Laura Packard wanted to ask Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa) what she thought was a simple question: Would he protect the Affordable Care Act? Packard is a stage IV cancer survivor and health-care activist from Virginia. Saving the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is one of her...
The order directs federal agencies to ensure that they are using federal funds to research diseases and health conditions that disproportionately affect women, and requires them to report their investments in women’s health research annually.
Cautious relief might be the best way to describe how some of Iowa’s most prominent LGBTQ organizations feel after a majority of the anti-LGBTQ bills in the Iowa Legislature stalled out after the second legislative funnel last week. “Out of the ones that directly...
Sen. Molly Donahue (D-Cedar Rapids) questioned her colleagues on why they were moving forward with enacting major legislative changes to Iowa’s Area Education Agencies (AEAs), a plan most Iowans don’t see the need for. “Nobody wanted this bill. Nobody asked for...
Sen. Jason Schultz (R-Schleswig) declined to advance a bill that would provide Iowa firefighters with more comprehensive disability coverage for cancer treatment. “In highly emotional situations like that, somebody has got to be the taxpayer’s watchdog and remove...
We need a robust, highly skilled workforce in STEM to support the influx of major infrastructure projects cropping up across the country. The way to fix this is by starting at the high school level.
According to two Republican state senators, participants in the UpLift—The Central Iowa Basic Income Program, just need to work harder and pull up their bootstraps to escape poverty. “It’s not the first job that gives you a raise to maybe $15 an hour that leads to...
The president's budget includes proposals to lower childcare costs, create a paid family leave program, lower drug costs, and strengthen Social Security and Medicare—all by raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations.
Immigration advocates noted there are a few issues with a new Republican-backed bill aimed at undocumented migrants that is working its way through the Iowa Legislature. HF 2608 would require the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to verify the...
Enshrining the idea of life beginning at fertilization, before implantation, would threaten Iowan’s abilities to access certain kinds of contraceptives and to in vitro fertilization (IVF). It would also be a serious blow to reproductive freedom. Sally Frank, a law...
