I’ve been reading news and analysis at Iowa Independent daily for more than a year, but since they recently added an Iowa News Feed to the front page I’m checking the blog even more often. The news feed links to mainstream media reports and blog posts covering a wide range of topics.

IowaPolitics.com also provides lots of links to mainstream media stories, politicians’ press releases and blog posts, plus some original reporting.

CoveringIowaPolitics.com has original reporting on the biggest statewide political stories.

Radio Iowa also has a mixture of original reporting, including interviews, and press releases.

For stories and angles that can be off the beaten path:

Blog for Iowa publishes action alerts and press releases from various progressive organizations.

The Public News Service releases Iowa-related stories several times a week, which often have an environmental or public-health focus.

E-mail lists run by various non-profit organizations are another way to find out what’s going on in the state. I subscribe to several of these, and I often see stories or press releases that I wouldn’t have found in any newspaper or blog.

I look forward to reading about other Bleeding Heartland users’ favorite online sources for Iowa news.  

Gronstal to Iowa Voters – F*ck You!

by Alta Price

Thanks for the information that was posted about Election Law on the home page Wednesday. VOICE (Voter-Owned Iowa Clean Elections) is one of the pieces of legislation mentioned in the post – it has been weaving it’s way through the Iowa legislature, passing out of both the Senate and House State Government committees, the Senate Appropriations sub-committee and expected to come out of the House sub-committee today. But we’ve run into a snag; the Democratic leadership is trying to kill the bill before it comes to the floor for a vote. On Wednesday, a group of fellow activists traveled to Des Moines to lobby on VOICE. No one expected they would have the F-bomb dropped on their heads. According to those who were there here’s what happened:

Gronstal to Iowa Voters – F*ck You!

Gronstal Earns a Mouth Scrubbing at Capitol Wednesday

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By swords&ploughshares

It’s official, Iowa Democrats who turned out in record numbers this year to deliver the historic control of the Iowa House, Senate and Governorship to Democrats for the first time in over 30 years, can now rest safe that their leadership has abandoned them.

At today’s VOICE Rally at the Capitol in Des Moines, Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal stunned Iowa citizens advocating Clean Elections with his arrogance and use of obscenities.

A group of women and elderly men had gathered in the Rotunda after a peaceful rally calling for an end to the use of big money in Iowa’s political campaigns, when Gronstal, who has been called “the most powerful man in Iowa politics,” came strolling by.

Seizing upon the chance to speak with “the powerful one,” members of the group caught his attention and began asking him where he stood on the issue.

When told of the citizen’s concerns about how corporate money was impacting elections, Gronstal told them that’s the way things work. When asked about the chance of Clean Election legislation reaching the floor he flatly said, “Not a chance.”

The plot thickens… see what happens next – click here: blogforiowa.com

Prefer satire? check out Political Fallout

We may have thought we won the trifecta but it’s politics as usual here in the heartland… not for long. If they want to give us an additional 8 months to organize around this issue, so be it – When the legislature re-convenes next January, we’ll be marching on Des Moines, of course that will be right after we mobilize en-masse around this issue at caucus. 😉 

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Garchik here…

the real problem, imho, is that the Democrats have spent all this money and all this time, so that they can be put in charge, and they have no real vision about what they want to do. I mean, come on? Fair Share is not as important or good as VOICE, and well all know it.