Polk County Democrats running for supervisor are beginning to clarify whether they would make the job their full-time professional focus.

Why it matters: Republicans are weighing general-election challenges, and the issue could play a role in whether Democrats retain control of the five-member board.

Catch up quick: The question of outside employment became a county issue after Republican supervisors Mark Holm and Jill Altringer took office in January while keeping their jobs.

• Supervisors earn about $149,000 a year, and the county describes the role as one in which members are expected to be available to constituents full-time — an expectation that Holm and Altringer say they are meeting even while juggling other jobs.

State of play: No Republicans ran in the June 2 primaries for any of the three open supervisor seats.

• The Republican Party of Polk County has until Aug. 26 to name potential candidates and some have expressed interest in running, chairperson Andrew Ventling tells Axios.

Zoom in: Two of the three Democratic nominees tell Axios they would make the supervisor job their full-time professional focus.

• John Forbes, who defeated incumbent Matt McCoy in District 1, is retired from his Urbandale pharmacy practice and tells Axios he would stop doing occasional relief pharmacist work for a friend once his term begins.
• Heather Jones-Brown, who won the District 4 primary against Des Moines Councilperson Joe Gatto, tells Axios she would leave her job as the assistant chief diversity officer at Grinnell College and work full-time as a supervisor.

The unanswered question: State Sen. Izaah Knox, who was unopposed in the District 5 Democratic primary to replace retiring Supervisor Angela Connolly, did not respond to multiple Axios requests about whether he would leave his job if elected.

• Knox is executive director of Urban Dreams, where the nonprofit's most recently filed tax return lists him as working 40 hours per week and receiving $139,650 in reportable compensation in 2024.

The intrigue: Forbes says he would support exploring a policy that would reduce supervisors' pay by half for members who maintain other full-time employment, while acknowledging there may be legal questions.

• The current group of supervisors did not act on a similar request from a former Polk County administrator last year.

What we're watching: Whether Knox clarifies his Urban Dreams plans before November.

A regional dashboard now tracks which metro cities are adding affordable housing — and which are not.

Why it matters: Des Moines leaders have long argued the city carries too much of the region's affordable housing burden while some suburbs do little or nothing.

How it works: The Polk County Housing Trust Fund (PCHTF) dashboard sets a non-binding affordable housing target for each city equal to 10% of its projected five-year housing growth, spokesperson Matt Hauge tells Axios.

• The goal is not a mandate but is meant to help cities understand the scale of affordable housing they could consider as they expand, Hauge said.

The intrigue: The dashboard builds on PCHTF's inventory of federally backed housing and will track new income-restricted projects as they are completed.

State of play: Every city will start at zero because PCHTF began tracking data when the dashboard launched.

• The group expects to update the dashboard annually, likely in January.
• It is also meeting with cities to help include non-federally funded housing projects that may not be recognized in their initial counts.

Reality check: Des Moines has historically produced and tracked more because it receives its own federal housing allocation and must report it annually.

• Most suburbs do not have the same reporting requirements, making comparisons harder.

The bottom line: The dashboard is expected to provide cities with a clearer benchmark and give residents a way to see whether affordable housing is keeping pace with growth.

What we're watching: Whether public scorekeeping pushes more suburbs to support income-restricted housing projects.

Everyone assumes that Pie Bird Pies owner Kristen Daily starts her days rolling crusts bright and early.

• But Daily likes to describe herself as a "middle of the day" person, with her peak "sweet spot" between 10am and noon.

How it works: The day begins with Freddie, her "goofy-looking" Chihuahua-terrier mix. Freddie wakes up Daily and her wife, Andrea, demanding breakfast.

• Their other dog, "old man" Norman, likes to sleep in, but they'll take them out for a walk before they dive into their work.

State of play: Daily has grown her home bakery this year and is busy selling locally sourced summer flavors and hosting local Pride events.

Here's how Daily starts her day:

⏰ Wake up: 6-6:30am.

🍳 Breakfast: A "boring" breakfast of oatmeal or granola. On bake days, she eats pie.

• She used to love coffee, but because of early menopause, she's cooled down on caffeine.

📱 What she's reading: Axios Des Moines, and a quick email scan. She also plays the New York Times' Crossplay.

💡 Advice for bakers who want to expand: Try selling at one of the many different-sized farmers markets across the Des Moines metro.

• "If you love baking, people love to eat treats."

🎨 Two DSM skywalks have new art installations. (WHO-TV)

💵 The City of Des Moines must pay nearly $6 million to the developers of The Fifth — a failed skyscraper project that was planned along Court Avenue and was supposed to bring an Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, apartments and a hotel. (Des Moines Register)

📄 Norwalk city attorney James S. Dougherty was sanctioned by a state board after he allegedly neglected a case for six years. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)

🗣️ IT workers are raising concerns about Iowa's plan to outsource executive-branch IT operations. (The Gazette)

👀 Former Des Moines Superintendent Ian Roberts used a fake Social Security card when applying for his job at DMPS. The district denied the Register's open records request to see the card. (Des Moines Register)

Linh here. I'm growing two giant pumpkins with the goal of showing one of them at the Iowa State Fair. (Their names are Hope #1 and we have Hope #2, just in case.)

Driving the news: In a surprise turn of events, Hope #2, my backup pumpkin, is doing better than Hope #1.

How it happened: A few weeks ago, Hope #1 was blooming beautiful flowers. Wow! Pretty!

• Then I learned the bright yellow flowers were not supposed to be happening yet, and it was putting its energy into the wrong place.

Meanwhile, Hope #2 was quietly growing without much messing around by me. And now, it's over 5 feet long.

Zoom in: In other news, this week, I got a check signed by Mayor Connie Boesen herself, for $52.

• The city offers a 50% subsidy for rain barrels, and I bought one a couple of weeks ago after it became clear this spring was going to be full of rain.
• Anyway, it fills up really fast, and now I have a strange hodgepodge of garbage cans and totes full of rainwater in my backyard.

Countdown: 59 days until judgment day.