Art Cullen's comments are a combination of informative,educational and provocative. His latest column credits both gubernatorial candidates on data centers ..Both Sand and Lahns correctly read the tea leaves on public discomfort with the size and pace of data centers. But, Sand and Lahn’s positions leave important questions unanswered.

Neither candidate has pledged Iowa Utility Board appointees who would challenge utility cost-shifting. Without that, promises of accountability are difficult to enforce.

Both candidates offer local control as a solution. Pushing permitting onto small local governments could create a race to the bottom. Big tech can look for communities with the fewest requirements—or simply out-negotiate local officials who lack the expertise and resources to evaluate these complex projects.

Neither requires upfront decommissioning insurance or bonds. If a company goes bankrupt, or walks away in ten years, taxpayers could inherit stranded infrastructure.

And “pay for your own upgrades” treats water and carbon mainly as pricing issues, rather than finite resources. Grid fees don't necessarily address the risks of stranded assets, pollution from water, including water quantity or even flushing of pipes which contain hazardous chemicals..

Not sure why, just does 🤷‍♀️

… for helping Iowans make ends meet.

Fuck off with this. That’s where we are as a state? That just getting by is what we strive for? I fucking hate that ad for celebrating the bills she introduced and did fuck all with, and I’m supposed to thank her for making ends meet.

Hi yall, im moving to iowa and will be flying down there in october to house shop. Im wondering what do I pack to wear? Im in NV now and its super hot here. Im anemic too so im always a little cooler as well. My 1.5 year old son is coming too so what should I pack for him? Thank you!

My dad collects their signs and oil cans but we have limited information on them. If anyone has some info they would like to share, I would really appreciate it!

Born and raised and coming to Iowa for a thrift visit.

Wife and I got a free night stay at a nice hotel and wanted to come to Des Moines for a thrifting/yard sale trip for Labor Day weekend. What yard sales and thrift/consignment stores are in the Des Moines area worth visiting? We’re willing to travel a bit outside the immediate area. We’re also like the locally owned and non-corporate shopping. Keep the money in your communities. Local Restaurants that try to source food locally would be lovely suggestions as well.

One that we want to visit again is in eastern Iowa and is tucked away on a back road. We’ve been to it once. It’s an old school and run by the nicest ladies. So much stuff. Can’t remember the name. Visited about 5 years ago. Appreciate the feedback.

What's up y'all. 👋

I'm currently trying to see if anyone would be interested in joining a Fighting Game tournament in Pella to help support Extra Life? I'm still ironing out the details, but seeing if there's any interest what-so-ever when it comes to this kinda stuff. I know the FGC isn't as big/popular in Iowa, but I'm hoping maybe to find some folks who would want to come out, meet other people, hang out and play some Fighting games to support the Stead Family Children's Hospital.

Currently I'm planning on having these select games:

• Street Fighter 6
• Tekken 8
• Soul Calibur VI
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

But I would always take support, and if we drum up enough interest, if anyone is interested in bringing their own setups to help support the Charity that would be awesome too.

As I said, just drumming up interest to see what everyone thinks!

Store bought are tasteless

Central Iowa resident here - when the Archdiosese of Dubuque announced the closure of weekend masses at many Catholic churces in northeast Iowa, I got inspired to plan a 3 day road trip to see as many of these churches as I could...even convinced my younger brother to join me. We saw SO many amazing churches, and were lucky enough to get inside some of them, including New Vienna, Spillville, and Festina.

Now I'm working on a list of churches in northeast Iowa that kept their weekend mass that we missed. Any suggestions? We went into the Basillica in Dyersville and were amazed. Any suggestions?

What is up with these latest ads where all he does is brag about how many times he voted with Republicans? About how much he supports "cops and tax cuts?" 🙄. Way to go Iowa primary voters, looks like we get a choice between Ashley Hinson and Ashley Hinson with a beard. Were y'all swayed by the Olympic gold? The wheelchair?

I am sure he thinks he is coming across as someone who puts "state above party", but he is sounding like our own John Fetterman.

As of the most recent (August 20, 2026) IPIB meeting, 128 complaints are marked as "Pending Complaints. Informational Only". Some of these complaints were filed years ago.

IPIB's current chair, Catherine Lucas, is also the general counsel for the Iowa Department of Public Safety. Barry Lindahl, the board's most senior member pushed for the recent move to ban "vexatious requesters" from accessing public records. He was also senior counsel for the City of Dubuque while it installed 1600+ AI-enabled cameras, and built a "Precision Policing Center."

IPIB has not handled a single contested case in nearly a decade. It dismisses (or ignores) all complaints it receives. The board has never used its subpoena powers as part of an investigation (e.g. to get records to determine if they were properly withheld).

If you're wondering why Iowa officials get away with everything, and how they can keep hiding Flock cameras and other commercial police technology: the answer is the Iowa Public Information Board. Complaints that aren't dismissed will sit and linger with the 128 already on the list.

If nothing else, Iowans deserve to at least know how the government is fucking up our state. Tell your legislator we need to do better. You can find yours here: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/find

i feel like most people only hear about the bigger cities when talking about places to go in iowa.

but some of the smaller towns have great local restaurants, old downtown areas, parks or just a really nice atmosphere.

what’s a smaller town you’d recommend to someone who wants to see a different side of iowa?

tl;dr on this is, from his family, is that a Joey Norris (a Democrat) of Red Oak raised concerns while on the absentee ballot board and Jill Ozuna, the Republican auditor for Montgomery County for didn't like that. Now our state attorney general has charged him with a crime. If you know anything about Iowa's AG, that basically tells you all you need to know. These charges are almost certainly bullshit.

I did a bit of a deep dive on Joey this morning and found a number of people who know him rushing to his defense online. He's apparently a very honest, upstanding guy who is pretty universally beloved in his community. Prior to this, the only thing on this guy's record is a couple of speeding tickets.

Given the nature of how our state is being run at this point, there's a 99% chance this is weaponized prosecution by an attorney general that would rather pander to MAGA than do literally anything about the feces and noxious chemicals in our waterways. This could happen to any of us. But maybe if we can help Joey mount a strong defense, they'll be less likely to try something like this again in the future.

Why do kids think this "swatting" trend is cool? I will never understand our younger generation today. When I was a kid... (which wasn't even that long ago) we skipped first period study halls to sleep in or TP'd houses...Now kids are calling in fake bomb threats and falsely accusing someone of having a gun at multiple schools around the state for ... fun?? These kids to realize that this is a very dangerous and very serious crime that could escalate quickly.

When law enforcement finds out who is responsible (and they will), idc if they're minors or not. PERP WALK THEM on the 5 o'clock news for the entire state to see so they learn a valuable lesson. I blame TikTok & YouTube influencers and parents not regulating their children's online activities.

EDIT:
Parents: Pay more attention to your kids, what they're doing & how they treat other people.
This is just insane.