News
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Iowa pauses on most anti-LGBTQ bills, but advocates not letting their guard down
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 targeted LGBTQ folks, there were 40 of those and 39 of…
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VIDEO: Iowans oppose template anti-immigrant bill
During an Iowa Senate subcommittee last Tuesday, immigrants and allies heavily and passionately opposed HF 2608, a new bill from the corporate lobbying group the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The bill would make transporting undocumented immigrants a felony, sparking major concerns about racial profiling, accessible migrant shelters, the separation of families, and even religious…
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Iowans like AEAs, but Republicans are ramming through controversial reforms anyway
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 this bill. No one campaigned on this bill all across the state,” Donahue said…
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VIDEOS: Iowa House and Senate debate ban on basic income programs
UpLift—The Central Iowa Basic Income program has reported making strides in studying the impacts of no-strings-attached monthly income for Iowans needing it most, but Iowa Republicans aren’t hearing it. HF 2319 is a bill to ban local governments from participating in such programs without state permission, and it passed the House after much debate around…
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What will happen to 1,276 laid-off Tyson workers in Perry?
What will happen to the 1,276 Iowans who will lose their jobs when the Tyson pork processing plant in Perry closes in June? Roger Kail, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1155, represents workers at that plant, and that is something he is working to figure out. Things had been going…
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Iowa Republican blocks bill to expand firefighter cancer coverage
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 emotion and think logically about the situation,” Schultz, a former small-town fire chief, told the Iowa Standard.…
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Opinion: Rethinking public high schools would help us fill important STEM jobs locally
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.
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Republican senators to poor Iowans: Work harder to escape poverty
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 uplift for the rest of your life and…
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Biden’s 2025 budget prioritizes lowering costs for families, taxing the rich
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.
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Immigration attorney describes Iowa GOP anti-migrant bill as ‘redundant’
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 citizenship status of anyone who applies for public assistance, something the agency already…
