Guest Post

Guest op-ed from Hem Rizal, an educator who recently moved to Des Moines from South Dakota. Gov. Reynolds has already promised that she’d sign an executive order to restore the voting rights of Iowans with felony convictions. Now is the perfect time to deliver on that promise. Acting on this commitment immediately would give county…

Guest op-ed from Hem Rizal, an educator who recently moved to Des Moines from South Dakota. Gov. Reynolds has already promised that she’d sign an executive order to restore the voting rights of Iowans with felony convictions. Now is the perfect time to deliver on that promise. Acting on this commitment immediately would give county…

Guest op-ed from Jeremy Dumkreiger, an educator in Sioux City. A colleague and I started Iowa Educators for a Safe Return to School to allow educators in Iowa to discuss the lack of guidance from Gov. Kim Reynolds and her administration. That group quickly grew to over 16,000 members, which now includes both educators and…

Guest op-ed from Mike McCarthy, President Iowa Alliance for Retired Americans On July 14, 1965, the Older Americans Act (OAA) was signed into law. It responded to the need for community services, evidence-based health promotion, disease prevention programs, civic engagement, and elder justice for senior citizens. America’s seniors require a similar response to the COVID…

Guest op-ed from Erika Brighi of Marion, Iowa, a member of Advocates for Social Justice Black. Lives. Matter. We have heard these three words before — yet this time, the fight feels different. All lives matter, right? Yes. That’s the goal. But “all lives matter” can’t be true until black lives matter as well. The…

Guest op-ed from Erika Brighi of Marion, Iowa, a member of Advocates for Social Justice Black. Lives. Matter. We have heard these three words before — yet this time, the fight feels different. All lives matter, right? Yes. That’s the goal. But “all lives matter” can’t be true until black lives matter as well. The…

Guest op-ed from Ava Auen-Ryan of Iowa CCI and Emma Schmit of Food & Water Action. Iowa’s political leaders used the end of the legislative session to avoid accountability and push through widely opposed legislation. They proved, once again, that when it is in the interest of corporate funders’ pocketbooks, legislators at the statehouse can…

Guest post from Nate Monson, executive director of Iowa Safe Schools. On Monday, June 15, 2020, the US Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in an opinion by Justice Neil Gorsuch that both sexual orientation and gender identity are protected classes under Title VII. This ruling makes LGBTQ persons equal under the law for employment protections. Title…

Guest op-ed from Yena Balekyani, an organizer and marcher in the recent Des Moines-area protests following the murder of George Floyd. Across the globe, millions watched a Black man in Minnesota lie on the ground for nearly nine minutes, begging for his life, while a white officer pressed his knee on into his neck, killing…

Guest op-ed from former Lt. Gov. Patty Judge and Jeff Link, co-founders of Focus On Rural America. With the Iowa primary on Tuesday, the field of important races up and down the ballot will be set for the Fall campaign. In the wake of COVID-19 and an agricultural economy on the brink, the choices we…