-
1 month ago | 
bleedingheartland.com | Bruce Lear |Dean Lerner |Justin Scott |Randy Evans
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 [email protected] We’ve all attended parties living two hours beyond when it should die. The conversation ends, the chip dip separates, there’s more empty beer cans than full. But there’s always someone trying to keep it alive.
-
2 months ago | 
bleedingheartland.com | Dan Piller |Bruce Lear |John Kearney |Dean Lerner
The Tariff Man goes to war Thursday, Feb 6 2025 0 Comments 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.
-
2 months ago | 
bleedingheartland.com | Laura Belin |Rick Morain |Randy Evans |Dean Lerner
Rest in peace, Martin Graber Friday, Jan 31 2025 0 Comments Iowa House members were shocked and saddened on January 31 as news spread that their colleague, Republican State Representative Martin Graber, had died of a heart attack. Graber had been at the capitol the previous day, voting for the first three bills debated on the House floor during the 2025 legislative session.
-
2 months ago | 
bleedingheartland.com | Laura Belin |Rick Morain |Randy Evans |Dean Lerner
They say anything can happen in a low-turnout special election. And on January 28, voters in Iowa Senate district 35 elected Democrat Mike Zimmer to represent them through the end of 2026. Zimmer defeated Republican nominee Katie Whittington by 4,812 votes to 4,473 (51.7 percent to 48.1 percent), according to unofficial results. Most Iowa political observers expected Republicans to hold the seat easily.
-
2 months ago | 
bleedingheartland.com | Rick Morain |Laura Belin |Randy Evans |Dean Lerner
This year marks the centennial of the notorious Scopes trial, held in 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee, over the question of whether a state could ban the teaching of e – – – – – – – – (rhymes with “revolution”) in its public schools. This month the people of Iowa caught a whiff of that episode as a result of a proposed revision to state standards on science education in Iowa schools.
-
2 months ago | 
bleedingheartland.com | Laura Belin |Randy Evans |Dean Lerner |Bernie Scolaro
The U.S. Supreme Court declined last week to hear former U.S. Representative Steve King’s appeal in a case stemming from his Congressional campaign’s unauthorized use of the popular “Success Kid” meme in 2020. Laney Griner took the photo of her son Sam on a beach in 2007 and registered the copyright for the “Success Kid” meme in 2012.
-
2 months ago | 
bleedingheartland.com | Randy Evans |Dean Lerner |Laura Belin |Bernie Scolaro
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 [email protected]. I was in Eagle Grove last week. Like many travelers in Iowa, I stopped at Casey’s before leaving town. Eagle Grove is a meatpacking community, and many jobs are held by Hispanic men and women.
-
2 months ago | 
bleedingheartland.com | Dean Lerner |Laura Belin |Bernie Scolaro |John Morrissey
Dean Lerner served Iowa as an Assistant Attorney General for sixteen years, Chief Deputy Secretary of State for four years, and about ten years as Deputy Director, then Director of the Department of Inspections & Appeals. He then worked for the CMS Director of the Division of Nursing Homes, and the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa. He is a graduate of Grinnell College and Drake University Law School.
-
Jan 18, 2025 | 
bleedingheartland.com | Laura Belin |Randy Evans |Dean Lerner |Bernie Scolaro
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson caused some angst in the House Republican caucus this week when he removed Representative Mike Turner as chair of the Intelligence Committee, supposedly due to “concerns from Mar-a-Lago,” among other considerations. But there were no unpleasant surprises for Iowa’s delegation as committee assignments were finalized for the 119th Congress.
-
Dec 16, 2024 | 
bleedingheartland.com | Laura Belin |Randy Evans |Dean Lerner |Bernie Scolaro
UPDATE: On December 23, Governor Kim Reynolds scheduled the special election for Tuesday, January 28. Original post follows. Voters in Iowa Senate district 35 will soon elect a new senator, now that Chris Cournoyer has resigned from that role to become Iowa’s lieutenant governor.
