“The grassroots of America love making America great again,” David Pautsch told me during a February 5 telephone interview. “It’s the political establishment people, including and especially the Republican establishment, that is the biggest albatross around our neck.”

Pautsch is counting on the MAGA grassroots as he prepares for a rematch against U.S. Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks in the 2026 GOP primary for Iowa’s first Congressional district.

A minister and founder of the Quad Cities Prayer Breakfast, Pautsch received just under 44 percent of the vote in the 2024 primary after running against the incumbent from the right.

I reached out to Pautsch after seeing he had booked the state capitol rotunda on February 27 for a “Congressional candidacy announcement.” Although he hasn’t officially launched his campaign, he agreed to speak on the record about his plans and prospects.

Governor Kim Reynolds announced on February 7 that she has scheduled a special election in Iowa House district 100 for Tuesday, March 11. The seat became vacant due to the recent passing of State Representative Martin Graber.

The district covers most of Lee County, including the population centers of Keokuk and Fort Madison. Like several other counties containing mid-sized cities, this part of Iowa was a longtime Democratic stronghold.

But Lee County was among the “pivot counties” that voted twice for Barack Obama, then for Donald Trump in three straight presidential elections.

More recently, voters in this area have favored Republican candidates for down-ballot offices as well. GOP candidates picked up the Iowa House and Senate seats covering this territory by defeating Democratic incumbents in 2020. In the 2024 general election, a Republican challenger won the race for Lee County sheriff, a position held by Democrats for many years. Some county office-holders who used to be Democrats (such as the Lee County attorney, recorder, and former auditor) have changed their party affiliation to Republican in recent years as well.

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.

President Donald Trump renewed his eight-year tariff war last weekend by declaring tariffs of 25 percent on most goods from Mexico and Canada (10 percent on Canadian oil) and 10 percent on China. No sooner had the war been declared than we had a 30-day truce as Mexico and Canada promised various reinforcements of their border that supposedly will stanch the flow of fentanyl into the U.S.—policies both countries had announced weeks earlier.

Trump famously told us eight years ago that trade wars are “easy to win.” But if they’re so easy, why are we still fighting them eight years later? U.S. armed forces needed just half that time to subdue Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in World War II.

Trump and his MAGAtoids can claim short-term victories with the Mexican and Canadian truces. But bigger hills remain to be seized. China might not be so easy to bully. Neither will be the European Union. To those of us of advanced ages, the 30-day truce was reminiscent of the occasional truces during the Vietnam War, when hopes were raised around the world only to be shattered by the resumption of bombings and guerilla ambushes.

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  

In 1989, the movie Field of Dreams painted an idyllic picture of Iowa. The most iconic scene was when a ghostly player asks, “Is this heaven?” Ray, played by Kevin Costner, answers, “No, it’s Iowa.”

More than three decades later, even those with rose colored glasses wouldn’t mistake Iowa for heaven. It’s changed. 

Once, both political parties valued protecting children. It was a core value.

But that’s gone. It’s buried next to “Iowa nice.”

Here’s what led to its death.

John Kearney is a retired philosophy professor who taught at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has lived in Waterloo, Iowa for the past six years.

You are a juror in a murder trial, and you are tasked with deciding the innocence or guilt of defendant Robinson. To be convinced of Robinson’s guilt you want “sufficient evidence,” a reason or set of reasons for confidently believing that he is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If ten witnesses saw Robinson shoot Johnson and there are no witnesses who saw anything to the contrary, then there are strong reasons (“sufficient evidence”) for believing that Robinson shot Johnson.

But evidence can be “insufficient.” If five witnesses believe it was Robinson who shot Johnson, but five other witnesses believe it was someone who simply looks like Robinson, then the situation becomes problematic. If your verdict hinged solely on eyewitness testimony, you would have grounds for “reasonable doubt.” You would have “insufficient evidence” for finding Robinson guilty.

It is clearly better to have sufficient evidence for your beliefs than to be saddled with insufficient evidence or no evidence at all.

In his recent press conference following the tragic accident near Reagan National airport President Trump claimed “we do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas, and I think we’ll probably state these opinions now.”

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.

These days, Iowans may wonder how our elected officials, who should prioritize protecting and caring for the most vulnerable, can live with themselves or even look at themselves in the mirror. More than 50,000 Iowans live in the state’s more than 400 nursing homes. Most of those facilities are for-profit enterprises, funded by tens of billions of taxpayer dollars. These residents, their families, those of us approaching our own long-term care needs—and frankly, all Iowans—should be able to count on responsible individuals of both political parties to fulfill their oaths. 

Not in Iowa.

Republicans have had full control of state government (the Iowa House, Senate, and governor’s office) since 2017. In her recent Condition of the State address, Governor Kim Reynolds made it sound as if we were now living in the State of Nirvana, thanks to her and her party.

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.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird again tried to put herself in the national spotlight last week as leader of a group of Republican attorneys general who fixed their sights on Costco over the warehouse retailer’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.

The state attorneys sent a stern warning letter telling the company, “We … urge Costco to end all unlawful discrimination imposed by the company through diversity, equity and inclusion (“DEI”) policies. … Costco should treat every person equally and based on their merit, rather than based on divisive and discriminatory DEI practices.”

Jason Benell lives in Des Moines with his wife and two children. He is a combat veteran, former city council candidate, and president of Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers. A version of this essay first appeared on his Substack newsletter, The Odd Man Out.

Republicans, particularly Iowa Republicans, seem to have a serious problem with science and the scientific method. Their actions and rhetoric treat science as if it is some monolithic thing to appeal to or a lever you can pull to look good and reasonable in the face of scrutiny. However, like so many concepts and principles that require thought and consideration, they seem to really struggle with science and the scientific method. 

So often, Republicans substitute a tradition or a belief or cultural icon for science, in order to justify some action or some policy proposal. It is a common refrain, with scientific and secular organizations lining up with data, expertise, and testable hypotheses on one side of an issue. On the other side—the Republican side—there are faith-based organizations and Very Concerned Citizens who have little to no scientific data to back them up. These folks tend to view science the same way they view their favored religious text: as an authoritative source of knowledge that must be appealed to, rather than a process that should be applied and worked through.

Mary Weaver writes a regular column for the Jefferson Herald and Greene County News online. She is a former registered nurse and former public health nurse administrator, who currently chairs the Iowa Democratic Party’s Women’s Caucus. Mary resides on a farm near Rippey.

To the editor:

As a former Public Health Nurse, I am very anxious and concerned that Robert Kennedy Jr. may be confirmed to the cabinet position of Health and Human Services secretary.

I will share a couple of stories to emphasize my concerns, particularly in the arena of vaccinations.

I have a good friend who loves to explore cemeteries. I cannot say it is my favorite diversion, but one very weather pleasant day she talked me into going with her. She likes to look at the headstones and I dutifully followed along. There were numerous markers with lambs. This was usually the grave of an infant who had died of diphtheria or whooping cough. It is painful to believe this type of marker may indeed be seen in future cemeteries.

Herb Strentz was dean of the Drake School of Journalism from 1975 to 1988 and professor there until retirement in 2004. He was executive secretary of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council from its founding in 1976 to 2000.

Current controversy over the Iowa Department of Education’s proposals for new school standards on science education goes back only a couple of months. But on Sunday, January 26, a Des Moines pastor went back some 3,000 years in scripture to discuss how the agency’s proposals reflect the threats that Christian Nationalism poses to our democracy and the nation’s religious life.

At the end of his sermon, the congregation applauded him for doing so.

The pastor is the Rev. Dr. Scott Paczkowski.

The congregation is Westminster Presbyterian in the Beaverdale neighborhood of Des Moines.

Clark Kauffman is deputy editor at Iowa Capital Dispatch, where this article first appeared.

A new state report on staffing in Iowa nursing homes indicates employee turnover rates are continuing to climb 15 years after state lawmakers approved, but failed to fund, a program to address the issue.

The 2024 Nursing Facility Turnover Report from the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services indicates that between 2022 and 2023, the average rate of turnover among registered nurses working in nursing homes increased from 52 percent to 66 percent. Among licensed practical nurses, turnover increased from 53 percent to 68 percent.

Among certified nurse aides, who provide much of the hands-on care in Iowa nursing homes, the average turnover rate increased from 72 percent to 77 percent.

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.

A financial adviser in Fort Madison and former brigadier general in the Iowa National Guard (now retired), Graber was first elected to the Iowa House in 2020, defeating a Democratic incumbent. He just won a third term by more than a two-to-one margin in November.

Graber chaired the new Federal and Other Funds Appropriations subcommittee (established before the 2025 legislative session) and also served on the Local Government and Economic Growth and Technology committees. He previously chaired the Economic Development Appropriations subcommittee and served on the Commerce and Veterans Affairs panels.

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. Former State Senator Chris Cournoyer was re-elected in this district with about 61 percent of the vote in 2022. (She resigned from the legislature to become Iowa’s lieutenant governor last month.) In the most recent general election, voters living in Senate district 35 preferred Donald Trump to Kamala Harris by a 21-point margin, and preferred GOP incumbent Mariannette Miller-Meeks over Democratic challenger Christina Bohannan by a 9-point margin. The GOP has a voter registration advantage too.

Yet Zimmer performed well in every part of Senate district 35. He carried Clinton County, where most of his constituents live, by 3,411 votes to 3,169 (51.7 percent to 48.0 percent). Trump won that formerly blue county in November with 58.5 percent of the vote to 39.7 percent for Harris.

The Democrat carried the Jackson County precincts by 555 votes to 446 for Whittington (55.4 percent to 44.6 percent). Voters in the same area favored Trump by 60.3 percent to 38.2 percent in November, according to Bleeding Heartland’s analysis of the precinct-level results.

Also impressive: Zimmer nearly matched his opponent in the Scott County portion of the district, gaining 846 votes to 858 for Whittington (49.6 percent to 50.3 percent). Trump’s advantage over Harris in the same precincts: 64.2 percent to 34.1 percent.

How did the Democrat pull it off?

Rick Morain is the former publisher and owner of the Jefferson Herald, for which he writes a regular column.

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.

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.

SHORT-LIVED POST LED TO LONG LEGAL BATTLE

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. While numerous people have used the image to create memes without compensating the Griners, various corporations have paid to license the photo for use in advertising.

A January 2020 post on the King for Congress Facebook page put Sam’s defiant image in front of the U.S. Capitol with the message “FUND OUR MEMES!!!” The post linked to a fundraising page.

King’s campaign took the “Success Kid” Facebook post down within hours after receiving a warning from Griner’s attorney. Griner told the New York Times at the time, “Steve King is just the worst of the worst,” and “bigotry is just the antithesis of what we want to be the association with this meme.”

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.

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. As I waited with my coffee in the check-out line, I was behind a Hispanic man whose hands showed his labors had taken a rougher toll than my life’s work at a computer has taken on mine.

A convenience store in the middle of America is not a place where one typically pauses to reflect on a church sermon given three days earlier at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.

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.

Iowa’s 2025 legislative session has only just begun, and nursing home residents have already been informed the Republican-controlled legislature has nothing more to do for them, since the industry is supposedly over-regulated already. 

Here’s what you should know.

Governor Kim Reynolds hasn’t faced an opponent in a Republican primary since 2008, when she ran for state Senate. But if she seeks a third term in 2026, she will likely compete against a challenger from the right: former State Representative Brad Sherman.

The Iowa Standard reported last month that Sherman intends to run for governor. Speaking to Bleeding Heartland at the state capitol on January 23, Sherman declined to discuss specifics but indicated he has a campaign kickoff planned for February.

His campaign Facebook page was recently updated after a stretch of 21 months with no new posts. His refreshed campaign website is recruiting volunteers to “spread the word about the upcoming primary.” His latest campaign financial disclosure shows no fundraising for the first eleven months of 2024—when Sherman wasn’t seeking re-election to the state House—followed by ten donations totaling $4,030 in December. That month, the campaign committee paid $6,000 to a Republican consulting firm.

To put it mildly, Sherman would face long odds against Reynolds. The governor’s campaign raised $1.8 million last year and started 2025 with more than $3 million cash on hand. Reynolds would have massive establishment support—not only in state, but from the Republican Governors Association, where her former chief of staff serves as executive director. In addition, Iowans are famous for re-electing incumbents.

On the other hand, a sizeable number of Iowa Republicans are open to anti-establishment candidates. Then State Senator Jim Carlin ran for U.S. Senate on a shoestring budget but received 26.5 percent of the 2022 primary vote against Senator Chuck Grassley. Last year, Kevin Virgil received nearly 40 percent of the vote against U.S. Representative Randy Feenstra, and David Pautsch managed just under 44 percent against U.S. Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks, even though both members of Congress massively outspent their GOP challengers.

Four groups would be particularly important for Sherman if he seeks the nomination for governor next year.

Herb Strentz was dean of the Drake School of Journalism from 1975 to 1988 and professor there until retirement in 2004. He was executive secretary of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council from its founding in 1976 to 2000.

The Iowa Department of Education may be first in the nation in commemorating a centennial to be ashamed of.

I’m talking about the 100^th anniversary of the Scopes trial in Dayton, Tennessee, which took place from July 10 to July 21, 1925. John Scopes, a high school biology teacher, was convicted of violating a state law, the Butler Act, which made it illegal to teach human evolution in public schools. He was fined $100 (about $1,800 in today’s dollars), but never had to serve jail time.

Bernie Scolaro is a retired school counselor, a past president of the Sioux City Education Association, and former Sioux City school board member.

Jackson Katz created a peer leadership program called Mentors in Violence Prevention in 1993. The concept was to empower bystanders to help prevent bullying, sexual harassment and gender-related violence. Some schools implemented Mentors in Violence Prevention strategies in 1997. Sioux City West High School implemented the training program while I was a school counselor there. Assistant Principal Al Heisterkamp took the lead. Philanthropist Cindy Waitt and the Waitt Institute for Violence Prevention provided support and funding, which contributed to this program’s success nationwide. 

This program deserves its own recognition and deep dive, but here’s one key fact: its success was based on training peers to educate their peers in standing up for each other. Why did this model work? Because we tend to listen to people who are more like us; in this instance, those similar in age.