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
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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…
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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…
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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.…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Satanic Temple welcomes opportunities to serve as Iowa school chaplains
Dressed in all black with the exception of his red-tinted sunglasses and red tie, Satanic Temple Minister Mortimer Adramelech said he and his organization would welcome the opportunity to participate in Iowa’s public school chaplain program. “I personally oppose HF 2073 because I believe in the separation of church and state, but if the bill…
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‘Scary’: Iowa Latinos concerned about GOP bill to limit access to higher education
Ari Davis of Des Moines serves as a TA and Survivor Services Coordinator for the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault, a position that allows her to help survivors of sexual assault and one she would not be in if not for a college education. “If I was not able to get in-state tuition, I would…
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Report: Majority of Iowa’s voucher recipients already went to private school
Two-thirds of students who received a private school voucher in Iowa this year were already enrolled in private school, according to new data from the Iowa Department of Education. The department released certified enrollment numbers—taken annually on Oct. 1—for public, private, and charter schools on Friday after about a month’s delay and the results were…
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Instead of fixing real issues, Iowa Republicans push 10 bills to discriminate against LGBTQ Iowans
We are less than a month into the 2024 Iowa Legislative Session and the Republicans in charge of Iowa’s state government have been busy— and by busy, we mean coming up with new ways to legally discriminate against LGBTQ Iowans. As Iowans struggle with stagnant wages, budget shortfalls in public schools, worsened water quality, higher…
