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Justice for Jon

“I am Jon Wieseler’s mom, or I was.” A mother finds it hard to talk about her child in the past tense. “Jon was the best son ever.” A bond between the two still alive, even after death. “He was so good.” Linda Wieseler’s voice strains because of pure emotion mixed with a medical condition. “I have what is sporadic dysphonia. It causes a tremor with my vocal cords.” Jon Wieselser graduated from North High School in 2001, got his law degree from Iowa, then followed a different path, by...

Check It Out: The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce

Visitor7 [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)] / Wikimedia Commons

3.2 Beer at the Buckaroo

Siouxland Public Media News

State's Longest Serving State House Republican Switches Parties, SC A Tree City USA, SPM, 5:04

By Mary Hartnett • 14 minutes ago

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The longest-serving Republican in the Iowa Legislature has announced he’s switching to the Democratic Party, and that narrows the party split in the Iowa House of Representatives to 53 Republicans and 47 Democrats.

Representative Andy McKean of Anamosa says the statehouse is much more partisan than when he was first elected in 1978.

0423mckean2: 09 “I think the party has veered very sharply to the right. And that concerns me—it’s a bit further than I would care to be.”

World's First Malaria Vaccine Launches In Sub-Saharan Africa

By Michaeleen Doucleff • 29 minutes ago

Iowa's Longest Serving GOP Lawmaker Switches Parties, SPM News, 4:32

By Mary Hartnett • 44 minutes ago

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State Representative Andy McKean of Anamosa is leaving the Republican Party and joining the Democrats in the final days of the Iowa legislative session.

That narrows the party split in the chamber to 53 Republicans and 47 Democrats.

McKean says the statehouse has become much more partisan and he was uncomfortable with Iowa Republicans moving further to the right. And he doesn’t like what he’s seeing at the national level, especially with the 2020 presidential election coming up.

What's At Stake As The Supreme Court Considers Census Case

By Hansi Lo Wang • 59 minutes ago

The census case before the Supreme Court could have major implications on how congressional seats and hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funds are distributed in the U.S. over the next decade.

Egypt Approves Constitutional Changes That Could Keep Sissi In Office Until 2030

By Merrit Kennedy • 1 hour ago

Egyptian voters have approved sweeping constitutional amendments that allow President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to remain in office until 2030 and further entrench the power of the military.

Voters approved the amendments by 88.83%, according to the National Election Authority, which said that 44.33% of eligible voters took part in the poll.

See 200 Years Of Twists And Turns Of Census Citizenship Questions

By Hansi Lo Wang & Renee Klahr • 1 hour ago

If the Trump administration gets its way, federal law will require this question to be asked of each person living in all of the country's households in 2020: "Is this person a citizen of the United States?" It's been close to 70 years since a citizenship question has been included among the census questions for every U.S. household.

India Is Changing Some Cities' Names, And Muslims Fear Their Heritage Is Being Erased

By Lauren Frayer • 1 hour ago

Tens of millions of Hindus took a ritual dip in the Ganges River this winter as part of the largest religious festival in the world — the Kumbh Mela. For centuries, the festival has been held in various cities in northern India, including Allahabad.

But when pilgrims arrived this year for the Kumbh Mela, Allahabad had a different name.