Ty Rushing

By my count, there are at least six Iowa cities that have the name of a primary or secondary color in their name.  Here’s a little refresher for those of us who can’t remember what we learned in elementary school art class: Red, yellow, and blue are primary colors, and orange, green, and violet (purple)…

Residents of a small Iowa town criticized their library’s LGBTQ staff and their displaying of LGBTQ-related books until most of the staff quit. Now, the town’s library is closed for the foreseeable future. After having the same library director for 32 years, the Vinton Public Library can’t seem to keep the position filled anymore. Since…

During a stop in Cleveland on Wednesday, President Joe Biden delivered remarks on an aspect of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) specifically tailored to protect union pensions. ARPA’s Special Financial Assistance program is a provision that bolsters protections for multiemployer pensions, which are pension plans created by unions and employers in related industries. The…

Anyone who’s stared at a map of Iowa’s 99 counties has probably pondered this question: What’s up with Kossuth County? At 974 square miles, Kossuth is Iowa’s largest county in terms of total land area and sticks out on any state map because of its length. North to south, Kossuth is about 41 miles long…

In the late 1930s, there was a scourge negatively affecting the youth of Dubuque: Swing music. This was according to the Most Rev. Francis Beckman, who served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Dubuque from 1930-46. Beckman’s stance against swing music made national headlines—which we will get to in a second—but here’s a little background…

Another meeting and another excuse from county officials is how Latino organizers felt after Monday’s Franklin County Board of Supervisors meeting in Hampton. For months, Spanish-speaking community members have urged the county to reconsider its stance on eliminating public health interpreter/navigator Vicki Guerrero’s job after a little more than two decades of service. “If you…

James “JC” Risewick’s appointment this week to the Iowa Board of Regents drew attention because of his significant donations to Gov. Kim Reynolds, who appointed the Des Moines businessman to the board that governs the state’s public educational institutions. Since 2020, Risewick has donated more than $65,000 in cash and in-kind contributions to Reynolds’ campaign,…

Riverside’s designation as the future birthplace of James T. Kirk is pretty well known to Iowans and Trekkies/Trekkers, but how did the southeast Iowa community gain the designation of being the origin point to arguably the most famous “Star Trek” captain?   In an incredibly ordinary fashion, it began with a city council meeting. But first,…

Veronica Guerrero’s voice has been a lifeline for Spanish speakers in Franklin County for more than 20 years. The longtime Spanish language interpreter/health navigator for the Hampton-based Franklin County Public Health has done everything from breaking down Medicaid applications to making sure children get their required vaccinations. She even helped one woman find a way…

As a Midwesterner, there’s something special about seeing places we know and have lived depicted in movies and TV shows. A lot of times, those depictions are inaccurate as hell, but it’s still kind of cool that it happened. A perfect example of this is the fourth(!!!) episode of “The X-Files” in which FBI agents…