Iowans Getting Big Attention in Key Political Week for Democrats: Iowa City Daily News Links, Sept. 4

Mmm... apple cider.

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On to the Links!

From this Site

Politics is heating up in Iowa.

• We've got visits from President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden and their wives . 
• We've heading to this week's Iowa Democratic Convention.
• We've got stars from the show Parks and Recreation visiting .

In the land of not politics, we have started a series on missing children and how these cases are investigated to mark the 30-year anniversary of the .

We have a heated debate going on in this week's parent talk .

In today's Daily Iowan Reader, a man is biking accross .

From Other Sites

Adam Sullivan of the Iowa City Press-Citizen writes that local schools are attempting to adjust to new school lunch rules.

Lee Hermiston of the Press-Citizen writes about a local Labor Day pro-labor picnic held yesterday.

I got a compliment from these guys the other day, and it turns out they were just doing their regular routine of spreading the love. Pretty cool idea. (Iowa City Press-Citizen)

Iowa's swing state status means that the Democratic Party continues to suck up to Iowa Dems. Most recent example, some really nice seats at the Democratic National Convention. (Des Moines Register)

And Iowa's position as a first in the nation presidential state made the Iowa Dems get some visits from some potential Democratic up-and-comers. (Des Moines Register)

Max Freud of the Gazette writes that Iowa city's are looking at improving wellness as one of the ways they can market themselves to outsiders.

Smoking appears to be going down among University of Iowa students. (Iowa City Owl)

Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin thinks Mitt Romney would be better suited observing soil samples on Mars. (Des Moines Register)

Daily Links Excerpt of the Day

How is the success of a community measured?

For some, that simple question is answered by the number of luxury cars lining the city streets, or by the size of wallets bulging out of back pockets.

But an increasing number of community leaders, health professionals and government officials — including Gov. Terry Branstad — are saying the size of a smile on someone’s face and their sense of well being is as important as the bottom line of a quarterly financial report.

“Wellness affects GDP and median household income,” said Nancy Quellhorst, the president and CEO of the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce. “Well people produce better and consume fewer health care dollars. Our businesses are burdened by the high cost of health care and changes to our health landscape will provide both an economic and quality of life advantage.”

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