State Politics
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Iowa sets aside almost $180 million for year two of voucher program
The Iowa Legislature set aside nearly $180 million for the state’s private school voucher program in the 2024-25 school year. This is an almost $50 million increase over original projections.
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Kalbach: Immediate action needed on corporate ag pollution
Iowa agriculture has undergone substantial changes over the past 40 years. We see it all around us. Rather than crops and livestock being raised on tens of thousands of diversified family farms, Iowa has become ground-zero for concentrated industrial factory farms with unmanageable levels of manure, chemicals and pollution. The impact on our water and…
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Iowa parents explain how ‘fetal personhood’ would harm IVF
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt and her husband Andy Schutt, both Des Moines residents, always knew they wanted to have children. When Lyndi was 30, they started trying. But as the months passed without a positive pregnancy test, the couple became frustrated and concerned. “We were under this pretense that, as soon as you roll off birth control, you’d…
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VIDEO: Jochum calls Gov. Reynolds’ summer meal program a ‘hunger game’
Iowa Gov. Reynolds announced a competitive $900,000 grant program to feed Iowa children over the summer, months after she declined $29 million in federal funds to feed kids. Senate Minority Leader Pam Jochum (D-Dubuque) calls the new proposal “a hunger game.” @iowastartingline Iowa Gov. Reynolds announced a competitive $900,000 grant program to feed Iowa children…
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Iowa slated to ban all future basic income programs
Sen. Bill Dotzler, 75, called the last two legislative sessions the “worst attack” on low-income and working-class Iowans he has ever seen. The Democrat from Waterloo—who has served in the legislature for over three decades—made those remarks Tuesday as the Iowa Senate spent a portion of the 100th day of the legislative session debating a…
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What you need to know about Iowa’s bill to arm school staff
Gov. Kim Reynolds is expected to sign a new law that will allow Iowa schools to arm staff and grant them legal and civil immunity in the event of a shooting. The bill—HF 2586—is part of Iowa Republican lawmakers’ direct response to the Jan. 4 school shooting in Perry and has already passed both Iowa…
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VIDEOS: Iowa Senate debates teacher armament bill
During an Iowa Senate floor debate on the teacher armament bill, HF 2586, Sen. Janice Weiner (D-Iowa City) clarified that the goal of gun safety is not to take guns away, but to systemize safe practices and comprehensive support services so gun violence can be prevented. @iowastartingline During an Iowa Senate floor debate on the…
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VIDEOS: Konfrst details how Republicans use abortion to play politics with Iowans’ lives
While Iowans await the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision on one of the strictest abortion bans in the country, House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst (D-Windsor Heights) detailed the ways Republican politicians use these bans to play politics with peoples’ lives and health. @iowastartingline While Iowans await the state’s Supreme Court decision on one of the strictest…
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As Iowa City and Linn-Mar prepare for drastic cuts, vouchers draw millions from state
The Iowa City and Linn-Mar school districts face a combined $10 million budget shortfall as the state continues to underfund public schools and funnel millions toward private school tuition. According to data from the Iowa Department of Education, 471 students who reside within the boundaries of the Iowa City School District received money from Gov.…
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Iowa Senate passes bill to arm school staff, give legal immunity in shootings
Sen. Molly Donahue, a teacher, has more than a few ideas on how to make schools safer without arming teachers or other school staff. She shared them during Wednesday’s Iowa Senate debate on a bill to bring more guns into schools. “We could be investing far more funding in mental health resources to enhance access…
