2019
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Restricting Abortion By Constitutional Amendment – Iowa GOP’s Next Plan
Early this year, Iowa’s ban on abortions after a “heartbeat” is detected was struck down. This brought the state’s second attempt to ban abortion in two years to an end, but Republican lawmakers in the state Senate haven’t given up. In January this year, 29 Republican senators introduced a resolution that would add a section…
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Hitchhiking With The Candidates: Day 1, Delaney And Klobuchar
It’s the first week of the Iowa State Fair, which means every single presidential candidate is flocking to Iowa. Even if you live outside Des Moines or Clear Lake, you may have chances to see four or five candidates around your hometown over just a few-day span. Which got me thinking. Could you literally just…
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Amy Klobuchar Plan: Restore “Respect For Rural America”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar released her “Plan from the Heartland” today, kicking off some time in Iowa with a speech at the Griffieon Family Farm in Ankeny, Iowa. Klobuchar refers to the plan as an “optimistic economic agenda” to strengthen and protect the way of life in rural America. “Kids that grow up in rural America…
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Burlington Democrat Announces For Top Senate Seat Pick-Up
The first Democrat running to win back Senate District 44 in the Iowa Legislature announced his candidacy today in front of friends and family gathered at his Burlington farm. Rex Troute, a retired newspaperman from Burlington, is a first-time candidate for elected office. He launched his campaign Wednesday morning from Troute Farm, in the family…
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Ross Wilburn Wins, Brings Diversity To House Beyond Just Himself
Democrat Ross Wilburn scored a crushing victory in today’s special election for the Ames-based House District 46. It helped, of course, that he ran unopposed. After taking 97.4% of the vote tonight, Wilburn will join the Iowa House for next year’s legislative session, which will bring the number of Iowa’s black legislators up to five.…
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Trump’s ‘Assembly Line’ Of Right-Wing Judges Rolls On In Senate
The Senate adjourned for the August recess last week on the heels of another prolific week for judicial nominations. The Republican-controlled chamber confirmed 12 new judges in a two-day period to lifetime appointments on district courts, including Illinois, Texas and Oregon. The previous week, two other judges were confirmed for district court seats. According to…
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Largest Labor Cattle Call In the Nation Coming To Des Moines
The AFL-CIO in Des Moines has scheduled at least 21 Democratic presidential candidates will speak at the largest labor cattle call in the nation Aug. 21 at Prairie Meadows. The event is open to union members and the media, though not the general public. Charlie Wishman, secretary and treasurer of the Iowa Federation of Labor,…
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Congress Has Dithered Long Enough On Guns
How many more will it take? How many more mass shootings? How many more bodies of adults and children will need to pile up — in the aisles of retail stores, in churches, in the classrooms and corridors of schools, in offices, in movie theaters, in nightclubs? How many more times must this happen before…
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Ernst Promised To Make DC ‘Squeal’; Vote Hikes Deficit By $1.7T
Sen. Joni Ernst came to the U.S. Capitol in 2015 on a promise to make Washington “squeal.” She vowed to “cut wasteful spending,” telling voters in her infamous 2014 campaign ad she “knew how to cut pork” because she grew up castrating hogs on an Iowa farm. “My parents taught us to live within our…
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Coming This Week: Singing The Sound Of Progress
Progress Iowa will take the stage this week to sing the Sound of Progress. The musical performance will include adapted versions of familiar songs heard in Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, The Wiz and more. It opens with a version of the familiar song “Look Down” from Les Mis’. From there, the musical goes on to…
