2021
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Private School Vaccinations Last Straw For Frustrated Public School Advocates
News broke this week that a number of central Iowa private schools on Friday were vaccinating their staff, and for some public educators fed up with school privatization and in-person learning efforts from the Legislature, it was the last straw. West Des Moines private school Dowling Catholic on Monday announced—when the Iowa Department of Public…
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How Vaccine Fears In Iowa Communities Of Color Are Being Addressed
What a year 2020 was for Iowa and the nation. The November elections brought hope, yet certifying the electoral votes would not take place until after a mob of domestic terrorist, incited by Donald Trump, desecrated the nation’s Capitol. But the end of 2020 was also marked by hope with the emergency approval of two…
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GOP Voucher Bill Trying To ‘Slip One Past The Goalie’ Amid COVID, Dems Warn
In what’s been described as a “disastrous week in education” by public school advocates, the Iowa Senate last Thursday pushed forward a sweeping school privatization bill, followed by Gov. Kim Reynolds signing on Friday a requirement that schools now offer a 100% in-person learning option. Now Democrats question the timing of what they call an…
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House Republicans Should Have Learned From Steve King
This shouldn’t be that hard. As House Republicans give up on how to deal with dangerous conspiracy theorist Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, it’s hard not to see some parallels to Iowa’s own Steve King situation. And that makes it all the more ridiculous and unacceptable that the question of whether to strip committees from someone…
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Iowa Vaccine Eligibility Expanded, But Supply Still Low
Iowa this week moved into the second phase of its vaccine rollout while the state’s stockpile remains low just a few days after it hit a new record amount of COVID deaths. First responders, educators and Iowans age 65 or older are now able to join healthcare workers in receiving the vaccine, making about 20%…
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What The IDP Needs Now Is Stability
State Rep. Ross Wilburn is settling in to his second week as the new chair of the Iowa Democratic Party, starting the work of assembling a new staff for a state party that’s looking to rebound from another poor election cycle. Wilburn’s election, along with making history as the first Black leader of a major…
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And We’re Back (For Now)
Iowa Starting Line has some temporary good news to share with our readers — we are restarting the website and publishing for at least the next two months. We acquired some funding to keep Starting Line active for February and March while we work through some bigger decisions and seek out a long-term plan for…
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Starting Line On Hiatus As We Consider Future
As you’ve probably noticed, Iowa Starting Line has been rather quiet lately. I’ve decided to stop publishing for the time being as I consider significant changes to our operation or whether to continue on at all. In reality, this hiatus began at the start of December, it’s just taken me this long to finally write…
