Events This Week: August 12-18

Today's the first day for candidates to file for city council in Iowa City and University Heights. Will we avoid an Iowa City primary for the first time since 1991? The Rumour Mill only tells me about six candidates. I spell Rumour Fleetwood Mac style.

District B has at large incumbent Terry Dickens vs. Royceanne Porter. In the at large race it's incumbent Susan Mims, pseudo-incumbent Catherine Champion, Kingsley Botchway and Rockne Cole (Cole signs already spotted on the north side). If that field holds, no primary. Too late to launch a serious campaign, but still plenty of time for Some Dude to get the signatures and force an extra election.

The UH has not had a primary in living memory, but expect hotly contested polarized races there until St. Andrew Church is bulldozed and something, big or small, is built on the city's one vacant lot.

Iowa City's hottest club is Bob's Your Uncle on North Dodge, where Janelle Rettig is hosting a campaign event Tuesday from 5 to 7. According to Rettig, this place has everything:

I've heard from 5 of the 9 Iowa City School Board Candidates that they will be attending the Rettig for Supervisor Gathering on Tuesday. They all seem like really decent caring folks and are interested in talking with you and other people. Those I've heard from are James Tate Sara Barron Tuyet Dorau Jason T. Lewis and Chris Lynch. I also know that Kingsley Botchway running for Iowa City Council will be attending. Representative Tyler Olson will be there to talk about his race for Governor. Add in the elected officials expected to stop by Rod Sullivan Terrence Neuzil and you will have plenty of people to lobby and twist their arms. If you know other candidates, please invite them. All are welcome, so please bring friends. Having this event is all about building community and finding common goals to work on. I hope you can make it to visit with some of these candidates in person.

Wearing her work hat, Rettig, and the other supervisors, are hosting a series of listening posts on What To Do Next after the two Justice Center defeats. The first in a series of seven meetings was held Saturday and two more are scheduled this week:

Tuesday, August 13, 2013, 7:00 – 8:30 PM
North Liberty Community Center, Classroom C
520 West Cherry Street, North Liberty
Supervisors Neuzil and Sullivan

Wednesday, August 14, 2013, 10:00 – 11:30 AM
Solon Public Library
320 West Main Street, Solon
Supervisors Neuzil and Rettig

Summer parade season ends Saturday in Lone Tree (Baja Johnson County). That's in open Senate District 39 so maybe we'll get some hints on who's running.

Summer's almost over: in the Iowa City district new teachers report Wednesday  and returning teachers are back by the end of the week.

School board voting also starts Wednesday. The Dvorskys have weighed in on the school board race, as Sue Dvorsky posts:

Bob and I have decided to cast our 3 votes for incumbent Tuyet Dorau, and newcomers Chris Lynch and Sara Barron. We will be hosting coffees for each of them, to give our friends and neighbors a chance to meet them, and hear their ideas. Mark your calendars for 8/14 6:00 p.m. for Sara Barron. That one will be hosted by my sister Melissa Anne Mandernach (509 5th Ave Coralville), then meet Chris Lynch 8/17 9:30 a.m. here at our house. Bring a friend, and get involved in the conversation!

The Dorau event was this past Saturday. Interestingly, Dorau and Lynch are the two candidates registered No Party. They're also the two candidates from Coralville. East sider Phil Hemingway is a Republican; the other six including Barron are Democrats. Non-partisan race but objective information.

In other candidate coffees, Jason Lewis Thursday from 6 to 7:30 PM at the North Liberty rec center. Lewis gets an endorsement from Jim Throgmorton of the city council, who's also backing incumbent Karla Cook; "Not yet sure about the 3rd position. Need to learn more."

Since Ashton Kutcher gets me record traffic, I need to mention his big premiere Friday as the title character in "Jobs."Or if you're into more local films, it's Landlocked week.

Planning to make this a regular feature, too, in fact I already started on next week. (Now that I'm taking ads I'm obsessing about traffic.) I'm happy to add your events if I've missed any; comment and I'll update. Inclusion isn't endorsement. Example: The Johnson County GOP's Reagan Society dinner this Friday night with speakers Mary Mosiman and - interesting - Mariannette Miller-Meeks... I may editorialize, approximately as I have above.