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Over the past few weeks, I have had the privilege of touring two data centers in Iowa, one of which is Meta's largest data center in the world, which is in Altoona, and the other was QTS in Cedar Rapids. I say privilege, because I know that as an elected official there are spaces that I gain access to that are not afforded to everyone, and I take that privilege and duty seriously to report back to our residents what I learned and how it is informing our decisions moving forwa

The sun is shining, the spring air is still crisp from wintering over, and the buds are popping out on the magnolia outside my window. Fresh starts are everywhere and given the ramping up of this campaign season (hard to believe the June 2nd Democratic primary election is merely 8 weeks around the corner!), I'd like to offer a review of my Plan for Progress that is also available on my website and has been for months. Let's call this 3 with V! #1 Artificial Intelligence and

TDoV I have said: When they go low, we go deep. And this last week highlighted the power of how deeply we are connected. Trans Day of Visibility (TDoV) week was a whirlwind of activities that spanned art-film-music-dancing-drag performance-food! And underlying all of this joy was mutual aid and community building. These core seeds of our community have buoyed us as a community and continue to provide much-needed connection and financial relief to our loved ones. I won't go in

Update on the School Resource Officer (SRO) One thing that was illuminated last week, is that Lisa Green-Douglas is the liaison to the CCA School Board. Wow. When I indicated in our last meeting that I had reached out to the school board to ask if they wanted to meet and talk things over, she admonished me with a 'I am already meeting with them as the liaison' while at the same time denying that she knew that they were discussing an SRO. Similarly, Rod Sullivan was clearly up

Headlines about a School Resource Officer and Yes, the Governor is obsessed with us (Johnson County. Well, and trans people) Last week the Clear Creek Amana (CCA) School Board and the Sheriff brought before us a contract to help pay for a School Resource Officer (SRO) to be embedded in their middle and high school buildings for a one year pilot program. To the CCA School Board's credit, they did quite a bit of work leading up to the contract they presented us- they sent out a

Hello my V-eeple!! This week, I am focusing on connecting with volunteers! Hopefully, if you are reading this you are a supporter of my re-election campaign :) I believe I have shown Johnson County residents that I have the professional background, experience, vision, and values to lead our county for another term (and beyond). One thing that I have found while knocking doors and talking with residents in District 4 is that many people may know that there are new districts, b

This last week, I attended the National Association of County Officials ’ legislative conference in Washington, D.C.. I have never been to the legislative conference before, and I have to say that it was an incredible experience.  I am bringing back so much information to our county, including steps we should be taking to assess how we are going to manage and utilize Artificial Intelligence as an organization . I learned what other mid-sized counties are doing regarding educa

The County Budget & The State Legislature (I promise not to sound too nerdy!) It is that time of year when my attention is pulled in two different directions: our values are on full display when formulating our county budget; and the state's values are on full display when they pass laws that deprive certain residents/natural resources (like water and soil) of protections. County Budget- Here's a short video to provide a basic overview of the process- We have been reviewing

Week One: How This Re-Election Campaign Is Different First of all, thank you to everyone who helped put together our launch event this weekend and to everyone who attended- deep gratitude for taking time out of your Saturday to join us! I can feel the energy of this campaign, and it is wildly different than 2022 . That is in large part because: Supervisors in three counties (Johnson, Blackhawk, and Story) were districted by the state legislature. Here is an article explaini

Coming soon! Follow along and get the latest news about V! The V-eekly Report will share events, appearances as well as information about the campaign.