Politics

The Republican-run Iowa House agreed to cut benefits for unemployed workers by 10 weeks yesterday in a move critics say will cause an even further exodus of workers out of a state that desperately needs them. The Iowa Legislature’s vote to cut unemployment benefits from 26 to 16 weeks is expected to be signed by…

First-term Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks has long dabbled with online fringe conspiracy theories, and two more recent incidents add to the pile. Photos posted by Miller-Meeks’ campaign manager a week ago on Twitter show volunteers putting together yard signs while posing in front of flags that include one used by a far-right, anti-government militia. The “Three…

Rep. Ashley Hinson, a Marion Republican representing Northeast Iowa, took a wide range of questions from Ukraine to Social Security to Jan. 6 defendants and more during two town hall meetings in Brooklyn and Marshalltown on Thursday. Jan. 6 Insurrection At Hinson’s first stop Thursday morning at the Brooklyn Opera House in Poweshiek County, a…

Sen. Chuck Grassley won’t support any currently proposed federal legislation that reforms state election laws. Iowa’s senior Republican US senator made that point clear after being pressed by a constituent during a town hall in Pocahontas on Tuesday.   “What about gerrymandering?” Grassley was asked. “As you just acknowledged a while ago, only a handful of…

Iowa Senate Republicans passed an amended child-care bill on Monday that included language to address daycare worker shortages by putting teenagers to work. House File 2198 allows 16- and 17-year-old employees and substitutes at child care centers to watch school-aged children without supervision. Senate Republicans amended the bill to change the minimum ratios of children-to-providers…

Kelly Niewenhuis made the three-hour drive from his O’Brien County farm to Menlo for a good reason Tuesday: The White House invited him. Niewenhuis is president of the Iowa Corn Promotion Board, a board member for the Siouxland Cooperative Energy ethanol plant near Sioux Center, and an unabashed supporter of renewable fuels, the reason President…

President Joe Biden is set to visit Menlo, a Guthrie County town about 45 minutes west of Des Moines, to tout his infrastructure investments in rural Iowa, according to the Des Moines Register. Since entering office, the Biden Administration has placed a large emphasis on helping the country recover from the coronavirus pandemic and rebuilding…

When Hy-Vee unexpectedly dismissed 121 corporate employees in March, some questioned if the West Des Moines company violated the state and federal WARN Act provisions. The grocer got around this accusation by saying it offered 102 of the mostly headquarters and IT employees retail store positions—some of the laid-off workers who spoke to Starting Line…

First-term Rep. Ashley Hinson will have closer scrutiny over her early voting record from a new effort launched last week in Iowa. The Unrig Our Economy campaign will highlight where Hinson, a Republican, stands on economic issues impacting working-class Iowans. Organized by several Iowa local and progressive groups, the effort will focus in on issues…

The Affordable Insulin Now Act passed largely along party lines in the US House. But a dozen Republicans broke ranks and voted with Democrats–including one of Iowa’s Republicans. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who represents Southeast Iowa, sided with Iowa’s lone Democratic House representative, Rep. Cindy Axne, in voting for the bill, HR 6833, which now goes…