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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...
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...
Teachers or school staff members would be allowed to use a personal firearm and the identities of armed staffers would be concealed—per a suggestion from the NRA—under a new bill being considered in the Iowa House. These and other changes were clarified during a...
Iowa House Republicans' solution to prevent more students from being shot in Iowa schools in the wake of Perry is to bring more guns into the schools, which includes arming teachers and other staff members. “The scariest place to be in America, I believe, is in a...
As far as Cecilia Martinez is concerned, they are very much an Iowan despite what some Iowa lawmakers may think. Martinez, 27, moved from Mexico to Iowa when they were 1-year-old. They were educated in Iowa schools from kindergarten through college and continue to...
Despite Iowa Republicans calling teachers “sinister,” limiting how they can teach history and social studies, what books they can teach from, and proposing cameras in the classroom to monitor them in real-time, they apparently trust them enough to give them guns....
A bill that would increase postpartum Medicaid coverage for a full year, but restrict the number of people eligible for the program continues to work its way through the Iowa Senate. The limit is currently at 60 days and Iowa is one of only three states that hasn’t...
On Wednesday, an Iowa House subcommittee for HF 2082 met to hear public comments and debate if the bill should move forward. If passed, HF 2082 would have removed gender identity as a protected class under the Iowa Civil Rights Act and categorized gender dysphoria as...
Thousands of Iowans have told Iowa senators that protecting reproductive rights is their biggest issue. “I see a great deal of concern when I'm out door knocking,” said Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott (D-West Des Moines). “One fellow, he's a registered Republican and he was...
Cheers rang out down the hallway as a bill that would have legalized discrimination against trans and nonbinary Iowans failed to pass an Iowa House subcommittee Wednesday. HF 2082 would have removed gender identity as a protected class and added a diagnosis for gender...
After years of attacks on reproductive freedom, Iowa Senate Democrats are challenging the extremism by introducing bills to honor Iowan's wishes and protect reproductive healthcare rights. In a Tuesday press conference, Senate Democrats announced a package of bills...
Ari Davis of Des Moines serves as a TA and Survivor Services Coordinator for the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault, a position that allows her to help survivors of sexual assault and one she would not be in if not for a college education. “If I was not able to get...
We are less than a month into the 2024 Iowa Legislative Session and the Republicans in charge of Iowa’s state government have been busy— and by busy, we mean coming up with new ways to legally discriminate against LGBTQ Iowans. As Iowans struggle with stagnant wages,...
Allison Smith’s outlook on birth control access completely changed when Donald Trump was elected in 2016. “I think around that time there was some really concerning rhetoric,” she said. At the time, Smith lived in Minneapolis and worked in health care administration...
Iowa could become the first state in the country to repeal civil protections for transgender people under a new bill from Rep. Jeff Shipley (R-Fairfield), who has regularly used his office to target trans people’s rights. Over the years, Iowa Republicans have...
Iowa Republican lawmakers advanced a bill out of a subcommittee Tuesday that would allow public school districts to hire chaplains to “provide support, services, and programs for students.” But while the lawmakers heavily implied this was about Christian services...
Mandi Remington of Iowa City knows firsthand what it’s like to struggle to feed your kids and how the stability of two incomes can keep a person from leaving an abusive relationship. “Reflecting on my experience as a domestic violence survivor, I can’t help but wonder...
After years of enabling Donald Trump and his abhorrent behavior, some of Iowa’s most prominent Republicans—including Gov. Kim Reynolds—staked their reputations and clout on other caucus candidates in an attempt to move on from the former president. On Monday, they...
Most analysts predicted Donald Trump would win the Iowa GOP caucus on Monday, but the question was by how much? With about 95% of the results in, the former president was up 30 points over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who are...
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said all three leading candidates in the Iowa GOP caucus—Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, and Ron DeSantis—represent the same extreme ideas and policy priorities but in different formats. “Tonight's contest is simply a question of whether you like...
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy downplayed a social media attack on him by Iowa Caucus frontrunner and former President Donald Trump who told people not to waste their vote on the political newcomer. In Waterloo, Ramaswamy, who has largely run on...
In her last event before the Iowa Caucuses, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said the United States can’t afford to elect former President Donald Trump a second time. “President Trump was the right president at the right time,” Haley said on Sunday. “I agree...
Former president Donald Trump wants his supporters to turn out in droves on caucus night and he reiterated that message during a Saturday event at the Hotel Fort Des Moines moderated by Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. Monday’s caucus is expected to have the lowest...
Iowa Senate Democrats are attempting to work around Gov. Kim Reynolds to secure $29 million in federal funding to feed underprivileged kids over the summer. On Thursday, Senate Dems introduced SF 2039. This legislation would require the Iowa Department of Health and...
They say Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday held this year on Jan. 15, 2024, should be "a day on, not a day off." So in that spirit, here are some events coming up honoring—and furthering the legacy of—one of this country's greatest civil rights leaders....
Iowa caucus candidates have racked up big-name endorsements—including a notable last-minute flip flop—but one evangelical leader said none of that will matter come Monday. “We think endorsements are overrated generally, but they’re particularly overrated in Iowa,”...
Monday marked the start of the 2024 Iowa Legislative session and Iowans kicked it off by demanding lawmakers listen to what they want and put the people of Iowa first this year. Two events ran together, one hosted by the Iowa chapter of March For Our Lives (MFOL) and...
Donald Trump told a jam-packed crowd he thinks the US Civil War could have been solved through negotiation and that without it we wouldn’t know who Abraham Lincoln was. Trump made the remarks Saturday—on the third anniversary of the attack on the US Capitol by his...
A sixth-grader is dead and six others injured—one critically—after a school shooting at Perry High School in Perry, Iowa. On Friday, authorities identified 11-year-old Ahmir Jolliff as the slain child. His cause of death was three gunshot wounds. The incident happened...
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked key parts of an Iowa law that bans some books from school libraries and forbids teachers from raising LGBTQ+ issues. Judge Stephen Locher's preliminary injunction halts enforcement of the law, which...
