Iowa Republicans are trying to strip the next governor's powers before the election even happens. They've done it before.
Iowa’s House delegation voted for the SAVE Act—a bill that makes registering to vote harder for the 69 million women whose birth certificates don’t match their married names.
Looking to get involved this week? You can join ICE Out rallies and response trainings, connect with fellow insufferable wenches at a Sip n' Chat, and show up for community events, such as a Black History Film Screening, immigrant rights rallies, and LGBTQIA+ visibility actions.
Here’s our weekly round-up of upcoming events and actions:
US Marine and Army veteran Nathan Sage suspended his campaign for US Senate and endorsed Iowa Rep. Josh Turek.
If you live in Iowa, you know public school funding is a hot topic.
Educators warn of a “funding crisis” as state aid lags behind inflation. How much of a lag? State aid is now $888 less per student than it would have been if kept in line with inflation. That’s not $888 of new money—it would have been just enough aid to keep up with current expenses with inflation.
And it seems that things are about to get worse. For the upcoming school year, the Iowa Senate proposed a 1.75% increase in state aid. Gov. Kim Reynolds recommended 2%. Both fall short of the 5% increase requested by the Iowa State Education Association to keep pace with rising costs.
✏️: Salina Heller
Someone in Iowa decorated their car to look like immigration enforcement. It's illegal. And ICE and Border Patrol agents’ own tactics are making it impossible to tell the difference.
Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice's ICE reporting hotline is 515-505-8805.
Workers are leaving Iowa in droves. One Iowan confronted Republican lawmakers about how striking state affirmative action policies and allowing for discrimination in professional licensure would only make the problem worse.
John Deere has recalled 245 workers in Iowa after mass layoffs. They'll be back on the job this month and next.
Iowa already banned over 3,000 books from school libraries. Now lawmakers want to make sure kids can't get to the public library either.
Iowa Mennonites and supporters joined nationwide protests calling for Target, which is headquartered in Minneapolis, to publicly oppose the violent actions of ICE and federal agents in Minnesota.
Mennonite Action, a national organization with local chapters in Johnson, Washington, and Iowa counties, has been organizing to call for an end to the military occupation of Palestine. The “Sing Down the Doors at Target” protests were also meant to link “military-style” violence in America and Palestine.
“We are distraught by the hijacking of Christianity to justify hate and division,” Aliese Gingerich of First Mennonite Church of Iowa City said in a press release. “Christian nationalism is not Christlike. It has nothing to do with the teachings and the example of Jesus Christ, who called us to love our neighbor and to care for the vulnerable—from Palestine to Minnesota to Iowa City.”
