Recent Stories

August Escoffier

1920’s North Iowa Couple Experience Parisian Life

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It’s unlikely most Iowans recognized the name August Escoffier, the French chef famous for creating the delectable dessert called peach melba. But an Iowa couple living in Paris in the 1920s had crossed paths with the chef and had somehow acquired the recipe, consisting of a peach arranged artfully on a bed of vanilla ice cream smothered with raspberry sauce. Iowa History, a weekly column, appears at IowaWatch on Saturdays. Cheryl Mullenbach is the author of non-fiction books for young people. Her work has been recognized by International Literacy Association, American Library Association, National Council for Social Studies, and FDR Presidential Library and Museum.

Bourges

“Mademoiselle Miss” From Iowa Works WWI French Munitions Plant

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“I have never had a sheet of paper mussed, a chair put out of place or lost the slightest object,” said Tama, Iowa, native Helen Jackson as she spoke about the women she oversaw at a munitions factory near Bourges, France, in 1918. A 1917 graduate of Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., Jackson held a degree in oratory and was working as a playground director in St. Louis when the director of the YWCA offered her a position in France. Iowa History, a weekly column, appears at IowaWatch on Saturdays. Cheryl Mullenbach is the author of non-fiction books for young people.

journalism ethics

Commentary: Restoring Public-Press Understanding

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IowaWatch co-founder Stephen J. Berry called for rebuilding trust in the news media with better media literacy among Americans but also on journalists to adhere to strong ethics during remarks at the 2018 Celebrating a Free Press and Open Government Banquet in Des Moines, Iowa, on Sept. 27, 2018. We’ve published his remarks here.

government transparency

Secrecy Doesn’t Serve Indian Hills Community College’s Best Interests

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There’s an old expression that officials of Indian Hills Community College obviously have not heard about — or have chosen to ignore. The expression is simple: If you find yourself in a hole, stop shoveling. But the school continues to shovel — digging itself ever deeper into legal trouble and into a public relations quagmire. Randy Evans
STRAY THOUGHTS
Randy Evans is the executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council. He is a former editorial page editor and assistant managing editor of The Des Moines Register.