Laura Belin
@laurarbelin.bsky.social
Reporter covering Iowa politics (and sometimes wildflowers) for the progressive website Bleeding Heartland. https://www.bleedingheartland.com
Part-time statehouse reporter for KHOI Radio in Ames. https://laurabelin.substack.com
Part-time statehouse reporter for KHOI Radio in Ames. https://laurabelin.substack.com
New post: Bruce Lear has advice for new school board members on setting the tone, dealing with complaints, and doing the public's business.
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/11/10/h...
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/11/10/h...
How to avoid school board dysfunction
Bruce Lear has advice for new school board members on setting the tone, dealing with complaints, and doing the public's business.
www.bleedingheartland.com
November 11, 2025 at 4:55 AM
New post: Bruce Lear has advice for new school board members on setting the tone, dealing with complaints, and doing the public's business.
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/11/10/h...
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/11/10/h...
You can listen to tonight's show now by looking for "KHOI's Capitol Week" on any podcast platform or smart speaker.
Tomorrow I will send a detailed written recap (for those who would rather read than listen) as well as the audio file on my free email newsletter: laurabelin.substack.com
Tomorrow I will send a detailed written recap (for those who would rather read than listen) as well as the audio file on my free email newsletter: laurabelin.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 4:08 AM
You can listen to tonight's show now by looking for "KHOI's Capitol Week" on any podcast platform or smart speaker.
Tomorrow I will send a detailed written recap (for those who would rather read than listen) as well as the audio file on my free email newsletter: laurabelin.substack.com
Tomorrow I will send a detailed written recap (for those who would rather read than listen) as well as the audio file on my free email newsletter: laurabelin.substack.com
In a few minutes, @spencerdirks.bsky.social and I are going live on @khoiradio to talk about the week in Iowa politics.
89.1 FM in the Ames listening area or online:
www.khoifm.org
(will be on podcast platforms later as "KHOI's Capitol Week")
89.1 FM in the Ames listening area or online:
www.khoifm.org
(will be on podcast platforms later as "KHOI's Capitol Week")
KHOI FM 89.1
www.khoifm.org
November 11, 2025 at 12:56 AM
In a few minutes, @spencerdirks.bsky.social and I are going live on @khoiradio to talk about the week in Iowa politics.
89.1 FM in the Ames listening area or online:
www.khoifm.org
(will be on podcast platforms later as "KHOI's Capitol Week")
89.1 FM in the Ames listening area or online:
www.khoifm.org
(will be on podcast platforms later as "KHOI's Capitol Week")
Reposted by Laura Belin
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
November 9, 2025 at 9:23 AM
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
Reposted by Laura Belin
News coverage of this has focused on the pardon of those involved in the fake electors plot.
But the pardon also extends to key figures who participated in the unauthorized breach of voting systems in Coffee County, Georgia
My reporting on the breach: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/what...
But the pardon also extends to key figures who participated in the unauthorized breach of voting systems in Coffee County, Georgia
My reporting on the breach: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/what...
November 10, 2025 at 6:02 PM
News coverage of this has focused on the pardon of those involved in the fake electors plot.
But the pardon also extends to key figures who participated in the unauthorized breach of voting systems in Coffee County, Georgia
My reporting on the breach: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/what...
But the pardon also extends to key figures who participated in the unauthorized breach of voting systems in Coffee County, Georgia
My reporting on the breach: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/what...
Reposted by Laura Belin
Spineless. Shameful. Bullshit.
Last night, eight Senate Democrats sold the American people out, allowing 137,000 Iowans and 21 million Americans to see their healthcare premiums skyrocket.
I’m not going to mince my words: Senate Dems caved and Chuck Schumer let it happen. It’s time for him to go.
Last night, eight Senate Democrats sold the American people out, allowing 137,000 Iowans and 21 million Americans to see their healthcare premiums skyrocket.
I’m not going to mince my words: Senate Dems caved and Chuck Schumer let it happen. It’s time for him to go.
November 10, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Spineless. Shameful. Bullshit.
Last night, eight Senate Democrats sold the American people out, allowing 137,000 Iowans and 21 million Americans to see their healthcare premiums skyrocket.
I’m not going to mince my words: Senate Dems caved and Chuck Schumer let it happen. It’s time for him to go.
Last night, eight Senate Democrats sold the American people out, allowing 137,000 Iowans and 21 million Americans to see their healthcare premiums skyrocket.
I’m not going to mince my words: Senate Dems caved and Chuck Schumer let it happen. It’s time for him to go.
Reposted by Laura Belin
Chuck Schumer has failed us.
November 10, 2025 at 4:09 AM
Chuck Schumer has failed us.
Reposted by Laura Belin
Still upset about no power of the purse language. You truly do hate to see it. The Trump admin undertook the most expansive set of illegal budgetary actions of any president in history, and broadcast as loudly as possible they’d keep doing it, and nothing. Budgetary lawlessness.
November 10, 2025 at 2:00 AM
Still upset about no power of the purse language. You truly do hate to see it. The Trump admin undertook the most expansive set of illegal budgetary actions of any president in history, and broadcast as loudly as possible they’d keep doing it, and nothing. Budgetary lawlessness.
Reposted by Laura Belin
🫡
Big fan of the BBC's coverage of autocracies abroad and I'm glad the director has values even if the upper leadership doesn't
Big fan of the BBC's coverage of autocracies abroad and I'm glad the director has values even if the upper leadership doesn't
BBC director resigns over editing of Trump speech
The head of the BBC and the British broadcaster’s top news executive both resigned Sunday after criticism of the way the organization edited a speech by U.S. President Donald Trump.
www.ctvnews.ca
November 10, 2025 at 3:26 AM
🫡
Big fan of the BBC's coverage of autocracies abroad and I'm glad the director has values even if the upper leadership doesn't
Big fan of the BBC's coverage of autocracies abroad and I'm glad the director has values even if the upper leadership doesn't
Is hell freezing over?
For context: Keosauqua is in one of the reddest counties in #IA01. It's a pretty long drive from any large city and not part of any major Iowa media market (it's in the Ottumwa/Kirksville MO market).
I'm not able to attend. Hope someone records this.
For context: Keosauqua is in one of the reddest counties in #IA01. It's a pretty long drive from any large city and not part of any major Iowa media market (it's in the Ottumwa/Kirksville MO market).
I'm not able to attend. Hope someone records this.
November 9, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Is hell freezing over?
For context: Keosauqua is in one of the reddest counties in #IA01. It's a pretty long drive from any large city and not part of any major Iowa media market (it's in the Ottumwa/Kirksville MO market).
I'm not able to attend. Hope someone records this.
For context: Keosauqua is in one of the reddest counties in #IA01. It's a pretty long drive from any large city and not part of any major Iowa media market (it's in the Ottumwa/Kirksville MO market).
I'm not able to attend. Hope someone records this.
I was worried, but: "When I became a senior judge in 2013, my successor was appointed, so my resignation will not create a vacancy to be filled by the president."
A leading federal judge quits in protest of Trump's corruption-- & to fight it
Wow
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Wow
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Why I Am Leaving the Federal Bench
A judge explains his reasons for resigning.
www.theatlantic.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:56 PM
I was worried, but: "When I became a senior judge in 2013, my successor was appointed, so my resignation will not create a vacancy to be filled by the president."
Obviously, a great album for every generation.
I do think it helped that "The Chain" (their best song IMO) was featured in Guardians of the Galaxy.
I do think it helped that "The Chain" (their best song IMO) was featured in Guardians of the Galaxy.
November 9, 2025 at 5:17 AM
Obviously, a great album for every generation.
I do think it helped that "The Chain" (their best song IMO) was featured in Guardians of the Galaxy.
I do think it helped that "The Chain" (their best song IMO) was featured in Guardians of the Galaxy.
How did a pro-labor Democratic woman defeat a long-serving Republican incumbent in a city that's trended red?
I spoke to Council Bluffs Mayor-elect Jill Shudak this week.
Other candidates could learn a lot from her approach and focus on local concerns. www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/11/08/h...
I spoke to Council Bluffs Mayor-elect Jill Shudak this week.
Other candidates could learn a lot from her approach and focus on local concerns. www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/11/08/h...
How Jill Shudak beat the odds in Council Bluffs mayoral race
“I think it really speaks to the changing of the times,” Jill Shudak told me on November 6, two days after she became the first woman elected mayor of southwest Iowa’s largest city. Council Bluffs is ...
www.bleedingheartland.com
November 9, 2025 at 4:45 AM
How did a pro-labor Democratic woman defeat a long-serving Republican incumbent in a city that's trended red?
I spoke to Council Bluffs Mayor-elect Jill Shudak this week.
Other candidates could learn a lot from her approach and focus on local concerns. www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/11/08/h...
I spoke to Council Bluffs Mayor-elect Jill Shudak this week.
Other candidates could learn a lot from her approach and focus on local concerns. www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/11/08/h...
Reposted by Laura Belin
This is pure 100% Protocols-style antisemitism and she is the most popular and most powerful antisemite in America. And the ADL has unilaterally disarmed against the most virulent threat to Jewish well-being.
There’s no daylight between what Candace says here about “the Jews” & what Nazi propagandists & Father Coughlin said about the Jews in the 1930s. Her show is one of the top 5 “conservative” podcasts in the US. She has 5.5 million subscribers on YouTube and 7.3 million followers on X.
November 8, 2025 at 8:55 PM
This is pure 100% Protocols-style antisemitism and she is the most popular and most powerful antisemite in America. And the ADL has unilaterally disarmed against the most virulent threat to Jewish well-being.
News: Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Susan Christensen appointed Gregg Rosenbladt chief judge of Iowa's 2nd judicial district today. www.iowacourts.gov/collections/...
Former Chief Judge Adria Kester resigned yesterday; earlier this week she was charged with OWI:
apnews.com/article/iowa...
Former Chief Judge Adria Kester resigned yesterday; earlier this week she was charged with OWI:
apnews.com/article/iowa...
www.iowacourts.gov
November 8, 2025 at 3:41 AM
News: Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Susan Christensen appointed Gregg Rosenbladt chief judge of Iowa's 2nd judicial district today. www.iowacourts.gov/collections/...
Former Chief Judge Adria Kester resigned yesterday; earlier this week she was charged with OWI:
apnews.com/article/iowa...
Former Chief Judge Adria Kester resigned yesterday; earlier this week she was charged with OWI:
apnews.com/article/iowa...
New post by Douglas Burns @douglaswburns.bsky.social: Through an intimate and intuitive sense of his fellow rural Iowans, Art Cullen comes to understand what other journalists miss. He describes where Iowa is now with breathtaking clarity.
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/11/07/a...
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/11/07/a...
Art Cullen tells us the rent is due for Iowa, the nation, and democracy
Douglas Burns: With a rare sense of place, Art Cullen’s roaring new book is nothing short of an unsparing mirror for 3.3 million Iowans.
www.bleedingheartland.com
November 8, 2025 at 2:42 AM
New post by Douglas Burns @douglaswburns.bsky.social: Through an intimate and intuitive sense of his fellow rural Iowans, Art Cullen comes to understand what other journalists miss. He describes where Iowa is now with breathtaking clarity.
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/11/07/a...
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/11/07/a...
Reposted by Laura Belin
NEW: Republicans went all in on anti-trans messaging for the 2025 election, inspired by Trump’s “Kamala is for they/them” ad
It didn’t work — and now Republicans are trying to figure out why
Democrats, meanwhile, learned how to respond to this messaging
www.notus.org/2025-electio...
It didn’t work — and now Republicans are trying to figure out why
Democrats, meanwhile, learned how to respond to this messaging
www.notus.org/2025-electio...
Republicans’ Anti-Transgender Attacks Didn’t Work This Election. They Still Want to Use the Playbook in 2026.
Republicans had a host of different reasons why the ads didn’t work this time, but there are no plans to stop using the issue next cycle. Democrats say they’re ready.
www.notus.org
November 7, 2025 at 3:13 PM
NEW: Republicans went all in on anti-trans messaging for the 2025 election, inspired by Trump’s “Kamala is for they/them” ad
It didn’t work — and now Republicans are trying to figure out why
Democrats, meanwhile, learned how to respond to this messaging
www.notus.org/2025-electio...
It didn’t work — and now Republicans are trying to figure out why
Democrats, meanwhile, learned how to respond to this messaging
www.notus.org/2025-electio...
Reposted by Laura Belin
This is a great deal for Republicans, since it would push the ACA cost hikes until after the midterms. On a purely political calculus, would be malpractice not to take this.
SCHUMER is on the floor now making this offer to end the shutdown:
Clean CR
Bipartisan "minibus" of approps bills
1-year ACA funding extension
Bipartisan cmte to negotiate on health care
"This is a reasonable offer that reopens the government, deals with health care affordability."
Clean CR
Bipartisan "minibus" of approps bills
1-year ACA funding extension
Bipartisan cmte to negotiate on health care
"This is a reasonable offer that reopens the government, deals with health care affordability."
November 7, 2025 at 7:45 PM
This is a great deal for Republicans, since it would push the ACA cost hikes until after the midterms. On a purely political calculus, would be malpractice not to take this.
On Tuesday Jill Shudak became the first woman elected mayor of Council Bluffs, Iowa, a city of about 63,000 people across the Missouri River from Omaha, Nebraska.
She thinks homelessness was one of the biggest campaign issues and outlined her vision here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3hW...
She thinks homelessness was one of the biggest campaign issues and outlined her vision here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3hW...
Council Bluffs mayor-elect on her plan to address homelessness
YouTube video by Bleeding Heartland
www.youtube.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:44 PM
On Tuesday Jill Shudak became the first woman elected mayor of Council Bluffs, Iowa, a city of about 63,000 people across the Missouri River from Omaha, Nebraska.
She thinks homelessness was one of the biggest campaign issues and outlined her vision here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3hW...
She thinks homelessness was one of the biggest campaign issues and outlined her vision here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3hW...
Reposted by Laura Belin
I fully believe in the corporate death penalty and believe we would be a better world if OpenAI lost its corporate charter and was forcibly dissolved.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
ChatGPT encouraged college graduate to commit suicide, family claims in lawsuit against OpenAI | CNN
A 23-year-old man killed himself in Texas after ChatGPT ‘goaded’ him to commit suicide, his family says in a lawsuit.
www.cnn.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:12 AM
I fully believe in the corporate death penalty and believe we would be a better world if OpenAI lost its corporate charter and was forcibly dissolved.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
New post: Herb Strentz compares Donald Trump's governing style to Nero, the emperor who supposedly fiddled while Rome burned.
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/11/06/s...
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/11/06/s...
Step aside, Nero! There's a new emperor in town
Herb Strentz compares Donald Trump's governing style to Nero, the Roman emperor who supposedly fiddled while Rome burned.
www.bleedingheartland.com
November 7, 2025 at 4:50 AM
New post: Herb Strentz compares Donald Trump's governing style to Nero, the emperor who supposedly fiddled while Rome burned.
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/11/06/s...
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/11/06/s...
Reposted by Laura Belin
Jeanine Pirro bragging in August that she just arrested Sandwich Guy and was going to teach him a lesson in court.
November 7, 2025 at 2:27 AM
Jeanine Pirro bragging in August that she just arrested Sandwich Guy and was going to teach him a lesson in court.
Reposted by Laura Belin
Wow, huge credit to Katie and the rest of the nutrition team at @centeronbudget.bsky.social. USDA has now issued revised numbers because CBPP caught them either accidentally or intentionally making huge errors that would severely underfund SNAP, in direct violation of court orders.
November 6, 2025 at 3:47 AM
Wow, huge credit to Katie and the rest of the nutrition team at @centeronbudget.bsky.social. USDA has now issued revised numbers because CBPP caught them either accidentally or intentionally making huge errors that would severely underfund SNAP, in direct violation of court orders.
New post by Randy Evans: Iowa's publicly elected school boards erode the trust and confidence of their constituents each time they choose to shroud controversies with secrecy.
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/11/06/w...
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/11/06/w...
Without facts or explanations, the rumor mills grind on
Randy Evans: Iowa school boards erode the trust and confidence of their constituents when they shroud controversies with secrecy.
www.bleedingheartland.com
November 6, 2025 at 6:44 PM
New post by Randy Evans: Iowa's publicly elected school boards erode the trust and confidence of their constituents each time they choose to shroud controversies with secrecy.
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/11/06/w...
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/11/06/w...
Happy Iowa wildflower Wednesday!
This week Katie Byerly features Smooth blue aster, a native plant that provides a late summer treat for the pollinators. She also explains one easy trick for identifying these asters.
#Iowa #wildflowers #nativeplants
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/11/05/i...
This week Katie Byerly features Smooth blue aster, a native plant that provides a late summer treat for the pollinators. She also explains one easy trick for identifying these asters.
#Iowa #wildflowers #nativeplants
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/11/05/i...
Iowa wildflower Wednesday: Smooth blue aster
Katie Byerly features Smooth blue aster, wildflowers that provide a lovely fall bouquet and late summer treat for pollinators.
www.bleedingheartland.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:15 AM
Happy Iowa wildflower Wednesday!
This week Katie Byerly features Smooth blue aster, a native plant that provides a late summer treat for the pollinators. She also explains one easy trick for identifying these asters.
#Iowa #wildflowers #nativeplants
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/11/05/i...
This week Katie Byerly features Smooth blue aster, a native plant that provides a late summer treat for the pollinators. She also explains one easy trick for identifying these asters.
#Iowa #wildflowers #nativeplants
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/11/05/i...