Bleeding Heartland

Bruce Morrison is a working artist and photographer living with his wife Georgeann in rural southeast O’Brien County, Iowa. Bruce works from his studio/gallery–a renovated late 1920s brooding house/sheep barn. You can follow Morrison on his artist blog, Prairie Hill Farm Studio, or visit his website at Morrison’s studio.

Rick Morain is the former publisher and owner of the Jefferson Herald, for which he writes a regular column. This essay first appeared on Substack. If the Confederate States of America had succeeded in winning, or negotiating, its independence from the United States of America in the Civil War, this year it would be celebrating its 165th birthday. The Confederacy declared itself a new nation on February 4, 1861.

Al Charlson is a North Central Iowa farm kid, lifelong Iowan, and retired bank trust officer. We have heard for years that the Social Security and Medicare trust funds are running out of assets. The projected dates when both will be depleted are now clearly visible. The trustees of the Social Security Trust Fund now project that it will be depleted by late 2032.

Hero Street Monument in Silvis, Illinois Hero Street defines American patriotism Saturday, Jul 11 2026 0 Comments Randy Evans is executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes openness and transparency in Iowa’s state and local governments. He can be reached at DMRevans2810@gmail.com. This essay first appeared on his Substack newsletter, Stray Thoughts.

State Duma of the Russian Federation That time a Communist gave me a good scoop Thursday, Jul 9 2026 0 Comments One of my best scoops wasn’t related to Iowa politics or state government. It came out of the 1996 Russian presidential election, and it happened 30 years ago today. During the 1990s, I would not have guessed that I would ever devote my professional life to covering Iowa politics. I landed my first writing job in 1995, working at the Prague-based Open Media Research Institute.

Iowa judges take ICE to task for violating court orders Thursday, Jul 9 2026 0 Comments Clark Kauffman is deputy editor at Iowa Capital Dispatch, where this article first appeared on June 30. Two federal judges in Iowa have sharply criticized government officials for repeatedly violating the law in immigration cases, with one Iowa ICE enforcement officer held in contempt for “astonishing conduct” and willfully violating a court order.

Kristie Brown is a homeschooling mom who has dedicated her life to creating a better world for her children and future generations. Self‑taught in languages, cooking, sewing, gardening, and more, she has spent countless hours in independent study. She believes children are the foundation of tomorrow, and it is her calling to give them opportunities and a life richer than those who came before us.

Bruce Lear lives in Sioux City and has been connected to Iowa’s public schools for 38 years. He taught for eleven years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association regional director for 27 years until retiring. He can be reached at BruceLear2419@gmail.com School lunches were a minefield for a picky eater like me. Our rural school was blessed with dedicated elementary teachers who ranked proper nutrition equal to reading, writing, and arithmetic.

Rural fireworks, July 3, 2026 (photo by AJ Jones) 50 years ago, we were all patriots Monday, Jul 6 2026 0 Comments AJ Jones is a writer and creator of art, expressing herself across different mediums. She embraces her neurodivergence as a unique way to view the world in hopes of creating a better future. She first published this essay on her Substack newsletter, Blue Dot Thoughts.

Libertarian candidate for the U.S. Senate, Thomas Laehn, talks about his campaign platform in Jefferson (photo By Douglas Burns) No spoiler here, says Libertarian Senate candidate Thomas Laehn Sunday, Jul 5 2026 0 Comments Douglas Burns is a fourth-generation Iowa journalist. He is the co-founder of the Western Iowa Journalism Foundation and a member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, where this article first appeared on The Iowa Mercury newsletter.