Iowa
Sharing Stories, and a View, Aboard the California Zephyr
I woke up around 5 a.m. to a low but incessant rumbling. Faint hints of daylight had appeared over my fellow passengers’ heads, most of which were still bent in rest. Some people yawned; others stared intently out the window at the valley. I had been aboard the train for about 40 hours, and there […]
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With Swag and Swagger, State Democrats Vie for Front of Presidential Primary Line
WASHINGTON — High-ranking Democrats distributed gift bags and glossy pamphlets, waxing poetic about New Hampshire’s Manchester Airport and the New Jersey Turnpike. Midwestern manners barely masked a deepening rivalry between Michigan and Minnesota. And state leaders deployed spirited surrogate operations and slickly produced advertisements as they barreled into a high-stakes process that will determine the […]
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States Turn to Tax Cuts as Inflation Stays Hot
A new report from the Tax Policy Center, a left-leaning think tank, said total state revenues rose by about 17.6 percent last year. State rainy day funds — money that is set aside to cover unexpected costs — have reached “new record levels,” according to the National Association of State Budget Officers. Yet those rosy […]
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Oh, Brother: The Not-Quite-Tell-All Books by Presidential Sisters
In her 1921 biography about her brother Theodore Roosevelt, Corrine Roosevelt Robinson saw no harm in sharing “almost confidential personal recollections” about the late president. “There is no sacrilege in sharing such memories, with the people who have loved him, and whom he loved so well,” she wrote. If I published “almost confidential personal recollections” […]
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Democrats Weigh Shake-Up to Presidential Primary Calendar
WASHINGTON — New Jersey is billing itself as a “microcosm of the country.” Washington State is highlighting its diverse communities — and robust vote-by-mail process. And as Iowa’s status as home to the first-in-the-nation presidential nominating contest looks increasingly tenuous, other Midwestern states see an opening. Just over two years after Iowa’s disastrous Democratic caucuses, […]
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Gas Prices Force Biden Into an Unlikely Embrace of Fossil Fuels
WASHINGTON — President Biden came into office promising to tackle the planet’s climate crisis. But rising gas prices, driven in part by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have pushed the environmental-minded president to do something unlikely: embrace oil. On Tuesday, Mr. Biden traveled to Iowa, where he announced that the Environmental Protection Agency would temporarily lift […]
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Bye Bye Iowa? Democrats to Debate Changes to Primary Calendar
For years, Democrats in Iowa and New Hampshire have battled criticism from others in the party who argued that the two states are not racially diverse enough to kick off the Democratic nomination process. But after a disastrous 2020 cycle, in which Iowa officials struggled to tabulate votes and neither state proved predictive of President […]
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Is the Coronavirus in Your Backyard?
There are many theories, none entirely satisfying. An infectious hunter might encounter a deer, Dr. Mubareka noted, but “if they’re good at hunting,” she added, “it’s a terminal event for the deer.” If an infected hiker “sneezes and the wind is blowing in the right direction, it could cause an unlucky event,” said Dr. Tony […]
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Christine Grant Fought for Equity for Female Athletes
She held the job until 2000, marshaling a dozen sports that won 27 Big Ten Conference championships, then taught courses until 2006. According to The Athletic, Grant grew the women’s sports budget from $3,000 to nearly $7 million. And in her unflagging pursuit of equality for women, she was not allergic to showmanship and mischief. […]
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