Local Editor, Iowa City
PatchEmail: stephen.schmidt@patch.com
Facebook.com/IowaCityPatch
Twitter.com/IowaCityPatch
Phone:
Iowa City (319) 210-7862.
Bio: Stephen was born in Cedar Falls in 1982, but has lived the majority of his life in nearby Solon, IA. A graduate of the University of Iowa, Stephen has covered the Iowa City area for the past four years on a freelance basis for Little Village, the North Liberty Leader and Iowapolitics.com and as a staff writer for the Daily Iowan and the Gazette.
At Patch, we believe in transparency. To that end, I am answering the following questions about my politics and religious beliefs.
Politics
The best summation of my political beliefs is that I am more interested in ideas than ideology. The concept that any one person or political party has all of the good ideas or solutions to our problems has never made much sense to me.
With this in mind, I try the best that I can to stay open minded in any political conversation or when engaging in a political topic.
If I was forced to place myself on the political spectrum between Liberal Left and Conservative Right, I would have to say I am situated in the middle of both, with one foot slightly in the Left column. There are ideas at the extremes of both ideologies that I agree with, and other ideas I disagree with, but overall I am interested in the most practical solutions to the problems we face.
Are you registered with a certain party?
I'm a registered Democrat.
Religion
I'm not religious, especially not in a traditional organized sense. I do however feel that there is a sense of the spiritual in how we treat each other, and in how we appreciate and choose to live our daily lives.
Although I am not a part of an organized religion, I feel that religion can play an important role for some people in their lives, and understanding their religion is often the key to better understanding them as people.
Local Hot-Button Issues
Iowa City is a growing college town and the University of Iowa is a growing university, and in many cases both are growing directly into each other. Both city and university are going through the process of dealing with this growth, trying to make the changes required to meet the challenges ahead, without leaving the identity of Iowa City behind.
Whether you are talking about the 21-year-old ordinance, the change in culture downtown or the crowded school district, the conflict occurs because there is a disagreement over what exactly that Iowa City identity was in the past and what it should be in the future.
The following arrest information was provided by the Iowa City Police Department. It does not indicate a conviction.
A man reported to the police that he had money stolen from him after he had been sitting in a parking lot at 3:00 a.m. this morning.
Iowa City Patch regularly features local animals from the local shelter who are in need of a good home. This week we feature Bella the Pomeranian mix.
The following is the complete daily activity log for the Iowa City Police Department for May 10, 2013.
The following arrest information was provided by the Iowa City Police Department. It does not indicate a conviction.
Capanna, a popular destination for coffee and gelato since 2008, served coffee at its downtown Iowa City location for the last time Friday.
Consultants BLDD architects have provided a number of scenarios for what the district should do with the more than $100 million the district will spend on facilities in the next five to ten years.
The following is the complete Iowa City Police daily activity log for May 9, 2013.
ALSO: Superintendent Murley defends the idea of armed officers in schools, a big MidAmerican energy investment in wind power, and the City of Iowa City spars with insurance company over landfill fire reimbursement.
The following information was released by the Iowa City Police Department. It does not indicate a conviction.
Researchers at the University of Iowa and colleagues at Cornell University have received a five-year, $10.6 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, to continue their work.
After denying rumors of her planning a run for weeks, it looks more and more likely that Swati Dandekar will consider a run at Bruce Braley's vacated seat.
Marion High School will be the home of the first annual PastaDinner of Marion Cares along with the Marathon for Shoes packet pick up and The MAC Health and Fitness Expo on Saturday, April 20th.
After denying rumors of her planning a run for weeks, it looks more and more likely that Swati Dandekar will consider a run at Bruce Braley's vacated seat.
The man is facing felony burglary and theft charges for the crime, which reportedly happened on May 2.
Cue Huey Lewis, because we're going back in time: to view four homes for sale now built in the 1940s.
This week's featured home: 855 Central Avenue, Marion.
The following is the complete daily activity log for the Iowa City Police for May 8, 2013.