TOM HARKIN

Pop star and actor Selena Gomez is being honored for her work as an advocate for mental health awareness.

Iowa Democrats had high hopes earlier in the campaign season of unseating seven-term Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, but they seem to be fading.

Orrin G.

Iowa was Barack Obama’s unlikely launching pad in 2008 to become the nation’s first Black president.

Five-time NBA All-Star Kevin Love is being honored by a Boston foundation for his work on and off the court to take the stigma out of mental health struggles.

Eighty-seven-year-old Chuck Grassley is trying to show Iowans that he’s not just physically ready for an eighth term, but that's he thriving.

There are signs of Democratic fatigue in Iowa, a state viewed for decades as a true political battleground.

“Empire” star Taraji P. Henson has enjoyed wealth, celebrity, a Golden Globe win and an Academy Award nomination. “It’s OK to not be OK," Henson, the latest recipient of the Morton E. Ruderman Award in Inclusion, told The Associated Press via email. In 2018, the Washington, D.C., native started the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation to stop those with mental illness from being stigmatized — especially Blacks, who she says are less likely to seek treatment. This year, with the coronavirus pandemic complicating people's mental health struggles, Henson's foundation has been helping African Americans — who've been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 — access free online therapy. “We need more people like Taraji to continue to eliminate the stigma around mental health across all our communities in America.”___Follow AP New England editor Bill Kole on Twitter at http://twitter.com/billkole.