News
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VIDEOS: LGBTQ erasure bill would ‘rewrite’ Iowa code
At the Iowa Capitol for a public hearing on Gov. Kim Reynolds’ bill to legally define gendered terms like “man” and “woman,” Keenan Crow of One Iowa explains what the bill would do and the consequences for an untold number of existing Iowa laws. @iowastartingline At the Iowa Capitol for a public hearing on the…
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Senate Republicans pass bill that could allow discrimination on religious grounds
Sen. Liz Bennett (D-Cedar Rapids)—Iowa’s only out LGBTQ senator—is fed up with seeing queer Iowans continue to be attacked by her Republican colleagues. “I am sick and tired of my community being the target of mean-spirited discriminatory bills written by Republican politicians,” she said during a Tuesday Iowa Senate debate over a bill she and…
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Biden blasts Trump’s support of a nationwide abortion ban
President Joe Biden took Trump to task for his support of a nationwide abortion ban and his role in repealing Roe v. Wade, criticizing him for “taking away women’s freedom,” putting women’s lives in danger, and unleashing “cruelty and chaos all across America.”
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VIDEO: Iowa bill to criminalize homelessness tabled for now
State lawmakers decided to table a bill to criminalize homelessness after hearing Iowans speak out against it. The bill would have made unauthorized sleeping in public places a misdemeanor punishable by fine or jail time and forced houseless people into designated camps and parking lots. Senate Study Bill 3175 was copied from a piece of…
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Iowa Dems blast Republicans’ latest attack on auditor’s office
Iowa Democrats are accusing Republicans in the Iowa Senate of trying to reduce transparency in government after they passed yet another bill on Monday to dilute the power of State Auditor Rob Sand’s office—the only statewide office held by Democrats. “Governor Reynolds and Senate Republicans are making one of the best cases for why our…
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‘Big shoes to fill:’ Johnson hopes to replace Abdul-Samad in Iowa House
Rob Johnson knows no one will truly be able to fill the footsteps left by Ako Abdul-Samad, but he hopes to continue to the longtime Des Moines lawmaker’s legacy as the next representative of Iowa House District 34. “People always say, ‘Those are big shoes to fill with Ako,’ and I always tell people, ‘We’re…
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Iowa anti-abortion bills that survived funnel week
Bills requiring teaching children anti-abortion curriculum, pushing the idea of fetal personhood, explicitly disrupting Iowans’ access to health care, and other anti-abortion legislation survived the first legislative funnel to go on for further consideration and potentially make their way into law. Those bills are: HF 2518 would allow a civil wrong death action for the…
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Kalbach: Our libraries are under attack at the Iowa Statehouse
I love my local public library. Lots of people use our libraries regularly, whether to check out books and movies, use the internet, or make copies of important documents. Iowa’s small-town public libraries are anchor institutions. They make our lives so much richer. And in addition to books, libraries provide many other services and programs.…
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Biden proposes new student debt relief plan for Iowa borrowers facing ‘hardship’
The new proposal will focus on providing debt relief to those with older loans or loans with large sums of interest; those with high-cost, unavoidable child care or health care expenses; borrowers who are highly likely to default; and others who face “financial hardship.”
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Rob Sand says GOP bill to let state agencies bypass auditor’s office could lead to corruption
Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand doesn’t want Iowa to be like Illinois when it comes to anti-corruption work, and he doesn’t think anyone else should want that either. At a Thursday press conference, Sand went into detail about his opposition to a proposed bill—Senate File 2311, authored by Republican State Sen. Mike Bousselot of Ankeny—which…
