1stHeadlinesBreaking News Headlines
Des Moines IA · RSS · up to 100 stored headlines · Visit site
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
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…
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…
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]. This essay first appeared on his Substack newsletter, Stray Thoughts…
Nick Covington is an Iowa parent who taught high school social studies for ten years. For decades, the same charts and arguments about public school spending have made their way from think tanks to the media and state capitols around the country. “After 40 years, trillions spent, and declining test scores, doing more…
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…
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] Growing up, organized sports consisted of…
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…
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
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]. This essay first appeared on his Substack newsletter, Stray Thoughts. In recent…
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…
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
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…
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…
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…
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…
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]. This essay first appeared on his Substack newsletter, Stray Thoughts. You would…