The Iowa Legislature set aside nearly $180 million for the state’s private school voucher program in the 2024-25 school year. This is an almost $50 million increase over original projections.
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Kalbach: Immediate action needed on corporate ag pollution
Iowa agriculture has undergone substantial changes over the past 40 years. We see it all around us. Rather than crops and livestock being raised on tens of thousands of diversified family farms, Iowa has become ground-zero for concentrated industrial factory farms...
VIDEO: Jochum calls Gov. Reynolds’ summer meal program a ‘hunger game’
Iowa Gov. Reynolds announced a competitive $900,000 grant program to feed Iowa children over the summer, months after she declined $29 million in federal funds to feed kids. Senate Minority Leader Pam Jochum (D-Dubuque) calls the new proposal "a hunger game."...
Iowa slated to ban all future basic income programs
Sen. Bill Dotzler, 75, called the last two legislative sessions the “worst attack” on low-income and working-class Iowans he has ever seen. The Democrat from Waterloo—who has served in the legislature for over three decades—made those remarks Tuesday as the Iowa...
What you need to know about Iowa’s bill to arm school staff
Gov. Kim Reynolds is expected to sign a new law that will allow Iowa schools to arm staff and grant them legal and civil immunity in the event of a shooting. The bill—HF 2586—is part of Iowa Republican lawmakers' direct response to the Jan. 4 school shooting in Perry...
Rob Sand: Iowans must stand with sexual assault victims
Lots of topics get swept under the rug because they’re not comfortable for us to confront. Sometimes we’d rather pretend the problems don’t exist or couldn’t happen in a place like Iowa. But they do, and it can happen anywhere—even in our great state. It is our...
VIDEOS: Iowa Senate debates teacher armament bill
During an Iowa Senate floor debate on the teacher armament bill, HF 2586, Sen. Janice Weiner (D-Iowa City) clarified that the goal of gun safety is not to take guns away, but to systemize safe practices and comprehensive support services so gun violence can be...
VIDEOS: Konfrst details how Republicans use abortion to play politics with Iowans’ lives
While Iowans await the Iowa Supreme Court's decision on one of the strictest abortion bans in the country, House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst (D-Windsor Heights) detailed the ways Republican politicians use these bans to play politics with peoples' lives and...
As Iowa City and Linn-Mar prepare for drastic cuts, vouchers draw millions from state
The Iowa City and Linn-Mar school districts face a combined $10 million budget shortfall as the state continues to underfund public schools and funnel millions toward private school tuition. According to data from the Iowa Department of Education, 471 students who...
Attorney tells Iowa Supreme Court abortion ban should stay blocked
The Iowa Supreme Court Thursday heard arguments concerning the injunction on the near-total abortion ban passed is a special session last summer. Peter Im, staff attorney at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, told the justices and reporters in a press...