Author: Paige Godden

Iowa firefighters showed up for Joe Biden during his latest two swings throughout Iowa, but state union members have yet to officially endorse him. The state group won’t offer an endorsement to any candidate until after its state convention June 20 and 21, when delegates from across Iowa will meet and cast their votes. Doug Neys, president of the Iowa Professional Fire Fighters, said it certainly seems like the spotlight will be on his group as they make their decision. But, he said, it’s a role they’re happy to take on. “Iowa is not the largest state in the union, […]

Democrat Julian Castro promised a 9-year-old girl in Urbandale who asked him about climate change that his first executive order as president would be to sign the Paris Climate Accord. That, Castro said during an Urbandale house party on Friday, would ensure her generation has cleaner air and water. Castro called climate change “the biggest threat we face in this country” and told the girl if it’s not fixed soon, “it may be that one day there is no United States of America.” Scarlett Montgomery, who’s going into the fourth grade, said she asked the question about climate change because […]

Elizabeth Warren unveiled today her plan to create a Small Business Equity Fund, which would work to even the playing field for entrepreneurs of color who are trying to start their own businesses. According to an outline of Warren’s plan, on average Black, Latinx, Native American and other minority households have less wealth and therefore less collateral to use to gain credit than white Americans. Typically, Black entrepreneurs start a business with just $35,000, which is about one-third of the money white Americans use to start up a business. It’s why entrepreneurs of color own less than 20 percent of […]

Montana Governor Steve Bullock blames the radical changes Iowa’s collective bargain laws have undergone in recent years on the so-called “dark money” that’s being funneled into the state, he said during an interview with Starting Line last week. The Democratic presidential hopeful is fighting back against dark money and foreign money by suing the International Revenue Service over its decision to overturn a decades-old transparency requirement that prevents ultra-wealthy donors and special interest groups from pumping unlimited money into campaigns without disclosure. Bullock explained there’s been a rule in the books since the Richard Nixon administration that requires nonprofit organizations […]