job market.

Still, Iowa is better off than much of this rhetoric suggests. By many measures that count, including affordability, education, and health care, Iowa remains one of the country’s best places to live.

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. 

Here’s betting District Judge Adria Kester does not read the Aspen Daily News. That Colorado newspaper’s front-page slogan declares, “If you don’t want it printed, don’t let it happen.”

What happened to Judge Kester occurred outside of her usual venue — the 22 courthouses of north-central and northwest Iowa where, until recently, she served as chief judge of the Second Judicial District.

It happened when that Boone County resident found herself on the other side of the law, as a criminal defendant.

Now, she is keeping the story alive by filing a civil lawsuit seeking special treatment she likely did not accord to those who appeared before her.

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 

Imagine that a city in Iowa has an 18-hole private country club. Across town, there’s an 18-hole public course and little 9-hole par-3.

Of the seven city council members, five are devoted members of the country club. One day while having cocktails on the country club terrace while griping about dues, the five hatched a plan. They called it “Citizens’ Choice.” They’d give everyone who applied a coupon for $8,000 toward country club membership.

Jo Hain lives on a farm in Cerro Gordo county and likes to explore and photograph nature.

Last year, I went to a local county conservation park and saw a bush by a popular fishing spot. I checked my plant app, which identified it as Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius). I was determined to see what it looked like in bloom.

This spring, I remembered. I went in late May and was not disappointed. It was everywhere! Especially the south and west parts of the park. Inside the park and along the outside of the park.

Bear in mind, this park used to be a gravel pit. The terrain is pretty inhospitable to a lot of vegetation. Very rocky. But, Ninebark said, “Pffft, challenge accepted!”

Keith Schneider, a former New York Times national correspondent, is senior editor for Circle of Blue, where this column was first published. He has reported on the contest for energy, food, and water in the era of climate change from six continents. 

Expect the unexpected.

That’s the only certainty of planting season across the Corn Belt. Heat. Frost. Insects. Too much rain, or none at all. Now add the distress the Trump administration has cursed farmers with: Broken markets. Tariffs. Rising fuel costs.

Never, though, has the unexpected included this spring’s surprise: serious consideration of the harm from industrial crop and animal production. Farming’s mammoth water pollution and its consequences for public health are on the ballot in Iowa, where the primary election occurs today.

Candidates of both parties for governor and secretary of agriculture have included among their campaign priorities Iowa’s rising cancer incidence and the nitrate water contamination that may well be responsible. For the first time, the health and environmental damage from farming has moved from the margins to the center of political priorities in Iowa, an agriculture colossus that is the nation’s largest grain and pork producer.

Iowa Democrats will nominate either State Senator Zach Wahls or State Representative Josh Turek for U.S. Senate today. Both are smart and passionate, both have been effective legislators, and both have a solid grasp of the issues.

Since many readers have asked for my thoughts on the primary, I am taking a critical look at key arguments the campaigns have made for and against each candidate. My goal is not to persuade anyone to vote a certain way, but to lay out which points strike me as fair and accurate, and which seem unjustified or misleading.

Choosing between two qualified, capable candidates is inherently subjective. What is obvious to you may seem absurd to me. A deal-breaker for me may not trouble you. So for all points discussed below, your mileage may vary.

Phoebe Wall Howard is an award-winning reporter who worked for The Des Moines Register, covering organized labor and politics. She now writes the Shifting Gears newsletter on Substack and is a member of the Iowa Writers Collaborative. This article first appeared on Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture.

Warning: This column includes language that may be offensive or upsetting to a person unaccustomed to graphic terms or profanity.

With fewer than 48 hours until the polls open for the Iowa primary election, I read with interest about the heated race for governor among Republicans.

President Trump breathlessly weighed into the race with his Truth Social account on Friday, May 29: “Randy is MAGA all the way! … Randy Feenstra has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next Governor of Iowa — RANDY WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”

When I was driving around western Iowa in April — from Iowa City over to Carroll up to Storm Lake and back to Denison — you couldn’t help but notice Feenstra signs dotting the manicured front lawns.

Yet political reporter Laura Belin headlined her piece on May 31, “As Feenstra sinks, GOP establishment hits panic button. Even with Trump’s backing, Feenstra could lose.”

Marc A. Levin, Esq., and Khalil Cumberbatch co-lead the Centering Justice Initiative at the Council on Criminal Justice, where Levin is Chief Policy Counsel and Cumberbatch is Director of Engagement and Partnerships. They can be reached at mlevin@counciloncj.org and khalil@counciloncj.org.

Iowa has built something worth protecting on public safety. Its violent crime rate is roughly a quarter below the national average, overall crime has been declining for years, and the state’s recidivism rate has fallen to a ten-year low of about 33 percent, down from 39 percent in 2019. Iowa has done all of this while locking up its residents at a rate nearly a quarter below the national norm. That combination — better outcomes, fewer people behind bars — is exactly what evidence-based criminal justice policy is supposed to look like.

Governor Kim Reynolds has until June 2 to decide whether to sign House File 2542, a three-strikes mandatory sentencing measure rushed through in the final hours of the 2026 legislative session. She should look hard at what it will actually cost — and what Iowa already has to lose.

The warning signs were there for months. This week, they became impossible to ignore.

Hours after a new poll showed U.S. Representative Randy Feenstra trailing rival Republican candidate Zach Lahn, President Donald Trump gave Feenstra his coveted “Complete and Total Endorsement” for governor on May 29. In a Truth Social post, Trump declared Feenstra to be “MAGA all the way!” and promised, “RANDY WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”

Trump has sometimes jumped on the bandwagon of candidates poised to win their primaries. But this intervention looks more like a salvage operation.

The wildest part is, Feenstra could still lose the June 2 primary. He is that bad a candidate.

Stacey Walker is Principal and Managing Partner of Sage Strategies, a national strategic communications consultancy. He has worked on several political campaigns, including two historic presidential bids: Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection and Bernie Sanders’ 2020 campaign, where he served as Iowa Co-Chair. He made history as the first African American elected to the Linn County Board of Supervisors and served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. A guest lecturer at the University of Iowa’s Department of Political Science, he writes about progressive politics, movement strategy, and power. This endorsement first appeared on his Substack newsletter, Dispatch: Revolution.

I am endorsing Zach Wahls for the United States Senate. And I want to start with something that rarely gets said in endorsement essays: I am endorsing him, in part, because he is my friend.

I don’t mean friend in the way politicians use the word, as a prefix before the knife. I mean friend in the way that matters. When threats were being made against my life during the summer of 2020, Zach was one of the people who checked in. Not once. Regularly. When legislation was moving through the Iowa Senate that would hurt my constituents, he gave me a heads up before it landed. And beyond the politics, he has been there through the kinds of hard, private moments that life throws at all of us, the ones that never make the news but test who actually shows up. Zach showed up.

But let me be equally clear: I am not endorsing Zach Wahls solely because he is my friend. I am endorsing him because he is the best candidate in this race. There is no stronger debater, no more effective fundraiser, and no more clear-eyed leader running for this seat.

Randy Richardson is a former educator and retired associate executive director of the Iowa State Education Association.

Governor Kim Reynolds signed a new charter school bill into law on May 12, praising it as “yet another step to put students first.” House File 2754 provides additional funding to charter schools at the expense of public schools. While the governor heaped praise on charters, little work has been done to determine just how well they function and whether these charter schools perform better than public schools.

To be clear, charter schools are a form of a public school. They must accept all students, just like regular public schools. However, as a charter, they also get certain freedom to experiment with different education models that regular public schools don’t.

Ten charter schools are currently operating in Iowa, with another eight approved to open in the next two years, according to the governor. In our state, charter schools operate under two models. A school board can approve a charter; these are typically small and operate as an extension of the public school. Hamburg, Storm Lake, and West Central have this kind of charter school.

The remaining seven charter schools in Iowa operate under a founding group that is independent of a school district. Of these seven charters, two were started locally and the rest are operated by groups formed outside of the state.

Little has been written about these schools since they opened, so it’s difficult to know how they have functioned since they opened. Given the recent press coverage around the new charter school law, I decided to dig a little deeper to see how well the schools are doing. I spent hours going through the minutes of their governing boards (when they were available) and examining what little financial information they had shared.

Sophia Joseph is an activist, advocate, and community leader in Cedar Rapids. She wrote this endorsement on behalf of We are CR.

We are CR is a local group made up of community members who long to see positive change in Cedar Rapids. Formed six years ago, we believe in voting together for candidates who represent the best interests of the people, recognizing that real change happens at the polls.

We are CR looks for candidates with strong voting records and progressive stances on issues. However, we also look for integrity, authenticity, a willingness to listen, and the courage to stand up for what is right regardless of opposition.

There was some hesitation before making an endorsement in the U.S. Senate primary pitting State Representative Josh Turek against State Senator Zach Wahls. We see good qualities in both candidates and, like most, feel change is desperately needed. In recent weeks, we’ve seen the passion supporters have for both of these candidates, and we believe this reflects that desire for change, and that democracy is strengthened by having strong candidates who inspire people.

With this in mind, we believe that making an endorsement fits with the key values of our group.

Patrick Swanson has been restoring a Harrison County prairie. Click the links to read his posts about previous LoHi Treks in June 2021, May 2023, October 2024, and April 2025.

Just in time to witness the earliest spring wildflowers, this year’s multi-day LoHi (Loess Hills) Trek was held April 8-12, with Monona County serving as our base camp. This was my fifth LoHi Trek, and was a homecoming of sorts for me, as it was five years ago that the inaugural version of the LoHi Trek was launched in this special part of the Loess Hills. I even pitched my tent in the same place by the pond that gave me such an unforgettable experience during the first Trek.

Golden Hills Resource Conservation and Development once again coordinated the event, and recently highlighted our daily hikes and activities as we traversed through public and private lands (with special landowner permission) in portions of Woodbury and Monona counties. I am grateful to them and the many partners, businesses, and volunteers who helped make this Trek possible. 

As a preamble to our arrival at our base camp, we stopped by the nearby Tuuli Farm to see the Farm’s signature flock of sheep. Early April is lambing season on the farm. Being able to spend some time watching two newborn lambs nestled together in their fold being looked after by their recovering momma was a special treat. 

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.

My wife Kathy and I were privileged to be on hand for a grandson’s high school commencement ceremony at Adel-De Soto-Minburn (ADM) High School in Adel last Sunday. The event was hugely attended, impressive, and full of joy for the graduates, their classmates, families, and friends.

The end of a high school career is always a whirlwind for high school seniors. In a few years they probably won’t remember much about the ceremony, embedded as it was in the excitement of the season and the congratulatory family reception that often follows it.

The only thing I remember about my high school commencement back in 1959 is a quote from our ceremony’s guest speaker. He said, “If you don’t remember anything else I say here today, remember this:”.

That’s it. I forget what he said I was supposed to remember.

On the holiday originally known as Decoration Day, Bleeding Heartland has often remembered the Iowans who died in wartime service. Sometimes, years have gone by with no new Iowa fatalities in a war theater.

Tragedy struck twice this past year, killing four Iowans deployed in the Middle East. Staff Sergeant William Nathaniel Howard and Staff Sergeant Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar died in Syria, where they were ambushed in December.

Major Jeffrey O’Brien and Sergeant Declan Coady, Army Reserve soldiers assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command, died on March 1 after a drone hit their unit in Kuwait. They were among the first U.S. casualties in the war against Iran.

State Senator Molly Donahue represents Iowa Senate district 37, covering part of Cedar Rapids and Marion.

At a time when Iowa faces real challenges—health care access, mental health services, education funding, and the rising cost of living—voters are looking for leadership rooted in lived experience and a genuine commitment to public service. In this Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, Josh Turek offers exactly that.

Turek’s story reflects resilience, service, and results. As a Paralympian, he represented the United States on the world stage, demonstrating discipline, focus, and determination at the highest level. But what makes him uniquely qualified for public office is how he has carried those qualities into his work here in Iowa. In the state legislature, Turek has earned a reputation as a thoughtful and pragmatic leader—someone who listens carefully, builds relationships, and acts with purpose.

Ed Klamfoth retired in 2024 after 36 years in public education in Iowa, the last sixteen as a superintendent. This column was first published in the Waverly Democrat.

I was recently asked to submit an article for the Waverly newspaper explaining school funding and how it works. To do so in a piece like this is a difficult task for several reasons, not the least of which are the great many nuances and details associated with the topic and the word limitation for this column. So to narrow things down a bit, I asked if there were specific questions I might address. There were, and I’ll try to answer those questions here.

One important note—there are many different “buckets” of money that schools receive. I am only addressing the General Fund in these responses.

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 

Author’s note: This is the same introduction I used for a post I wrote in 2020 after President Donald Trump ordered a drone strike on Iran.Unfortunately, it’s still relevant for this new war.

It was an Iowa night thick with humidity and lightning bugs. We’d gathered in a vacant lot to test our virgin manhood. I was 13 years old, and I was standing in a circle of friends watching as each skinny armed boy tied on overweight boxing gloves and met his opponent in the center of the circle.

No referee. No adult. Just a whole lot of testosterone mingling with nervous adolescent sweat.