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Iowa legislative Democrats have criticized Gov. Kim Reynolds’ pandemic response since the early days of COVID-19 in the state, so the Governor’s Thursday night admission on national television that she returned $95 million in federal dollars meant for surveillance...
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on Thursday night took the stage in Orlando, Florida with four other rising Republican governors to boast about Iowa’s lax COVID-19 policies, especially the state’s early pandemic in-person learning mandates. “[The federal government] sent $95...
Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, one of Congress’s largest roadblocks during former attempts at passing military sexual assault legislation, is now set to vote on an influential, Democratic-led bill that would bar military commanders from involvement in prosecuting service...
Iowa Senate Republicans on Wednesday night finally passed a highly controversial bill that establishes public funding for privately-run charter schools. After voting down 13 Democratic-introduced amendments, each killed along party lines, the majority party advanced...
Iowa Senate Minority Leader Zach Wahls on Monday updated national voting rights advocates on the state’s recent implementation of the newly passed restrictive elections law. On his mind yesterday: Republicans' actions that have led to many Iowans losing their active...
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...
Since early January, when Iowa’s 2021 legislative session gaveled in, Waterloo State Rep. Ras Smith has been traveling the state to see what Iowans are looking for from their leaders during difficult times. In visits to towns from Decorah to Perry, he heard a...
Former Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday hopped on an Iowa-organized Earth Day Zoom call with state and national climate leaders to encourage a reassertion of climate authority following years of avoidance. Conferencing in from the White House’s China Room,...
With Iowa’s fully vaccinated population nearing around 37%, vaccine hesitancy is starting to sink in as counties decline full vaccination allocations and metro area appointments fill more slowly. Gov. Kim Reynolds during her weekly press conference on Wednesday said...
South Sioux City Community School District’s superintendent in a video last week condemned and threatened student demonstrators who recently protested wide-ranging mistreatment in their district. An April 9 protest of around 100 students outside the Nebraska high...
Iowa Democratic leadership said there has been little action to mitigate COVID-19 and contact trace at the Iowa Capitol despite mounting positive cases, including two this week associated with the House and Senate. Senate Minority Leader Zach Wahls on a Thursday press...
The Iowa Senate on Wednesday advanced justice system funding that Democrats say is too low in light of the recent murder of two employees at the Anamosa state penitentiary. Passed through the Senate Appropriations Committee 11-8 with Democrats opposed, the bill...
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...
Iowa’s proposed anti-abortion constitutional amendment, which is likely to advance during the 2021 legislative session, will lay the groundwork for a possible future abortion ban, said the state’s Planned Parenthood lobbyist. Slated for another vote in the Iowa House,...
Nearly every day since late January, when Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law a bill that required Iowa School districts to offer 100% in-person learning options amid concerns of COVID-19, Cedar Rapids Sen. Rob Hogg has been updating his social media accounts with...
America’s immigration surges are also an Iowa problem, say immigration experts, despite Gov. Kim Reynolds's recent admittal that she declined federal requests to accept migrant children in Iowa, noting their settlement in the U.S. is President Joe Biden’s "problem."...
Monday marked the first day all Iowans aged 16 and older can receive a COVID-19 vaccine, joining its neighboring Midwestern states that have this week expanded pools of qualifiers. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden pushed forward the national deadline for all American...
The recent murder of two employees at the Anamosa state penitentiary was caused by “grossly inadequate staffing” and years of disinvestment in the corrections system, AFSCME Council 61 President Danny Homan said on the Capitol steps on Tuesday, despite his repeated...
Friday’s close of the Iowa Legislature’s second “funnel” deadline left much of Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds’ agenda for the 2021 session in play. The end of last week’s cutoff meant all policy had to pass the Iowa House or Senate and through a full committee in the...
On Friday, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law a bill that would make obtaining weapons in Iowa easier, amid a resurgence in mass shootings around the country. Reynolds signed on Friday afternoon a bill which halts requirements that Iowans need to obtain a permit in...
Thursday’s implementation of President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan will be the largest expansion of Iowa health care benefits since the ACA was introduced in 2013, said an Iowa Affordable Care Act specialist. Jeremy Smith of Iowa Navigator, a non-profit health...
Iowa’s COVID-19 cases have begun to creep back up, and spring break travel along with an increase in the virus’ variants may be the cause, said Iowa Department of Public Health interim Director Kelli Garcia on Wednesday. “We must still recognize that the virus is...
Iowa House Democrats put up a long but unsuccessful fight last week over Republican efforts to establish public funding for privately-run charter schools—a years-long attempt that Democrats have been working hard this session to stop. Democrats spent over five hours...
A bill advanced in the Iowa Senate on Monday that would prohibit cities and counties from regulating natural gas or propane sales triggered a debate on how Republicans value local control this Legislative session. Passed 29-16 along party lines, the bill will bar...
National gun safety advocates and Iowa Democrats on Thursday put pressure on Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds to veto a bill sitting on her desk that would loosen firearm laws amid recent upticks in gun violence. On a phone call organized by national anti-gun violence...
During a press conference on Wednesday, Gov. Kim Reynolds addressed lengthy wait times for vaccines in parts of Iowa. All Iowa residents are set to be eligible to receive the vaccine starting April 5. COVID-19 vaccine supply in the state has been challenging to...
While Iowa Senate lawmakers on Monday afternoon debated and ultimately advanced legislation that would loosen the state’s gun permitting and background check system, 10 people were killed after a gunman opened fire in a Boulder, Colorado grocery store. This latest...
Some rural Iowa schools are eliminating mask requirements amid updated CDC guidance which loosens some social distancing requirements, though notably not their mask recommendations. North Butler in Greene County, BCLUW serving Grundy, Marshall, and Hardin Counties,...
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,...
