The self-proclaimed largest truck stop in the world offers drivers just about everything they might need during a break. The Iowa 80 parking lots offer 900 spots for trucks and dozens more for passenger cars, while the varieties of snacks, drinks and souvenirs in the market are uncountable. Elsewhere on the premises is a dentist, a barber and a chiropractor, a weight room, a 24-hour diner and a movie theater. There is also a Truckomat, to wash your truck, and a Dogomat, to wash your dog.

But the one thing that Iowa 80 does not offer is relief from the price of gas, which has increased sharply ever since the US joined Israel in attacking Iran and sparking a global energy crisis. On a recent afternoon, a gallon of regular gasoline at the sprawling stop in eastern Iowa went for $4.26, and diesel $5.72.

“It’s a lot of money,” said Malvinder Grewal, as he gazed at a receipt showing he had just spent $809 to fill up his 18-wheeler, which was laden with a shipment of dog food that he expected would net him $2,550 for delivery to Ohio.

As the summer travel season kicks off in the United States, analysts expect the high gas prices precipitated by the war with Iran to stick around. Average gas prices are the highest they have been in four years, according to the American Automobile Association, and price tracker GasBuddy predicted this week that, if the strait remains closed, pump prices could break records in the months ahead.

It’s a perilous position for Donald Trump to be in before November’s midterm elections, when his Republican allies will be defending their control of Congress. His administration has responded by approving the sale of fuel with a higher ethanol content that can be cheaper but risks increasing smog, while the president has floated suspending the federal gas tax.

Evidence has meanwhile mounted that the price increases have enhanced voters’ discontent with his presidency. Recent polls have found Trump’s public approval ratings in the high 30-percentage point range, and sometimes lower. This week, Quinnipiac University reported voters’ views of how he has handled the economy hit an all-time low.

The pain is acute for those who drive for a living, plenty of whom pass through Iowa 80, which sits in the little town of Walcott just off Interstate 80, the second-longest interstate in the country, stretching from San Francisco to New Jersey.

Truck drivers who plop down in barber Angie Clark’s chair for a $25 cut mention gas prices plenty, she said, particularly the owner-operators who must cover their own fuel costs.

“When gas goes up, that makes everything else go up, because everything is transported by truck,” she said. “If this keeps up, all my other costs of goods will go up as well. Do I have to raise my price?”

Recently, she came back home after a three-week trip abroad, and went to fill up her car for what she expected to be $42. Instead, it was $76.

“I about fell over,” Clark said.

Conversations in her shop inevitably turn to the cause of the spike, and whether it was wise to wage war on Iran and bring about the closure of the strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the world’s oil supply travels.

“We’re over there and we don’t have any purpose being over there,” said Randall Hood, 55, an Oklahoma resident driving a load of pet supplies to Ohio, who stopped in to have his gray mullet shorn.

As he sat in the nearby Laundromat waiting for a load of clothes to finish, Joe Ernst, 51, quibbled with the conventional wisdom that the war had driven up prices, saying that market forces – “hedge funds, futures” – were instead to blame. The phenomenon affected him less than others – as a company driver, his fuel costs, in this case to drive a tanker of cabernet sauvignon from Bakersfield, California, to Chicago – were covered.

Still, he was torn over the wisdom of launching the war. On the one hand, Iran was the longstanding nemesis who had “punched us in the face” during the hostage crisis that began in 1979. On the other, it had become clear to him that the same government behind that outrage would remain in power after the conflict ended.

“Either finish it, or pick up and go home,” Ernst said. “It’s getting frustrating.”

Mary Stevens, who was driving an escort vehicle for a truck carrying a 226ft windmill blade from New Mexico to Indiana, blamed “the stupid war, or whatever, that’s going on overseas” for making a complicated journey even more expensive.

With such a massive load, her convoy couldn’t pull off just anywhere to get gas, meaning they couldn’t always stop where the prices were best. Filling up her diesel truck cost about $125 when it used to cost $80, while her boss was forced to spend hundreds of dollars to fill up his truck.

“It’s getting ridiculous,” Stevens said. “It’s taking all of our money. It’s taking all of the truckers’ money, too.”

What it was not doing, she said, was changing her positive opinion of Trump.

“It is what it is,” Stevens said.

The third and final day of the Iowa high school state track and field championships saw more event winners crowned in addition to eight team titles being handed out.

The action took place from Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa, as the Iowa High School Athletic Association and Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union co-sponsored the event.

Plenty of state meet and Iowa all-time bests fell during the first and second days of competition earlier this week from the Blue Oval.

Records Set Right Off The Bat On Saturday

In the very first event of the final day, Mount Ayr broke the Class 1A girls sprint medley relay state meet record, going 1:47.80. Chloe Robb, Brittlyn Nickle, Aubree Shields and Emma Reynolds comprised the quartet, as runner-up Edgewood-Colesburg also broke the previous state mark.

Pella Christian followed, breaking the Class 2A state record in the sprint medley relay at 1:46.04 behind Lexi Terpstra, Amaia Agre, Meredith Van Wyk and Bailey Vos. They would also set a new 4×100 record and 4×400 record.

But it was Ankeny that shattered both the Class 4A record and the Iowa all-time best, laying down a 1:43.06 for gold. Charlee Cibula, Lilly Buckley, Lena Bruening and Morgan Fisher posted the time, as Waukee Northwest also broke both marks by going 1:43.30.

The Grundy Center boys set a new sprint medley relay record in Class 2A at 1:31.47 with Pete Lebo, Hayden Geerdes, Judd Jirovsky and Brayden Davie running. Jirovsky will chase a state golf title next week.

Incredible Meet For The Waukee Northwest Girls Track And Field Program

Waukee Northwest got its all-time Iowa best and Class 4A state meet record in the girls shuttle hurdle relay, topping Valley with a 58.61 to the 58.92 by the Tigers. Katie Willits, Alayna Schulte, Lily Twigg and Faith Johnson ran the time.

The Wolves later set a new all-time and state meet record in the 4×100 and did the same in the 4×400. 

In the boys shuttle hurdle relay, Lynnville-Sully’s Ashton Rozendaal, Carsen Kottenstette, Connor Deal and Sawyer Veldhuizen broke the Class 1A mark and Pella’s Logan VanDenBroek, Benjamin O’Halloran, Grant Finken and Caiden Johnson did the same in Class 3A.

Iowa City West’s foursome of Ely Smock, Waleed Ibrahim, Cade Towler and Ryder Gorsh went faster than anybody, though, finishing in 55.39 to shatter the Iowa all-time and Class 4A state meet record.

More relay records were reset by the Treynor boys in the 4×100, the Dubuque Wahlert Catholic girls in the 4×400 and the Clear Lake boys in the 4×400.

The Valley boys set a new Iowa and Class 4A mark in the 4×100 at 40.84 behind Greg Sayee, Trent Grevengoed, Miciah LeLaCheur and Joseph Alexander.

In the final race of the day, Cedar Rapids Prairie broke the Iowa and Class 4A mark in the 4×400, going 3:13.17 behind Kade Erickson, Jayden Stumpff, Jacob Krambeer and Drew Bennis.

Canaan Dunham Gets The Better Of Quentin Nauman

A distance rivalry that has spanned four years and two different sports was on full display for the final time in the Class 3A 800-meter run.

Pella’s Canaan Dunham bested close friend Quentin Nauman of Western Dubuque for gold, going 1:50.61 to the 1:51.22 by Nauman. Both will be competing at the NCAA Division I level next, as Dunham is headed to Tulsa and Nauman to Oregon.

Nauman did get his revenge later in the day, topping Dunham for the 1,600-meter title.

Several Individual Event Records Reset

Rachel Kacmarynski of Pella Christian set a new Class 2A 100-meter record at 11.70 and the 200 at 24.08, Elise Coghlan of Adel ADM did the same in the 100-meter hurdles in Class 3A and Morgan Karr of Valley set a new Iowa all-time best and Class 4A mark in the 100 hurdles, going 13.53.

A few minutes later, Hayden Carlson of Ankeny added his name to the history books, setting a new Iowa and Class 4A record in the 110-meter hurdles, going 13.52.

Lili Denton of Council Bluffs St. Albert broke the Class 1A 1,500-meter run mark, as did Evelyn Moeller from Mount Vernon in Class 3A and Emerson Vokes of Grundy Center in the boys Class 2A 1,600.

Eight Team Championships Handed Out

Throughout the three days of competition, points were scored in event finals, with the Top 8 earning points. Those points were added up, with trophies going to the first, second and third place teams in each class and each gender.

On the boys side, Riverside Oakland won in Class 1A, as Van Buren County and Iowa Valley were right behind. Alburnett held off Grundy Center for the Class 2A title, with Treynor finishing third.

Pella completely dominated a stacked Class 3A division, scoring 105 points. Clear Lake was second with 64 followed by Western Dubuque with 56. Cedar Falls jumped to the top in Class 4A, with Bettendorf and Waukee Northwest second and third overall.

Edgewood-Colesburg claimed the girls Class 1A title over Mount Ayr and Council Bluffs St. Albert, as the Class 2A crown belonged to Pella Christian with 78 points. Mid-Prairie was second and Spirit Lake third.

Mount Vernon, Adel ADM and Pella battled in Class 3A, with Mount Vernon finishing atop the standings with 67 points. Adel ADM had 60 and Pella 55. Waukee Northwest was as dominant as anybody, scoring 150.5 points in Class 4A, as Cedar Falls and Ankeny placed second and third overall.

Democratic challengers continued to outpace GOP incumbents in fundraising as they prepare to turn the page on primaries and brace for a hotly contested November election.

University of Iowa law professor Christina Bohannan and state Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott of West Des Moines, both Democrats, led GOP incumbents in Iowa’s 1st and 3rd congressional districts during the last fundraising period before the June 2 primary, new reports show.

The latest figures are a signal of how heavily national Democrats and Republicans will pour money into these races as they battle for control of Congress in the November midterm elections.

Bohannan, of Iowa City, is trying for a third time to unseat U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks in southeastern Iowa’s 1st District after a narrow 2024 loss. She out-raised the Ottumwa Republican, raking in $543,861 this period.

And Trone Garriott, who is looking to stop GOP U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn from securing a third term in south-central Iowa’s 3rd District, which includes Des Moines, tallied $811,849 this period.

Nonpartisan analysts with Cook Political Report consider both matchups a “tossup,” meaning either party has a fair shot at nabbing the seat.

Frontrunners in Iowa’s 1st District both keeping hefty war chests

Democratic and Republican frontrunners in the 1st District have their sights set on the general election, each continuing to stockpile major cash to gear up for a tough contest once they officially stave off primary challenges from their left and right flanks.

Bohannan’s latest haul bumps her campaign coffers to $4.3 million, giving her more money in her overall war chest for the first time this cycle.

Miller-Meeks tallied $423,146 this period, pushing her cash on hand to $4.2 million — trailing her Democratic challenger by $88,188.