2017
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That’s Loyalty For You. Trump Backstabs Reynolds On Stopgap Plan
The Washington Post reported last week that President Trump intentionally torpedoed Governor Kim Reynolds’ proposed stopgap insurance plan for 72,000 Iowans. The stopgap insurance plan requires a waiver from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), so Governor Reynolds and Senators Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley urged Trump to approve the plan. It appears…
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Matt McCoy Makes His Pick In Gubernatorial Primary
Des Moines State Senator Matt McCoy is endorsing Fred Hubbell in the Democratic gubernatorial primary today, praising the Des Moines businessman’s knowledge of the Iowa economy and lifetime of support for progressive causes. McCoy’s backing gives Hubbell his first endorser in the Iowa Senate, adding to a list of six Iowa House members and many…
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Trump’s EPA Head Vows To Kill Iowa Wind And Solar Energy Credits
Someone should check Chuck Grassley’s pulse. Iowa’s senior senator declared back in August of 2016 that a President Donald Trump would eliminate tax credits for wind energy “over my dead body.” And yet yesterday, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt declared that he wanted to do exactly that. “I would do away with these incentives…
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How Cathy Glasson Stared Down Intimidation Efforts To Form Her Union
When the ballots were being counted to determine whether or not University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics healthcare workers would unionize, Cathy Glasson – the person who had led the effort for months – wasn’t in the room. Glasson was instead working a 12-hour shift in the intensive care unit where she served as a…
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Iceland’s Energy Self-Sufficiency: Others Do It, So Why Not Iowa?
My wife, Toni, and I just returned from a trip that included a tour of a geothermal plant in Iceland. It is the third largest geothermal plant in the world that uses super hot water from deep wells to drive steam turbines. It is one of seven such facilities in Iceland and generates 300 megawatts of…
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Half Of GOP’s New Tax Cuts Would Go To Iowa’s Wealthiest 1%
This long-awaited national Republican tax cut plan is nothing more than the recycling of Reagan’s failed “trickle-down economics” tax cut plan. Also known as supply side economics, President George H.W. Bush called it “voodoo” economics. The premise of Reaganomics was based on tax cuts for the rich that moved massive amounts of cash to those…
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Did Kim Reynolds “Cook The Books” On State Budget?
Governor Reynolds’ continuing budget crisis is raising additional questions regarding her administration’s basic lack of competence in managing the state’s finances. The Governor’s lack of transparency and accountability in dealing with her budget mess is contributing to growing suspicions that the fix is in. It was nearly certain in June that Reynolds would need to…
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It Will Happen In Iowa
“There will be time for that later,” Governor Kim Reynolds said yesterday when asked if Iowa will pursue any new gun control legislation in the aftermath of the worst mass shooting in American history. She was lying. There will never be a real discussion about responsible gun laws in Iowa so long as Kim Reynolds…
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Target’s Move To $15/Hour Proves GOP Wrong
The Republican-controlled Legislature rammed through a heartless reversal of higher wages for thousands of Iowans and their families earlier this year. They arrogantly overruled the four Iowa counties (Johnson, Linn, Polk and Wapello) that had each passed minimum wage increases for their residents. Now, six months later, it appears the national “Fight for $15” is…
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What A Despicable Week In American Politics
Following the day’s political news in Donald Trump’s America is an exhausting affair. Every week that you think we’ve hit rock bottom as a country, Trump and others find new, inventive ways to disgrace the nation and humanity. The past seven days have been particularly awful, making you wonder where this country is headed. The…
