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Iowa News You Can Use

Amie bio
Amie Rivers
Amie Rivers is Iowa Starting Line's newsletter editor. She writes the weekly Worker’s Almanac edition of Iowa Starting Line, featuring a roundup of the worker news you need to know. Previously, she was an award-winning journalist at the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier; now, she very much enjoys making TikToks and memes and getting pet photos in her inbox.

Have a story tip? Reach Amie at [email protected]. For local reporting in Iowa that connects the dots, from policy to people, sign up for Amie's newsletter.
Apr 2025 30

🌽 Cornhole Champions #22 – But her emails!!!

By | LOCAL VIDEO, COMMUNITY, Amie Rivers

Gov. Kim Reynolds was unsure when asked before Congress whether the Lutheran Services of Iowa was a money laundering scheme. At a later press conference, she clarified that she doesn’t think that the church was up to no good. Now she’s suing the Des Moines Register hoping to withhold the media prep that guided the exchange.

On this episode of Cornhole Champions, Iowa Starting Line’s Zachary Oren Smith, Amie Rivers and Avery Staker discuss the governor’s lawsuit.

Also hear about a growing youth mental health crisis in Iowa. Despite a 15% surge in demand since 2018, funding hasn't kept pace, leaving families describing the search for care as "a full-time job."

The team also explores why the Iowa Legislature is extending beyond Friday's deadline.

Cornhole Champions is a weekly podcast powered by Iowa Starting Line where we throw bags at the state's biggest stories. This show is created by Zachary Oren Smith with music by Avery Mossman. We are a proud member of the Iowa Writers Collaborative.

Links:

1st Story - More Iowa youth need mental health support. Has funding kept up with the demand? (Des Moines Register) - https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/health/2025/04/28/iowa-youth-mental-health-support-has-spending-kept-up/80496274007/

2nd Story - Iowa Legislature Set to Extend Session Past Friday Deadline (Iowa Public Radio) - https://www.iowapublicradio.org/state-government-news/2025-04-28/2025-legislative-session-budget-bills

3rd Story - Governor Reynolds Sues Des Moines Register Over Email Disclosure (Associated Press) - https://apnews.com/article/iowa-governor-reynolds-des-moines-register-foia-b274e4f47a4d205565caa6e1bdd8b6f1

*LISTEN AND SUBSCRIBE TO CORNHOLE CHAMPIONS:*
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... and everywhere you listen to podcasts

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Amie Rivers - Iowa Starting Line
Apr 2025 29

WATCH: Why isn’t there money for kids in Iowa’s public schools?

By | POLITICS VIDEO, POLITICS, Amie Rivers

“I think it’s really, really embarrassing.”

Senator Sarah Trone Garriott (D-West Des Moines) normally takes great pride in the Iowa education system. But today she’s calling the lack of funding for students “shameful.”

A bill that gives school districts a 2% increase per pupil has been sent to Gov. Kim Reynolds’ desk, where she’s expected to sign it.

Trone Garriott says she and other Democrats argued with the state’s Republican majority that funding for Iowa’s public schools isn’t keeping up with inflation, and that half of the state’s districts will be under a “budget guarantee process” if the 2% is passed—which means property taxes will have to go up to help schools maintain their budgets.

Meanwhile, a cap has been lifted on income requirements for families at any level of wealth to use taxpayer dollars to pay for their kids’ private school tuition.
“Anybody can apply. Even the richest, the richest Iowans who are already sending their kids to private school, they basically get this huge tax windfall, and it doesn't provide any good for doing it,” says Trone Garriott.

✏️: Salina Heller

Amie Rivers - Iowa Starting Line
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