All across Iowa City, spring is here. Temperatures are rising, the days are getting longer, and the flowers are blooming. Now is the perfect time for the community to get out and enjoy the sunny skies...

Some week, huh? Well, yeah, I know — many of you spent the last week in blissed-out wonderment (Performance-enhanced? Hmmm.) in some exotic location, Texas, maybe, or Florida. Perhaps Mexico. No offense...

There are those in Ecuador who say that life is too short to be the bull in a bullfight. But in South America, the lessons of the bullfight are fading as the popularity of the sport wanes and the popularity...

Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa has indicated that he opposes President Obama’s recent changes to how the federal Drug Enforcement Agency approaches medical marijuana. Grassley’s tired, predictable...

[Editor’s note: Dean is going to temporarily ignore his fear of coming off as a massively arrogant prick for this week’s column. Enjoy.] So I’m smart. I mean that in the most informal way possible:...

We’re freaks for media. We watch TV while we eat breakfast, listen to the radio on our drive to work or our iPod while we walk to class. We’re connected through Facebook, My Space, and Twitter. Some...

Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris, a solid block of a man with a shock of thick gray hair, is stolid and patient, but there are limits. Clearly, he is weary of explaining that this is one of America’s...

Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Mike Strawn has a new comedy routine that he’s taking on the road. Filled with ironic self-deprecation, the act is bound to be a hit. “We don’t need to change who...

What do you call home? Is it your place of birth, the family house? Or maybe less literal, the “home is where the heart is” kind of deal: the ragged and rotting bedroom in a five-person one-bathroom...

Charles Dickens, who visited in 1842, described Washington as a “city of magnificent intentions” because of the incongruity between the city’s grand aspirations and muddy, swampy actuality. Today,...

As we reach nearly one year since Gov. Chet Culver signed Iowa’s Smoke-Free Air Act, the excitement has begun to die down. The general public has forgotten about the bill and has moved on, with the exception...

A bipartisan group of Minnesota lawmakers is putting forth legislation to legalize the growth of cannabis, or hemp. The Industrial Hemp Development Act (HF 608) would provide licenses to qualified farmers...