In her campaign announcement, Lundgren doesn't mention her extensive record supporting reproductive rights restrictions in Iowa, instead focusing on her decade as a Trump fan: "In Congress I will have his back 100 percent."

Six years after the first fest, Semana Cultural Latina returns to Iowa City on Thursday with art, film, dance and music events. “We cannot stop living our lives ... regardless of the political environment,” organizer Manny Galvez said. “We are part of Iowa communities, we are part of this country."

Learn more about this masterpiece:

“History repeats itself — that’s one of the things wrong with history,” Clarence Darrow once said. The Iowa Labor History Society is presenting a one-man play on Darrow, most famous for the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925.

“I feel that going to concerts keeps me younger,” said Jim Reiners of Waterloo. “I know these artists won’t be around forever, and my health won’t always be the same, so I figure I’ll experience all of this while I can.”

“The support that I hope to have from other Democrats isn’t an endorsement of the decision that I made," Green told Little Village, "but a recognition that it was ours here at Johnson County to make."

"There will only be chaos for as long as conservatives like Sherman persist in framing our lives in society that way," writes Paul Deaton in response to a letter about Charlie Kirk by the gubernatorial candidate.

If you're a university employee who posted something "disruptive" about Charlie Kirk last week, you could face termination, the Regents confirmed at their first meeting of the semester.

Civil War muskets, medical tools, musical instruments, outfits and presidents made an appearance at Muster on the Maquoketa last weekend.

The lawsuit alleges the local and federal government denied 29-year-old Yeison Antonio Lopez Lopez his due process rights after ICE agents placed in him in "immigration custody."

The lawsuit alleges the local and federal government denied 29-year-old Yeison Antonio Lopez Lopez his due process rights after ICE agents placed in him in "immigration custody."

Sports fans overlook a lot when cheering on their favorites. But it's hard to celebrate the Big 10's winningest coach when you have a good memory, LV sports columnist Rob Howe argues.

“I’ve had folks reach out already about Iowa’s high-speed rail and what we can do there connecting both sides of the state,” Drey said Monday. “I’ve had requests about child support, water quality, public schools, and so I’m taking all that information under advisement as we head to January.”

“I like the idea that a song can grow after being recorded in the studio," Wilco's Jeff Tweedy said in his conversation with Andre Perry at the inaugural Iowa City Songwriters Festival. “If nothing new or exciting happens, I change it.”

"Sure, today, it seems like they [Democrats] are pretty much a joke, right?” Hinson told supporters in Cedar Rapids on Sunday. “ … We cannot rest on our laurels, though, and I think we all know that we have not come this far to only go this far. We have to keep Iowa red."

Amid the visa chaos of the Trump administration, English new wave icon Lene Lovich thought a U.S. tour wouldn't work out. But, "It just so happens that somebody who is in my band, Jude Rawlins, is living in America,” she told LV. “In fact, he’s living in Iowa."

Wastewater from meat and poultry plants can carry nitrogen, phosphorus, oil and grease, chlorides and other pollutants. The new rule would have reduced them by roughly 100 million pounds per year, according to the EPA.

'American Pickers' alum Danielle Colby has long collected artifacts from striptease history. You can ogle them at the new Ecdysiast Arts Museum, also a venue for burlesque performances. “Downtown Davenport has been so encouraging and wonderful," Colby said. "I think we’re in very good hands here."

🔥 IT'S LITTLE VILLAGE'S 13th ANNUAL R🥵AST OF IOWA CITY 🔥⁠ 📚️The annual interrobang on the Iowa City Book Festival📚️⁠ ✨️Sponsored by Romantix✨️⁠ and hosted by Karen Vásquez ⁠ Sunday, Oct 12, 6-8 p.m. at ReUnion Brewery on the Ped Mall. Food, drinks, comedy, Dear Kiki Live! and FREE ADMISSION!⁠

“Everybody should feel welcome in the state of Iowa," Sand replied when someone asked if he'd reconsider his support for the trans sports ban. "I might not offer you full agreement with everything you believe." Someone in the back of the crowd in North Liberty called out, “Coward!”

What should Iowa's state pie be? Author, filmmaker and prolific baker Beth M. Howard shared her pick with Little Village.

“There was this room we didn’t know what to do with, and at some point, I realized we could have a space for art — a sort of attempt to transcend your typical coffee shop art," Wake Up Iowa Coffee's Jarrett Mitchell said of the Sideroom Gallery.

Rep. Joe Mitchell, part of the GOP supermajority in the Iowa House, said, "It’s time to take power back from the insiders and return it to the people of Iowa." Software consultant and farmer Christian Schlaefer promises to "fight for what it truly means to be an American.”

This Modern World by @tomtomorrow.bsky.social from LV's September issue: littlevillagemag.com/this-modern-world-september-2025/

Despite her MAGA credentials, Trump's endorsement of Hinson was not a foregone conclusion — at least not a year ago. Hinson remained neutral ahead of the 2024 Republican Caucus, and allegedly faced high-pressure phone calls from Trump's team demanding her endorsement, or else.

What Republicans will make a bid for Rep. Ashley Hinson's seat? Voters likely won't have to wait long to find out.

Hayward Oubre attended the University of Iowa School of Art thanks to the GI Bill, earning his MFA in 1948. He and his wife lived in "Hawkeye Village," a mobile home park near the current site of the Stanley Museum of Art.

"For years, the state government has crushed almost every effort to hold farmers and agribusinesses accountable for their increasingly dirty footprint. It’s the story of Iowa, and now of the US at large." By Peter Waldman at @bloomberg.com

"Parents of potential college athletes have begun creating a prep portal, if you will, attempting to improve their children’s recruiting stock," reports Rob Howe. "It’s a troubling trend, one that’s unnecessary."

Democrat Rob Sand will mix with voters at Field Day Brewing Co. tomorrow evening.

ON STANDS NOW: Little Village's 2025 Fall Arts Preview 📍 Find a copy: bit.ly/lvlocations 🌐 Read online: littlevillagemag.com/lv-september-2025 📬 Subscribe for home delivery: littlevillagemag.com/subscribe

Sen. Joni Ernst has officially castrated any remaining hope she'd seek a third term, making way for the well-funded Rep. Ashley Hinson to run for Senate.

Jeff Tweedy, Joy Oladokun and a collection of local composers will swap tricks of the trade and perform downtown this week for the first Iowa City Songwriters Festival. "This is the kind of event I wish I could’ve attended when I was coming up as a songwriter,” said Brian Johannesen.

Iowa is “on the frontlines of a drinking water emergency," and environmental groups say the proposed PERMIT Act "puts polluters ahead of our communities and clean water.”

Well,

A heart-wrenching piece by Tom Barton at @thegazette.com about Mariam Abu Daqqa, killed in Israel's Aug. 25 strike on al-Nasser hospital. “Take her story with you, keep her in mind, keep her in your thoughts, and then just be with the Palestinian people,” her cousin Maisaa asked of Iowans.

A paywall-free article on the results:

“They put up roadblocks because they don’t want us to see what they’re doing,” Escucha Mi Voz's Alejandra Escobar said. “We will show up organized, with cameras and testimonies, and keep the spotlight of public opinion on.”

The Iowa Youth Writing Project is imagining a new chapter in 2026. Two weeks ago, University of Iowa CLAS unceremoniously announced it would no longer host the K-12 outreach program after Dec. 31.

The results in Iowa's District 1 special election, which saw Drey beat her Republican opponent by 11% of the vote, has made national headlines. Iowa Democratic Party leaders say the results “should send a flashing warning to the GOP.”

During the last Trump administration, after the president tweeted that flag burning should be punishable by "loss of citizenship or [a] year in jail"—a position Trump is reasserting now, despite the act being protected speech—some Iowa City protesters burned flags on the Ped Mall. From 2017:

Calling all writers! The Des Moines Public Library is partnering with @littlevillage.bsky.social to create a short story competition! The winning story will receive a $200 prize and be featured in the January edition of Little Village. buff.ly/HqKI1rC Submissions accepted: Sept. 2- Oct. 31

Des Moines Playhouse, Iowa Stage Theatre Company, Des Moines Young Artists' Theatre and actor Kim Haymes were among the big winners at last night's ceremony.

Sen. Ernst is seeing "tepid" support from her base, PPP concludes in its newly published poll, commissioned by Zach Wahls' campaign. The poll was conducted days after Ernst's "we all are going to die" gaffe, and 37% of respondents said it made them less likely to vote for her.

Tony who? For a decade, Des Moines actors, directors and other theater professionals have gathered in the name of Cloris Leachman to celebrate each other's success.

After conquering every floor and gallery in the museum, a quick stroll for a bite of food will feel like a breeze.

There was no attempt to consult the public on the decision to close Iowa City's SHSI center, but opponents to the plan have been vocal since it was announced in June. That opposition will continue at a "Save Iowa History" rally on Saturday.

“Let me tell you, from my own lips, who I am: I am the faith guy,” said Steen, shortly after handing Gov. Reynolds his resignation as Iowa DAS director. “I’m a Jesus guy. I’m a Make America Great Again guy."

“I work every day to live my life by the parable of the Good Samaritan,” said James, an ordained Presbyterian minister, in her campaign announcement.

“From the very beginning, I thought a prairie populist athlete from western Iowa would be the best candidate to win in the general election" against Ernst, Scholten said in his statement. "I still do."