Achilles Seastrom

A border collie competes in the USBCHA National Cattledog Finals in Shannon City, Iowa, October 2025. — courtesy of Rachel Ritland Standing on a hill overlooking a green pasture, Rachel Ritland and I watched a group of cattle at the bottom of the valley. I pulled my jacket tight against the frigid wind, but Ritland, co-director of 3rd District of the United States Border Collie Handlers’ Association (USBCHA), didn’t seem to mind. She focused intently on the scene.

A group of Johnson County faith leaders gathered in an independent town hall on Tuesday, May 27 to speak against harm caused by the Trump of administration. Uniting under the name Voices of Faith, speakers in the group represented a variety of religious beliefs, primarily Christian denominations. The Voices of Faith Town Hall gathered at The Purpose Place Church, which is housed in the nonprofit Dream City’s building.

Sunday services of the Ames Friends Meeting are held at their meetinghouse on S Maple Avenue, marked by a sign in the front yard declaring “All are welcome.” I visited on a sunny spring morning. Beams of sunlight seemed to make the houseplants against the walls glow. Occasional birdsong seeped through a barely open window. Someone had arranged sturdy but simple wooden chairs, the kind often found in public meeting spaces, in a broad oval on the stain-resistant utilitarian carpet.