Katie Byerly of Cerro Gordo County is also known as Iowa Prairie Girl on YouTube.

When I find a plant listed in multiple Midwestern states as “threatened” or “endangered,” I can’t help but wonder what the location looked like prior to the plant becoming a “special concern.”

We prairie lovers have all tried to imagine the tallgrass prairie waving and rolling over millions of acres across the great plains before they were settled. But what about the other habitats?

Iowa was also once covered with prairie potholes. I assume that like the tallgrass prairies, these too were blanketed with wildflowers. Many of those wetland plants are now hard to find. Earleaf false foxglove (Agalinis auriculata) isn’t necessarily a wetland plant, but it does like wet meadows, and sadly is listed as “rare” on many wildflower websites. 

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The Iowa Hawkeyes have made a living off forcing turnovers during the era of Phil Parker as Kirk Ferentz’s defensive coordinator. That storyline looks to play a big part in the Hawkeyes’ Big Ten opener on the road against the Michigan Wolverines.

Iowa is a slight underdog looking to make a statement in Big Ten play, and that statement needs to have a portion of it defined by the Hawkeyes’ defense playing up to the level it has shown through three games.

To win these games, where the Iowa offense is likely to get bogged down at times, extra possessions and short fields created by turnovers can be the difference.

Iowa has to win the turnover margin against Michigan

Iowa’s offense has looked strong, even explosive at times, to start the season, but Michigan’s defense presents another test. The Wolverines are going to win some matchups, stonewall some series, and get off the field.

The Hawkeyes can flip the script in this game by creating turnovers. Through three games, Iowa has a plus-three turnover margin, with only one giveaway. That has to happen against Michigan.

Iowa’s defense has forced just one fumble, but through three games, the Hawkeyes have reeled in three interceptions. Against Bryce Underwood, who has shown he will turn the ball over, Iowa needs to force the issue.

Through three games, the Wolverines are down by two in the turnover margin. Against Western Michigan, the Wolverines fumbled the ball twice and threw an interception. In Week 2, the Wolverines fumbled twice again. This year, Michigan has four fumbles in three games, which is an area Iowa needs to exploit.

Where do the turnovers come from?

The turnovers can come from two avenues. The first avenue is really straightforward and something Iowa tried to do at times against Northern Iowa. That is punching the ball out of ball carriers’ possession.

Multiple times, Iowa was close to forcing a fumble, with a focus on generating turnovers. With Michigan’s offense being reliant on the ground game, the opportunities for this are going to be present.

The other avenue of turnovers for Iowa’s defense is Jayden Montgomery and Cam Buffington stonewalling the ground game, which would put Michigan into 2nd-and-long or 3rd-and-long passing situations.

We saw it against Northern Iowa. When the Hawkeyes’ secondary can sit on the pass, they turn the aggression up. They are willing to jump routes and take more risks. Forcing Bryce Underwood to throw on obvious passing downs due to early-down run game success benefits Iowa greatly.

As Americans endure elevated fuel costs with the midterm elections on the horizon, Rep. Ashley Hinson — a Republican running for U.S. Senate in Iowa — asserted in a post on X that the Iran war should “be brought to a successful and immediate end.”

“Iowans are being squeezed and shouldn’t have to foot the bill at the pump or the checkout line for the war in Iran. We need to use every option at our disposal to provide some relief from high prices,” Hinson said in the Monday post on X.

“That includes suspending the gas tax, pausing diesel exports, unleashing E-15 everywhere we can, reinstating the $1/gallon biodiesel tax credit, and creating a diesel relief program to help our farmers and truckers being crushed by the high costs,” she continued.

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“While doing this, we should also ensure our highway trust fund is replenished, so that Iowans don’t suffer from crumbling roads and bridges while relief comes our way now. These actions to lower costs are needed ASAP, and the war needs to be brought to a successful and immediate end,” Hinson wrote.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House on Wednesday.

Hinson announced a U.S. Senate bid last year on the same day that Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, announced that she would not run for re-election. President Donald Trump then endorsed Hinson for the Senate seat days later.

TRUMP-BACKED SENATE CANDIDATE SAYS ‘GROCERIES COST TOO MUCH,’ CALLS FOR IRAN WAR TO ‘END QUICKLY’

Hinson is running against Iowa state Rep. Josh Turek, who is backed by former President Barack Obama.

The congresswoman has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since early 2021.

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During an address to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, Trump said, “But I have a big decision to make. Will a deal be made with Iran that let’s them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before … Or do I annhilate the Islamic Republic, and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?”