2017

I have seen a lot of political inaction in my time here in Iowa, but nothing that has perplexed and infuriated me as much as the state’s inability to respond to the starvation deaths of two adopted girls. You would have thought something may have changed after 16-year-old Natalie Finn died from starvation and torture last…

A Beaverdale mom decided it was time to act when Congressman David Young flip-flopped and voted for the House Republicans’ Obamacare replacement. Young had vowed he would vote no on the previous version, but switched his vote at the last moment. As a member of the Northwest Des Moines Democrats, Vanessa Phelan had been brainstorming…

It was quite a week last week with the buzz about impeachment. Relax. I’m not referring to President Donald Trump. I’m talking about the mayor of Muscatine. Diana Broderson was removed from office by a 7-0 vote of the city council on Thursday. The meeting lasted 3 minutes. There was no discussion by the council…

The options for women’s healthcare services are being dramatically reduced in Southeast Iowa thanks to the actions of local Republican lawmakers like Mark Lofgren, Tom Greene and Gary Carlson. Planned Parenthood announced today that they will close four clinics by the end of June, including their Eastern Iowa locations of Bettendorf, Burlington and Keokuk. Sioux City’s…

Council Bluffs Democrats have reorganized and reenergized following the devastating loss of the long-serving Senator Mike Gronstal. The former Iowa Senate majority leader’s loss combined with losses by other Senate Democrats resulted in Republicans taking complete control of the Legislature. For Iowa Democrats the incredible legislative damage done by Republicans has only compounded the loss…

I wanted to take a brief moment to update Starting Line readers on how we’re doing: we’re doing great! Thanks to your help in sharing our articles, Starting Line has seen very high traffic in the past several weeks. As you may have noticed, I’ve also been on the road a lot recently for the various…

Education reviews of the Republicans’ mismanagement of the Iowa state budget has focused on the inadequate funding of K-12 schools.  They actually brag about increasing K-12 funding by 1.1% or $40 million even though most independent analysis suggest 4-6% is needed to keep pace. In addition, they cut state funding of Iowa’s public universities for…