I was happy to read Joe Coffey’s article in Sunday’s paper (“The birth of news in Linn County”) about the history of newspapers in Linn County. But I was disappointed that Mr. Coffey did not include mention of the Metro Libraries’ historical newspaper databases. All of the papers mentioned and pictured in his article (and many more!) are available in scanned, full-text, searchable versions, through the websites of the Cedar Rapids and Marion Public Libraries. There is no charge to browse or search these delightful old editions, and in fact, you don’t even need a library card.

I encourage anyone with an interest in local history, or just with a little time on your hands, to look at some of these old newspapers. It’s a delightful adventure to read about lives in other times.

Jo Pearson

Marion

“Past performance is no indication of future results.”

That’s a favorite mantra of many business analysts. It may be true when pondering statistics. But when considering people, it’s a false positive. You certainly can predict how people will perform, based on what they’ve said and done.

For example, if a business owner has historically forced employees to work in hazardous conditions for minimum wage, it’s no surprise that now, they are compelling workers to choose between risking their health even further or go without a meager paycheck.

If elected officials have historically favored those business owners over working people, it’s no surprise that now, they are threatening to deny unemployment benefits to those workers who don’t return to their hazardous jobs.

Those historically silent about this and other injustices are remaining silent now — and we shouldn’t expect anything different from them.

I have been a business owner for nearly three decades, but I am pro-people.

Because I made personal concessions during the Great Recession, no one at UIG, the property and casualty insurance agency where I am president, lost their job. I have done the same this year with COVID-19. And will do it again to put my employees first.

Because I believe in workers’ right to organize, I supported my campaign staff’s successful effort to unionize with the Campaign Workers Guild, becoming the first senate campaign in Iowa to do so. This guarantees they receive a dignified living wage, get paid time off, unlimited paid sick leave, and fully paid health insurance. We did this together. Which is the way business should work.

On the contrary, the lobbyist-backed candidate, Theresa Greenfield, bankrupted her company in 2013, and went on to evict several small businesses with Colby Interests so she could replace their storefronts with an Aldi. We all have seen what happens with a real estate developer in power, and it has certainly not benefited hardworking Iowans.

COVID has revealed fissures in America’s bedrock. To fix the cracks, we need leaders who have proved they can craft solutions to assure every worker of a dignified wage, a safe workplace, paid time off and sick leave, and affordable, accessible health care.

These days have taught us that past performance certainly is an indication of future results. We need to look closely at what someone has said and done when considering what they may say and do in office.

Eddie Mauro is a candidate in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.

Growing up on the Greenfield family farm outside a little town of 500, we worked hard and learned to look out for one another.

I’ve visited with folks in every corner of Iowa during my U.S. Senate campaign. The people I hear from want the dignity of providing for their families, and to know they can get a hand up when they need it. Now, as the coronavirus threatens our communities and Washington seems more focused on pointing fingers than getting results, Iowans want to know that we can get through this and come out stronger in the end. I’ve been through tough times, and I know from my own life that the only way we get through is by pulling together.

I was 24 when my first husband, an electrical worker, was killed in a workplace accident. Social Security and hard-earned union benefits helped me get back on my feet and pursue a career where I could support my two young sons. I’ll fight to protect and strengthen Social Security so every Iowan can get that same hand up.

So, I know what it’s like to have a loved one not come home from work. When I hear about workers having to choose between staying home safely or earning a paycheck, I say no way. Since March, I’ve put out two plans calling for more testing, personal protective equipment, paid sick leave, premium pay, and stronger protections for our front-line workers.

I also believe health care is a right — not a privilege. This shouldn’t be partisan.

As a businesswoman and a mom, I know the tough decisions our small businesses and families are making right now. That’s why I’ve called for more urgent economic aid and faster help for our small businesses and workers — not more bailouts for corporate CEOs. We also need a robust infrastructure plan and to invest in more skills training to create opportunity in all of our hometowns.

None of this will happen unless we make Washington work more like we do by ending political corruption. I’m not taking a dime of corporate PAC money and I will work to overturn Citizens United, and ban dark money and corporate PACs.

Sen. Joni Ernst broke her promise to be different. Instead, she’s voted with Mitch McConnell and her corporate PAC donors for tax breaks to corporations and the wealthiest — while hardworking Iowans fall further behind.

Iowans deserve a senator who shares their grit and their resolve, who will carry the fight for our small towns and our working families in her heart. It’s how we get through this pandemic and how we create more opportunity for our state. In the Senate, I’ll never forget where I’m from or who I’m fighting for, and I’ll always put Iowa first.

Theresa Greenfield is a candidate in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.

After more than a decade in the making, the Tea Party moment has finally arrived.

The movement originated in 2009 as a challenge to runaway taxes, spending and regulation. Organizers sought to restore the constitutional balance of power between the states and the federal government.

Eventually, the Tea Party devolved into a catchall for right-wing populism, and a magnet for xenophobes and culture warriors. In 2016, its early adherents overwhelmingly fell in line with President Donald Trump, choosing protectionism over freedom.

But that original Tea Party spirit — the charge to buck the national government in favor of local control — was on full display recently from two unlikely sources.

Trump decided early on in the coronavirus pandemic that the federal government would not centrally coordinate the purchase and distribution of medical supplies. That might have worked fine, except the Trump administration actively undermined state governments’ efforts. The federal government has outbid state buyers and even seized products from states.

After 3 million masks ordered by the Massachusetts governor were confiscated in New York, Republican Gov. Charlie Baker decided to sidestep the usual procurement process. He sent a New England Patriots’ private airplane to bring supplies back from China.

In Maryland, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan coordinated a large COVID-19 test order from South Korea. The delivery was facilitated by the National Guard and state police, and the tests were put in a secure location with armed security.

“We guarded that cargo from whoever might interfere with us getting that to our folks that needed it,” Hogan said last week in an interview with Washington Post Live.

Hogan and Baker don’t fit the common perception of the Tea Party mold. They both have harshly criticized President Donald Trump and supported the impeachment inquiry. Hogan openly considered challenging Trump for the GOP presidential nomination.

They are among the last vestiges of moderate conservatism in American executive office, and yet they are the ones waging a battle over federalism and states’ rights.

The political minds built for this moment — the ones who have long fantasized about escalating the state-federal power struggle — are not up to the task. The conservative firebrands who should be taking up this fight instead are beholden to Trump and whatever cockamamie plans he comes up with.

At a news conference last month, Trump made a striking claim about his powers in managing the public health crisis: “When somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total. And that’s the way it’s got to be. It’s total.”

That should have been a flashpoint for conservatives, the beginning of a revitalized Tea Party that recognizes the enormous threat Trumpism poses to our values.

But it wasn’t. Loyalists brushed it off, again, as Trump misspeaking.

The small-government philosophy is founded on the likelihood that the levers of government power will eventually be grabbed by some menace, an incompetent or malicious figure. But when that menace is your friend, your fundraiser and your public relations manager, it proves hard to slap his hand away.

adam.sullivan@thegazette.com; (319) 339-3156

Like everyone, U.S. oil companies have been hit hard by the pandemic, and they are looking for relief. . Oil companies have requested special access to a $600 billion lending facility at the Federal Reserve, and the administration seems keen to deliver. The president just announced that the Secretary of Energy and Secretary of the Treasury would make funds available, and the Department of Energy is also floating a $7 billion plan to pay drillers to leave oil in the ground.

Unfortunately, at least one faction of the industry — a group of refiners that traditionally profit when crude feedstocks are cheap — is angling for much more than a financial bailout. They are using the pandemic as cover to cannibalize markets vital to U.S. biofuel producers and farmers.

Their plan, outlined in letter from several oil-patch governors, would require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to halt enforcement of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). It would allow refiners to stop offering biofuel blends at the fuel pump, eliminating the market for U.S. ethanol and biodiesel and decimating demand for billions of bushels of corn and soybeans used to make renewable motor fuel.

With half the nation’s 200-plus biofuel plants already offline, thousands of rural workers facing layoffs, and millions of U.S. farmers on financial life support, the destruction of the RFS would be an economic death knell for rural America.

It’s hard to imagine why refiners would expect the Trump administration to take the request seriously. The misguided plan would inflict incredible collateral damage on our economy, our energy security, and to the President’s prospects with rural voters. Notably, the courts rejected similar abuse in 2016. Even former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who scorned American farmers, rejected a similar plan back in 2017.

Nevertheless, refiners saw the current health crisis as a political opportunity and went for a kill. Fortunately, farm state champions are pushing back. Governors from Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and Minnesota condemned the oil-backed plan. They wrote, “Using this global pandemic as an excuse to undercut the RFS is not just illegal; it would also sever the economic lifeline that renewable fuels provide for farmers, workers and rural communities across the Midwest.”

Aside from the sheer audacity, the refinery-backed plan also suffers from a major flaw — it wouldn’t change the economic situation of a single refinery. They claim that lifting the RFS would eliminate the costs associated with biofuel credits known as RINs, which are used to demonstrate compliance with the nation’s biofuel targets. Refiners that refuse to produce biofuel blends can purchase RINs from those that blend more ethanol or biodiesel into the fuel mix. In turn, when they sell a gallon of fuel, that RIN price is reflected in their returns. The oil industry’s own reports show that “there is no economic harm to RIN purchasers, even if RIN prices are high, because those costs are recouped in the gasoline blend stock and diesel.”

Even in a fictional scenario where costs aren’t automatically recouped, a detailed EPA analysis found that “all obligated parties, including the small refiners subject to the RFS program, would be affected at less than 1 percent of their sales (i.e., the estimated costs of compliance with the rule would be less than 1 percent of their sales) even when we did not consider their potential to recover RIN costs — with the estimated cost-to-sales percentages ranging from -0.04 percent (a cost savings) to 0.006 percent.”

Clearly, a 0.006 percent savings isn’t going to protect any refinery jobs, but refineries are betting that DC policymakers don’t know the difference between RINs values and compliance costs. They open one side of a ledger and hope that no one asks to see the next page.

Meanwhile, the nation’s biggest oil lobby, American Petroleum Institute, is calling on the EPA to simply cut 770 million gallons of biofuel out of the 2020 targets. Earlier this year, regulators approved a modest bump in biofuels to addresses a small fraction of the four billion gallons lost to secretive EPA refinery exemptions. The courts have since sided against the handouts, but the EPA has refused to implement the decision. Now, API says the agency should rip away the few gallons clawed back by U.S. farmers. It’s a baseless argument with one goal: blocking competition at the fuel pump.

Keep in mind, collapsing demand for motor fuel is just as hard on the nation’s biofuel producers. RFS targets enforced by the EPA are based on a percentage of each gallon sold — so if refiners make less fuel, their obligations under the law shrink at an equal rate. Meanwhile, biofuel producers across the heartland are closing their doors, as even their modest 10 percent share of the market has been cut in half.

Biofuel advocates are focused on their own survival. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley summed it up, saying “[T]here ought to be parity for all liquid fuels. So I look forward to working with (Agriculture) Secretary (Sonny) Perdue to make sure that our biofuels industry gets through this crisis so that we can continue to use America’s (home) grown energy in our gas tanks.”

Parity makes sense, but refinery lobbyists want more. The Trump EPA should reject the latest anti-biofuel pitch because it’s bad policy, but more than that, it’s an insulting attempt to capitalize on a health crisis to make an end run around the truth.

Former Missouri Sen. Jim Talent spearheaded the Renewable Fuel Standard in 2005. He currently serves as co-chair of Americans for Energy Security and Innovation.

Another day, another devastating new uptick in Iowa’s COVID-19 figures.

Several times in the past few weeks, Gov. Kim Reynolds has announced a new daily high in Iowa’s positive COVID-19 tests or deaths. On Tuesday, yet another striking record — 19 deaths in a 24-hour period, or nearly 10 percent of the state’s total COVID-19 deaths to date.

For a governor who says she is staking her pandemic response on data and metrics, those grim numbers don’t seem to weigh heavily on Reynolds’ decision-making.

“The fact is we can’t prevent people from getting the COVID-19 virus,” Reynolds said at her Tuesday news conference. “If we weren’t testing in these areas, people would still have the virus and without being tested, diagnosed and isolated it could spread even further.”

In one breath, Reynolds tells Iowans we are helpless to stop the virus’s spread. In the very next breath, she explains how testing and isolation can help prevent the spread.

It’s just one example of the confusing guidance Iowans are getting from the governor and her team. Iowans looking for answers about how to protect themselves and their families are finding seemingly conflicting answers.

They report we have reached the peak, only to backtrack. They say we’re in this together and there’s a statewide plan to confront the outbreak, but then they tell us it’s really about “personal responsibility.” They tell us to stay home as much as possible, then pivot to emphasizing the need for people who feel sick to stay home.

Sometimes, it almost feels as if Reynolds is blaming Iowans for getting sick.

Early on, Reynolds used a regional strategy to track the virus, based on factors such as hospitalizations and health care resources in six multicounty regions across the state. That approach has been brushed aside with little explanation to the public.

Instead, Iowa now has “open” and “closed” counties — 22 where significant restrictions remain intact, and 77 where businesses can open in a limited manner. After less than a week under the county-by-county strategy, there are early signs that the 77 counties are seeing an uptick in confirmed COVID-19 cases.

• Gov. Reynolds is disrupting her own virus response plan

Reynolds’ response in this phase of the pandemic is just as crucial as the initial phase, to prevent a deadlier wave. Shifting to the personal responsibility path also decentralizes leadership, which creates more uncertainty.

If Iowa’s “open” counties see a surge, will Reynolds relent and reimpose restrictions?

We have reason to doubt it. Just this week, Reynolds co-authored a Washington Post guest column with other governors, arguing “our approach worked.”

In Reynolds’ mind, she has already defeated the virus, so she’s retreating from the fight. That’s bad news for Iowans who are still very much on the front lines of this pandemic.

(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com

Serving as state representative of House District 85 for the past few years has been a privilege and an honor. I have worked hard to stand for the people of my district fighting for issues that are important to them and to the voters of Iowa City. I want to continue that advocacy and am running for another term in the Iowa House and ask for your vote.

I vigorously support adequate funding for education from pre-school to our community colleges and universities. Our young people are Iowa’s future and deserve the best start available through our excellent education system in Iowa. But we need to provide the dollars necessary to keep our teachers in the classroom so our children are prepared for whatever may lie ahead of them.

I have advocated for the fair treatment of workers in Iowa and support their right to organize. I have worked on laws for equal pay for equal work and whistle blower protection.

I am for essential funding for mental health services for Iowans of all ages. Children and adults who are struggling with mental health issues should have services available to them no matter where they live in this state.

I have fought to keep government open and accessible to Iowans. I support open records and open meetings laws to ensure that availability and transparency to all Iowans.

Keeping voting easy and accessible to voters has been a priority of mine. I support a fair and balanced redistricting system for voting in Iowa.

I have advocated to keep the bottle deposit law in place and expand it to cover the many new types of containers available.

I have worked on oversight legislation after several investigations into defrauding government which involved boarding homes, government agencies and pharmacy benefit managers (the “middleman” between pharmacies/Medicaid and the healthcare insurance companies.)

I cannot avoid mentioning the challenge of the coronavirus in Iowa. It has impacted our health, jobs, families and businesses. No one could have predicted this pandemic but as Iowans, we need to do our best to limit contact and the spread of this disease. My sincere appreciation goes to those workers on the frontlines of this crisis: the healthcare workers, store owners, businesses, farmers, teachers and workers who show up every day to keep this state moving forward. Thank you all!

There is still much work to be done to keep Iowa the great place where we live, work and raise our families. I am asking for your vote to allow me the privilege of continuing that work.

Vicki Lensing is a candidate in the Democratic primary for Iowa House District 85.

Right now, there are so many things that are hard to believe. It’s hard to believe we’re in the midst of a global pandemic. It’s hard to believe how much things have changed how incredibly quickly. It’s hard to believe I’ve only been the Iowa Department of Human Services director for six months. What is not hard to believe is how our team at DHS has stepped up during this public health emergency. In my short time in the great state of Iowa, I have seen our team do incredible things. In honor of Public Service Recognition Week, I want to take a moment to talk about #TeamDHS and their unwavering dedication to those we serve.

The DHS mission is to help Iowans achieve healthy, safe, stable, and self-sufficient lives through the programs and services we provide. To accomplish this mission in typical times, our team wakes up every day to do difficult work. Our front-line staff often work holidays, evenings and weekends, sacrificing time with their own families to serve others. Our team members hear difficult stories, make tough decisions and assist families when they are at their most vulnerable. Their jobs are tough under normal circumstances — navigating a global pandemic has challenged everything we do, but the work has not stopped, because the work cannot stop. Iowans need us now more than ever.

COVID-19 impacts the way social workers support families. It impacts the way facilities support and protect the individuals we serve. It impacts the mental health of countless Iowans. It impacts the needs of Medicaid members and Iowans receiving other assistance.

As an agency impacted from top to bottom, I’m proud to share our collective response effort. The Medicaid and Adult, Children and Family Services (ACFS) teams kicked into high gear and set forth waivers that will truly help those most in need; ensuring access to medical care, food and economic assistance. Our income maintenance workers stand ready to assist those families who have questions or find themselves now in need of supports.

DHS went from an agency with no telecommute policy, to deploying more than 2,000 people to work from home. Our IT team stepped in to help disassemble and lift computers for those team members who couldn’t. Our fiscal team shifted paper approval processes to electronic streamlined processes to assist our new telecommute capabilities and continues to source supplies to meet our entire system’s personal protective equipment (PPE) need. We’ve even been able to help some of our partners out in the community obtain PPE. And many, many team members have stepped into new roles when asked because there was a need.

If this isn’t teamwork, I don’t know what is.

Many of our staff continue their work on the front line every day, despite these uncertain and unprecedented times. I know for many of them it is challenging, and our work and our lives are changing in ways we would never have imagined just weeks ago. We know there is more to come, and our response effort must pivot on a dime. So, to my team, thank you for stepping up and leaning in. And to my fellow Iowans, I ask you join me in thanking them, and all of our public servants and essential workforce during Public Service Recognition Week.

Public Service Recognition Week (PSRW) is May 3-9, celebrated the first week of May since 1985 (beginning on the first Sunday of the month) to honor the men and women who serve our nation as federal, state, county and local government employees.

We’re asking individuals whose lives have been positively impacted by one of our team members, to reach out to them directly with an email or video message to thank them. Whether it’s a case worker, social worker, income maintenance worker or direct care staff, now more than ever they deserve to hear how they’re improving the lives of Iowans.

We’re hoping we can count on you to get the word out and support our public servants. Notes directly to DHS team members are a really impactful way to personally show gratitude. This week we’ll also be encouraging people to thank those in public service using the hashtags #PSRW and #TeamDHS. Stay tuned to our social media to see how you can help celebrate our public servants.

The bravery, grace, and sacrifice our team shows every day is what true public service looks like. From one very proud DHS team member to her more than 4,100 colleagues — thank you. Public service is indeed a noble calling.

Kelly Garcia is the director of the Iowa Department of Human Services.

With over 11,000 positive COVID-19 cases in Iowa and a mounting death toll, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds went to Washington DC. to declare her approach to the pandemic a success.

Her victory lap included a sit down with the president and a Washington Post op-ed. The op-ed was co-authored with four other GOP governors and declared, the “common-sense approach helped keep our states on track and have set us up to come out of this pandemic stronger than ever.”

On May 8, Vice President Mike Pence came to Iowa to celebrate Iowa’s success. But what does Iowa’s success actually look like?

Well, two of our counties are national hot spots for the disease.

Experts from the University of Iowa project that Iowa has yet to reach it’s peak for cases and warn that without proper measures a new wave of infection will hit the state in the fall.

Iowa’s success looks like the TestIowa initiative getting off to a slow start due to problems with the test machines and thus far, failing to achieve it’s promise of 3,000 tests per day. And mounting concerns about the accuracy of the tests, after the Des Moines Register reported that several test samples were unable to be processed.

Success looks like Minnesota having 3,000 fewer positive COVID-19 cases with 2 million more residents and nearly 40,000 more tests completed.

The week of Reynolds victory lap was the week that Iowa saw a 28 percent increase in hospitalizations, a 51 percent increase in ICU admissions, and a 39 percent increase in patients needing ventilators.

Reynolds declaring victory now is like crowning yourself the winner in Monopoly before you even made it all around the board. It’s like demanding your marathon medal on mile 13. It’s like declaring you are flattening the pandemic curve, before your COVID-19 cases skyrocket by thousands. OK, that’s not a metaphor, that’s something our governor actually did. Just weeks ago.

This is what Reynold’s success looks like: 231 deaths and vulnerable being forced to return to work before it's safe. And these are not just numbers, these are people.

Perhaps the most damaging thing that this pandemic response has done was to turn individual lives into a chart on a scoreboard. A game of chess, where we are willing to sacrifice some pawns to keep winning at making money.

AP reporter Ryan Foley noted on Twitter that those dead from COVID-19 in the state include a Bosnian refugee who left behind a heartbroken husband and a Latino father who was raising three kids on his own after their mother died of cancer last year.

Those lost include Willi Levi, one of the men who escaped servitude from the Atalissa turkey processing plant.

But as state Rep. Steve Holt argued in an op-ed this week, if we have enough room in our hospitals, why not open the economy? The logic was repeated during Reynolds May 7 news conference — our hospitals can handle it so we move forward. This is what success looks like: Enough hospital beds for us all to die in.

Before the pandemic came to the state, Holt and Reynolds were both pushing an amendment to the state constitution that would strip protections for abortion.

The Venn diagram of those people telling you COVID-19 isn’t that bad and so what, some people will die, and the people who call abortion murder is just one flat circle of hypocrisy.

Holt has even been tweeting about how shut down orders violate our personal liberty. But where is all that personal liberty when it comes to my uterus, Holt?

Our success didn’t have to look like this. Our success could have involved fewer deaths, fewer infections and a reduced risk for a resurgence, if we had just waited two more weeks.

Dr. Eli Perencevich, professor of internal medicine and epidemiology at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, and one of the authors of a report for the Iowa Department of Public Health, which warned against reopening too soon. He spoke to me in an interview last week, where he explained that if Iowa could have remained closed just a little longer, we’d be closer to safety. Ideally, explained Perencevich, if Iowa had truly shut down immediately and decisively for two weeks in the beginning, we wouldn’t be in this situation. Absent that, shutting down for two more weeks would ensure greater safety.

This pandemic didn’t have to be a choice between the economy or lives. We are the world’s richest nation, we could have come up with a solution. But doing so would mean that we’d have to face America’s deep inequality, we’d have to enact social change and pump money into food benefits and health care, two things Reynolds has slowly been defunding during her tenure as governor. Each of these deaths was preventable not inevitable. But our governor and federal government have given up the fight, and called it success. They’ve accepted that some people will die, and even more will get sick and lose their livelihoods and income and be forced to bear mounting medical costs.

It’s easier to say you win, before you’ve even played the game. And so here we are, dying from all this success.

lyz.lenz@thegazette.com; 319-368-8513

We invited Admiral Mike Franken to a gathering of voters to explain why he was qualified to run for the U.S. Senate. We were impressed with his friendliness, his openness, and especially his range of experience as a leader. One of those in attendance at our home was a woman who had served under his command on the U.S.S. Barry; it was a happy reunion for the sailor and the admiral. She had no hesitation in endorsing him and supporting him in his campaign. Admiral Franken also visited our son’s home in another city. Again, those gathered were impressed with Admiral Franken’s experiences and priorities But the person most impressed was our eight-year-old grandson. When Charlie walked into the room, Admiral Franken interrupted himself, introduced himself to Charlie and engaged him in genuine conversation. Charlie’s summation of politicians. “I like him. He was talking about boring stuff, but he was nice to me. People shouldn’t talk about boring stuff; they should just be nice to everyone.”

Mike doesn’t talk about boring stuff — to us, anyway. He talks about the actions we want our United States Senate to take: pass legislation to address climate change, health care and the economy.

Because Mike has experience as a leader and as a staff member on Capitol Hill, he has an advantage over newcomers to Washington.

We, one Democrat and one Republican, encourage you to vote for Admiral Mike Franken to be our Senator.

Dianne and Bim Prichard

DeWitt

The next ten years will prove to be one of the most challenging eras in Iowa history.

Whether we meet those challenges with Iowa-smart, progressive responses will depend largely on the quality of legislators we elect to office.

Christina Bohannan, Democratic candidate for the Iowa House of Representatives, would be a remarkably talented and hardworking legislator, if given the opportunity to serve.

The daughter of blue-collar parents.

Trained as an environmental engineer.

A professor of law at the University of Iowa College of Law.

The former president of the Iowa Faculty Senate.

A mother.

These life experiences inform Christina Bohannan’s pragmatic progressivism.

If elected, she has the skill set to get good things done for Iowa.

Please join me in supporting Democrat Christina Bohannan for the House District 85 seat in the June 2 primary election.

Jim Larew

Iowa City

VOTE411 provides voters with information about the candidates on the ballot in the June 2 primary election. The League of Women Voters created the election-related website as a one-stop location for nonpartisan information for the public.

Each candidate was invited to respond to a set of questions. You can see their responses online at VOTE411.org. If you don’t see responses from every candidate running in your house or senate district, please contact them asking that they participate in VOTE411.

For this primary election, we are asked to vote absentee if possible. Input your address in the VOTE411.org website and get information about how to get your absentee ballot, register to vote, and who will be on your ballot.

The League of Women Voters of Iowa wants you to educate yourself and then vote in the June 2, 2020 Primary Election.

Cathy Eisenhofer

LWV Johnson County

One in five people will have some kind of mental illness in their lifetime. Yet despite how common these conditions are — as common as silver cars, and more common than being left-handed — stigma remains the greatest barrier to individuals seeking help regarding their mental illness.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. This serves as a great opportunity for our community to begin eliminating stigma by starting conversations and increasing understanding about mental illness.

Now, more than ever before, it is important to talk about mental illness. Many of us could be feeling increased anxiety, stress and feelings of isolation due to the COVID-19 outbreak and social distancing requirements. For those Iowans who already live with a mental illness, this pandemic could be causing symptoms to compound.

A recent study released by a team at Iowa State University states that increased unemployment and social isolation measures related to COVID-19 could result in an increase in suicide rates of close to 50,000 individuals.

Despite the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic, there still is help available: Telehealth services during this crisis is critical. Our state leaders, Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen and Gov. Kim Reynolds responded immediately by encouraging health providers, insurers and businesses to work together to remove barriers and ensure telehealth is accessible.

Your Life Iowa, a state-operated service, offers referrals for problems related to alcohol, drugs, gambling, mental health or suicidal thoughts and can be contacted by phone, text or online chat 24/7.

Between March 1 and April 19, Your Life Iowa received nearly 500 contacts related to COVID-19 and traffic on the website — YourLifeIowa.org — is up 27 percent. Crisis lines and mental health counselors around the state and country are also reporting an uptick in patients reaching out for resources or virtual counseling. This is important progress.

However, the greatest barrier for those in need of mental health services is stigma.

If you know someone who is struggling, be a voice of support. The silence around mental illness is preventing our fellow Iowans — our friends, neighbors, co-workers and family members — from feeling better. By breaking down the stigma around mental illness, we can help them access the resources and treatment they deserve.

If someone opened up to you about their mental illness, would you know what to say? Do you have a general understanding of the most common mental illnesses? Do you know how to support loved ones dealing with mental illness? There are free resources available at MakeItOK.org/Iowa to learn more.

You can also read stories of Iowans who live with mental illness, take a pledge to end mental illness stigma and learn more about how you can get more involved with Make It OK through ambassador trainings, upcoming events and workplace programming.

Together, we can end the stigma and Make It OK.

Jami Haberl, Iowa Healthiest State Initiative; Lori Weih, UnityPoint Health — St. Luke’s Hospital; Tricia Kitzmann, Linn County Public Health and Mona McCalley-Whitters, Ph.D., NAMI Linn County.

When Andrea Wilson approached me five years ago with her idea of creating a space for writers in our community separate from any offered by the University of Iowa, I must admit I was a bit skeptical, if not defensive. Over a long coffee discussion, I shared with her a detailed look at the literary landscape of Iowa City and all of the things my organization, the Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature was doing to make those assets more visible and accessible.

• Coronavirus closes the Iowa Writers’ House - for now

Despite this, Andrea mentioned the need for an “on ramp,” a way for people who don’t feel a part of that community to find their path, to access those riches. It was there, I thought to myself. She just hadn’t looked in the right place.

Then she built that ramp in the form of the Iowa Writers’ House. As she and her team defined what that ramp should look like, what role it should play, the Writers’ House evolved from being an idea with promise to a vital part of our literary infrastructure. She showed that people were hungry for further instruction. They desired more and different ways to connect with one another. These were things beyond the scope and mission of the UI and the City of Literature. She had found her niche, and filled it, nicely complementing what was offered by my organization and others.

But those services do not come without cost. Andrea and her team scrambled, using the house as a literary bed-and-breakfast that was used by many visiting writers. They scheduled workshops. They held fundraisers. But that thin margin disappeared with the onset of COVID-19. Unable to hold those workshops, to serve as a bed-and-breakfast, to provide meaningful in-person connections, the Writers’ House was unable to carry on in its current configuration.

We have every hope and expectation that the Iowa Writers’ House and Andrea will continue to be a part of our literary landscape in the future. This will come perhaps in another form, another space. Conversations have been underway for months about the needs of the literary community beyond the UI. Andrea has been a key part of those discussions, and the work that she and her team has done offer vital information about where those conversations need to go. Gaps have been identified, and while they won’t be filled in the same way, they will be filled.

These conversations join those that have been taking place in our community for decades about the need for space and support for writers and artists. As we all have realized over these past few weeks of isolation just how much we miss when we are not able to gather to create and to celebrate those creations, perhaps those conversations will accelerate and gain focus once we reconvene. The newly formed Iowa City Downtown Arts Alliance, of which we are proud to be a part, is an additional voice in that conversation.

In the meantime, we want to thank Andrea, Associate Director Alisha Jeddeloh, and the team at the Iowa Writers’ House, not just for identifying a need, but for taking the rare and valuable step of actually rolling up their sleeves and doing something to meet it.

John Kenyon is executive director of the Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature.

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I am at the WordCamp convention in Las Vegas and

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Ricardo Sousa, who writes for Smashing Magazine created a great plugin called Twittar. This plugin will use someones Twitter Gravatar if their email address is not connected with a Gravatar. For more info check out the full post at Twitter Avatars in Comments: A WordPress plugin Image credit: Ricardo Sousa

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