On July 7, 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court curtailed the free-speech rights of public-school students in Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser, ruling that public-school officials could punish a student...

The Johnson County Courthouse cuts a majestic figure over the Iowa River. In the past year, though, the large steps and central tower have been covered by a network of scaffolding. The Courthouse is undergoing...

As you can tell by the title, this is definitely not a shameless attempt by me to gain followers on Twitter. The point of this column is to spread the word: Twitter is the bomb. I know what you’re thinking....

For years, officials in both Iowa City and Johnson County have acknowledged the need to provide affordable housing for lower- to middle-income individuals and families in the area. But while many have...

Rick Santorum is sounding a bit like Barack Obama. Sure, he included the requisite references to “our resource-constrained environment,” but when I spoke with the former senator (and current 2012...

The Competitive Enterprise Institute has issued its 2011 report, Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State, which examines the growth and effect of regulations on the...

On Tuesday night, the Iowa City City Council was set to vote on the next phase of building a levee to protect the Idyllwild neighborhood from floods similar to 2008 levels. But the City Council delayed...

You are freer today than you were at the beginning of the legislative session. While a handful of bills garnered the lion’s share of attention this past legislative season, lawmakers in Des Moines passed...

The real world is a messy place to collect data and draw conclusions, and The Daily Iowan’s June 27 editorial, “Drinking stats encouraging, not proof of programs’ efficacy,” did a good job of pointing...

YES Mopeds are not cars — left in a street parking spot, they sit isolated in a wide swath of asphalt — but they aren’t bikes, either: Their frequent tethering to bike racks dominates the space,...

Monday was, of course, the Fourth of July, the day we Americans celebrate as Independence Day — generally with some barbecue, some fireworks (didn’t the Chinese invent fireworks? curious), and lots...

“New York,” reports BBC News, “has become the sixth and most populous US state to allow same-sex marriage.” New York’s new law reignites the contentious issue of same-sex marriage, providing...