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Catch up on Little Village’s most-viewed headlines from last month. Read more at LittleVillageMag.com.

Five questions with West Des Moines’ samantha Daily, two-time ‘MasterChef’ competitor

By Courtney guein, July 15 A West Des Moines cooking enthusiast with a penchant for comfort food has found her way onto the summer’s top-rated food show, featuring award-winning chef Gordon Ramsay, chef Aaron Sanchez and renowned restaurant owner Joe Bastianich—for the second time.

Former Rep. Jim Leach breaks with the Republican Party, endorses Bohannan for House and Franken for senate

By Paul Brennan, July 28 Jim Leach, who represented Iowa in Congress for 30 years as a Republican, changed his party registration to Democrat ahead of the June 7 primary, the Quad City Times reported this week. “Today, the Republican Party that I spent so many years with has really let the country down,” Leach said.

Photo gallery: Iowans rally for fair contract from Bridgestone-Firestone

By Lily Detaeye, July 29 On Thursday, July 28, members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 310 and their supporters marched over NW 2nd Street as the union engaged in contract negotiations with Bridgestone-Firestone. The contract covered the more than 3,000 workers USW represents at the company’s six U.S. plants, located in Iowa, Illinois, Arkansas, Ohio and Tennessee.

Video: ‘We can do better, because we’ve done better’: Deidre DeJear on Iowa’s future, LgBtQ rights, abortion access and legalizing cannabis

Video by Jason Smith, story by Paul Brennan; July 15 During an interview with journalist and author Lyz Lenz at a campaign event in Iowa City on Thursday, Democratic nominee for governor Deidre DeJear said Gov. Reynolds and Republicans “have the tendency … to create problems that really don’t exist, rather than addressing the problems that do exist.”