Why subscribe?

Along the Mississippi is the work of Ed Tibbetts, an Iowa politics and government reporter and editor with more than three decades experience, much of it focused on Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses.

Centered in the Quad-Cities, one of the last vestiges of purple in a state that’s gone full-on red, Along the Mississippi offers common-sense commentary, as well as local and Iowa news from the banks of the Mississippi River.

Subscribers will get full access to the Along the Mississippi newsletter and website. Each issue also will be delivered by email to your inbox. Subscribers can sign on for free, but there also is an option to join others and help fund this work on a monthly, or at a reduced yearly rate. Paying subscribers get the satisfaction of knowing they’re contributing to worthwhile journalism, along with the ability to join the Iowa Writers Collaborative’s once-monthly Zoom meetings, where you can ask questions and make comments.

Along the Mississippi is a member of the Iowa Writers Collaborative, a new media venture where you can find some of Iowa’s most talented writers and journalists. Members of the Collaborative are located all across the state of Iowa and are steadily building an audience.

About Ed

I’m a lifelong Iowan who grew up in a small town near Cedar Rapids. I never achieved my boyhood dream of playing Major League baseball or moving to California. (I gave up on those in the ‘70s and ‘90s, respectively.) Still, I’ve found a good life in Iowa and in journalism.

I made the Quad-Cities my home in 1989, leaving television news to work for a newspaper, the Quad-City Times.

For 32 years, I wrote about politics and government at all levels, as well as demographic and economic trends in the Quad-Cities and Iowa. I’m no longer with a newspaper, but I believe there still is a need for good, honest journalism that is informative and thoughtful. That’s my goal with Along the Mississippi. I hope you will find it worth your time and support.