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Iowa child care providers are speaking out against a new proposal that they say could decrease the quality of care, cause more teachers to quit, and possibly even harm children. House Study Bill 511 would increase the number of children each child care worker could be...
Thursday marked the one-year anniversary of President Joe Biden’s inauguration. Biden’s first year in office was a difficult one, as the coronavirus pandemic continued to wreak havoc on the nation. There are real problems facing Americans today–rising prices, a...
Gov. Kim Reynolds and Iowa Republicans rallied against President Joe Biden's signature COVID relief package, but are now championing a $200 million investment in broadband for the state, which was made possible by the federal American Rescue Plan. “Broadband has never...
Broadband internet is one of the few issues that garner bipartisan support, which is good news for Iowa but also highlights the state's struggles in that sector. Iowa has the second-slowest internet speeds in the country trailing only Alaska. The Hawkeye State also...
Dr. Jill Biden joined Rep. Cindy Axne for events in Des Moines on Wednesday to promote the third child tax credit payments being delivered today. President Joe Biden’s expanded child tax credit includes higher payments for every child parents have. For families with...
President Joe Biden and his administration are stepping in to correct inaction from Republican governors such as Iowa's Kim Reynolds as the Delta variant spreads and presents a larger threat. Wednesday, Biden directed US Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to find out...
More than 30,000 Iowans think they will be evicted within two months. The federal eviction moratorium, put in place to help renters who have struggled to make rent and utility payments, ends on Saturday. It was originally set to expire on June 30 but was extended one...
Here are some answers to common questions Iowans might have about the new, expanded child tax credit, payments for which began hitting bank accounts last week. What is the child tax credit? A federal tax benefit to help families who are raising children. How long has...
While opening my mail a few days ago, I noticed a letter from the White House signed by President Joe Biden explaining the American Rescue Plan that was passed on March 11. This plan is intended to help millions of American families fight public health and economic...
Four out of five Iowans with children will start seeing more money in their bank accounts as the first payments of a new child tax credit go out July 15. To showcase the benefit, U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne, Iowa state Sen. Zach Wahls and Iowa state Rep. Jennifer Konfrst,...
A bill to provide billions for infrastructure projects across the country passed the House of Representatives this past week. Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks voted no. Nonetheless, the projects Miller-Meeks requested money for will still get it. Some of those...
To help the country rebound from the economic and human devastation caused by COVID-19, President Joe Biden and Congress have allocated significant funding support from the federal government. The American Rescue Plan includes money for states and local governments to...
First responders have done a lot in the last year, and it’s taken as much from them as anyone else working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. To give back, and to keep them running, the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan include money specifically for...
Josie Farley, a young mom who works as a para-educator at Sioux City Schools, likely wouldn't be able to work without child care. "The amount of daycare, how much it costs for daycare ... I would have no money to live after paying daycare [if I didn't work]," she...
The effort to help Americans (and Iowans) recover from the COVID-19 pandemic continues. In addition to an extended filing deadline for taxes and the waiving of unemployment taxes, Americans will also receive an increased tax credit for dependent children for 2021. The...
If at any time last year you received unemployment benefits, a portion or all of those benefits will not be taxed. Iowa’s Democratic Rep. Cindy Axne worked with Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin (D) to add a provision to President Joe Biden's American Rescue Plan, the...
Iowa Representative Cindy Axne spoke for over an hour on Monday with Iowans about major legislation out of Washington aimed at boosting the state’s economy during the pandemic– help that is not supported by any of her fellow Iowa members of Congress. Over 600 people...
Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand on Friday told Iowa Press that he was considering a run for Governor or U.S. Senate, as well as reelection to the Auditor job, and spoke critically on the state’s GOP-controlled pandemic response. Sand, one of the only statewide Democratic...
Iowa House Democrats say they’re concerned with little communication between House and Senate Republicans, a lack of public input and early adjournment in the chambers during the weeks leading up to Iowa’s $8 billion budget allocation. On Tuesday during an Iowa House...
Two million Iowa adults and 800,000 children are slated to receive $1,400 stimulus checks, new data from the Biden administration finds. The sweeping COVID-19 relief package that President Joe Biden signed last week also includes extended unemployment benefits,...
President Joe Biden's competent handling of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout is earning him high marks in a state that supported his opponent in the 2020 election. A new Des Moines Reigster/Mediacom Iowa Poll released today showed that 57% of Iowans approve of the job...
The Democratic National Committee is taking aim at Iowa’s Senate Republicans on Monday, unveiling a new Des Moines billboard highlighting Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley’s no votes on the sweeping $1.9 trillion COVID-19 economic relief package. Displayed on 14th Street...
Iowans are eager to receive the latest round of COVID relief stimulus checks following the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act by congressional Democrats and President Joe Biden. Fortunately for them, disbursement of those payments have come very quickly, some...
In the new $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act signed on Thursday by President Joe Biden are far-reaching, rapid-impact economic benefits for Iowans. The bill, which includes extended unemployment benefits, direct payment stimulus checks, increased child tax...
AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, and GlaxoSmithKline all agreed to cap the price of asthma inhalers earlier this year following an investigation by a Democratic-led Senate Committee.
It had to be the most popular question we’ve ever asked:
Which charity helping Iowans should folks donate to this year?
Hundreds of worthy causes across the state were mentioned.
US Department of Labor Chief Economist Joelle Gamble explains what “Bidenomics” means and how the president’s investments are helping workers and the economy.
As 2022 comes to a close, there were more than a few stories the Starting Line team covered that collectively made us and readers go “WTF.” A lot of those stories revolved around attacks on public education, the LGBTQ community, and other marginalized groups. Some of...
As union workers at Case New Holland plants in Burlington, Iowa and Racine, Wisconsin continue their labor strike, it's worth considering how easily the company could give workers everything they wanted—and more. That's because the company is raking in healthy, even...
Puppy mills have been in the news for months as one Wayne County operator was fined, surrendered more than 500 dogs, had his business shut down, and his license suspended. Maple Hill Puppies was owned by Daniel Gingerich who was a licensed breeder through the US...
