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.
Win number 52 achieved, as Iowa City West wins going away 54-36 over Bettendorf. Game write ups, box score, and photo galleries inside.
You didn't think we were going to get out of Winter quickly and painlessly, did you?
You can donate until 6:00 p.m. Saturday and also stop by on Sunday from 9 a.m. until noon to donate food items to the Johnson County Crisis Center.
Make sure you have your clocks right as the clocks jump forward an hour tomorrow Sunday, March 10. Also would be good time to change your batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.
The Trojans surged past Dubuque Senior after a sluggish start to State. Do they have enough left in them for win number 52 and back to back state titles? Television, game time, and ticket info inside, along with links to online streams.
The following information was provided by the Iowa City Police Department. It does not indicate a conviction.
The Iowa City Fire Department wants to remind you to change your smoke detector batteries as Daylight Saving Time starts on Sunday.
A new scholarship available to first-year University of Iowa students who are starting this year aims to help those students complete their undergraduate degrees in four years.
Check out this week's Top 5 Redbox rentals and make your viewing list.
Dubuque Senior's only loss this year came to...Iowa City West. Will the Trojans be able to hold the Rams off one more time as they seek their 51st win? Follow along live later today.
It's looking wet and potentially foggy Friday and this weekend as warm air moves into the Iowa City area. Oh, and watch out for falling icicles.
It's looking wet and potentially foggy Friday and this weekend as warm air moves into the area. Oh, and watch out for falling icicles.
The following information was provided by the Iowa City Police Department. It does not indicate a conviction.
I've been curious about this establishment ever since I first drove through Marion. Motivated by this curiosity, I stopped in to see what the most popular items are at Uncle Stan's
Are you interested in celebrating the spiritual aspects of the holiday rather than just the Easter Egg part of it? (don't worry we'll cover that part, too). Noah's Archive has a few books you should check out in it or other Christian book
So I feel like I am just a little more of a Marion community member now that I have my own library card. A library employee explains inside this link just how quick and easy the process was (I concur, it was indeed quick and easy)
The club, now more than a year old, meets every Thursday at the Marion Public Library.
The team placed second, its highest ever ranking in team history at the regional competition.
The police determined the officer lied about her identity because she was a doctor at the hospital that they were proposing to take her to for treatment.
ALSO: Iowa City approves its budget, Johnson County to possibly study the racial makeup of its jail population, Coralville debt opponents vow to never say die, and why tornado survivors get cocky.
