Ty Rushing is the former Chief Political Correspondent for Iowa Starting Line. He is a trail-blazing veteran Iowa journalist, an Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and co-founder and president of the Iowa Association of Black Journalists.
Ty Rushing
Latest from Ty Rushing
-
Iowa Republicans’ answer to school shootings is more guns
Iowa House Republicans’ solution to prevent more students from being shot in Iowa schools in the wake of Perry is to bring more guns into the schools, which includes arming teachers and other staff members. “The scariest place to be in America, I believe, is in a place with ‘gun-free zone’ posted all over the…
-
Iowans call Reynolds’ latest anti-trans bill ‘dystopian’ and destructive
Alexandra Gray compared what is happening in Iowa to a dystopian novel during yet another hearing centered on creating new laws that specifically target trans people and pose harm to Iowans in the LGBTQ community. “What dystopian novel are we in this time because I’m finding us slipping and going backward,” she said. “At one…
-
Iowan asks Republican lawmakers to focus on real issues instead of picking on libraries
Wearing a green Raygun T-shirt that touted her support of public libraries, Anita Christensen of Indianola laid out a case for why Iowa’s Republican lawmakers should stay hands-off when it comes to libraries during a Monday Iowa Senate subcommittee on the topic. “I believe that public libraries build community,” Christensen said. “What public entities invite…
-
‘There’s no reason:’ Iowans question motive of Republican library bills
Librarians don’t want it. The public doesn’t want it. Even the Iowa Leagues of Cities is undecided on the matter, but Iowa Republicans want to change the law to diminish the authority of local library boards and make the institutions more susceptible to political whims. These points and more were raised on Thursday during an…
-
Advocates speak out against Iowa’s anti-immigration bills
As far as Cecilia Martinez is concerned, they are very much an Iowan despite what some Iowa lawmakers may think. Martinez, 27, moved from Mexico to Iowa when they were 1-year-old. They were educated in Iowa schools from kindergarten through college and continue to live, work, and advocate for various causes while residing in the…
-
Iowa Republicans unveil latest plan to arm teachers with guns
Despite Iowa Republicans calling teachers “sinister,” limiting how they can teach history and social studies, what books they can teach from, and proposing cameras in the classroom to monitor them in real-time, they apparently trust them enough to give them guns. Introduced on Wednesday, HSB 675 would allow districts, private schools, and colleges to arm…
-
Public hearing set for Gov. Reynolds’ anti-trans bill
PUBLIC HEARING UPDATE: A public hearing has been set for Iowa Gov. Reynolds’ most recent anti-trans bill, which was renumbered to House File 2389. The bill would establish legal definitions of gendered terms like “man,” “woman,” “mother,” and “father,” and require trans Iowans to have special birth certificates and use separate facilities in public facilities.…
-
Iowa Republican’s bill would defund public libraries, eliminate local library boards
Sen. Jesse Green (R-Boone) introduced a bill last week that many library advocates say could lead to the end game for public libraries in Iowa. SSB 3131 would change how cities and counties fund public libraries by changing the language in Iowa Code from “shall” to “may,” which would allow those entities to opt out…
-
Reynolds says her bill to erase LGBTQ Iowans in legal code is ‘necessary’
One day after LGBTQ advocates celebrated a trans discrimination bill dying in an Iowa House subcommittee, Gov. Kim Reynolds introduced a new culture-war-driven bill on Thursday aimed at legally erasing queer Iowans. HSB 649 would create a new code in Iowa to legally define “sex,” “male,” “female,” “mother,” and “father” and require all governmental entities…
-
Reynolds’ AEA bill goes dormant in House, but survives in Iowa Senate
When Lilli Norris’ parents adopted her from China, they did not know that she couldn’t speak, that she had a bad heart, and that she was mostly deaf. “The reason I tell you this is that Lilli was the first student at Carlisle Elementary to have a microphone introduced to us by Iowa AEA,” said…
