Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird has threatened five news outlets with the possibility of prosecution over their coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas. Bird is the leader of a group of 14 Republican state attorneys general who allege some of the reporting on the conflict by the New York Times, Associated Press, CNN […]
Paul Brennan
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Two holiday traditions, Holiday Tubas and the DVIP Holiday Store, return
Holiday Tubas, a 50-year-old Iowa City tradition, returns to the steps of the Old Capitol on Friday. Since 1973, tuba, sousaphone (the wrap-around tuba for marching) and euphonium (think tuba, but smaller) players have gathered to play holiday tunes in what Robert Yeats, a University of Iowa music professor in the ’70s and founder of […]
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Along with banning books and targeting LGBTQ students, SF 496 also cut requirement for schools to provide information on HIV/AIDS and HPV
It’s World AIDS Day. Since 1988, the first day of December has been recognized as a day on which to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and remember those who died because of the disease. Around the same time World AIDS Day was first commemorated, Iowa began requiring public schools to provide age-appropriate information about HIV/AIDS to […]
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‘I am not shameful’: Iowa Safe Schools, seven students sue the state over anti-LGBTQ law SF 496
On Tuesday, the ACLU of Iowa and Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, a nationwide civil rights organization dedicated to defending and advocating for LGBTQ people, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Des Moines challenging SF 496, the education bill signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds in May. “This is a federal civil […]
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Melissa Vine becomes second Democrat to announce a run for Nunn’s District 3 seat
A second Democrat has entered the race in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District. Melissa Vine, a small business owner and executive director of a Des Moines nonprofit that assists women in need who are working to overcome trauma, made her announcement in an online video in which she drew a sharp contrast between herself and first-term […]
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Iowa City Starbucks Workers United, who find themselves at the center of a corporate lawsuit, protest unfair labor practices on ‘Red Cup Day’
Abi Scheppmann remembers the first Red Cup Day she worked at a Starbucks six years ago. “It was crazy,” she said. Red Cup Day is one of Starbucks’ biggest annual events. The company gives out free reusable plastic red cups to customers, if they buy a holiday-themed beverage. The cups feature that year’s holiday season […]
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Quad Cities Prayer Breakfast organizer David Pautsch announces run against Miller-Meeks
David Pautsch of Davenport announced this week he will challenge Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks for the Republican nomination in Iowa’s 1st Congressional District, which covers much of southeast Iowa, including the Iowa City area. Pautsch considers Miller-Meeks to be too liberal, and told the Quad City Times the two-term incumbent is “too often out of step […]
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Iowa Board of Medicine will consider rules for six-week abortion ban, even as injunction remains in effect
Last week, Attorney General Brenna Bird finally filed the Reynolds administration’s appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court, seeking to have the temporary injunction stopping enforcement of a new law banning almost all abortion after six weeks lifted. The Nov. 8 court filing comes four months after Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a statement saying she would […]
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Tim Scott drops out of the Republican presidential race, leaving seven candidates vying for second place behind Trump
The field of Republican candidates running for president in hopes that something — anything — will prevent Donald Trump from winning the party’s nomination shrunk again this weekend, as Sen. Tim Scott quit the race. Last month, Scott’s campaign said the junior senator was going “all-in on Iowa,” so his announcement on Sunday may have […]
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Democrat Lanon Baccam launches a run for Rep. Zach Nunn’s District 3 seat
Democrat Lanon Baccam announced on Thursday he is running for Congress in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District. Baccam is the first person to launch a campaign challenging Republican Zach Nunn, who is in his first term representing the district. “We can all sense and feel our country is incredibly polarized,” Baccam said in a video posted […]
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Election roundup: History is made in DSM and CR, an incumbent defeats an incumbent in IC, school board voters send a message, bond votes go both ways
There were some history-making victories in the city and school board elections on Tuesday, as voters in Des Moines elected the city’s first woman mayor and, in Cedar Rapids, a member of the LGBTQ community won a seat on the city council for the first time. But for the most part, Tuesday’s elections followed the […]
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The Animal Rescue League, Iowa’s largest nonprofit shelter, puts rescue pets front and center
The Animal Rescue League of Iowa (ARL) is as much a part of life in Polk County as the Des Moines Water Works. It’s served the Des Moines metro community since 1926, growing into the largest nonprofit animal shelter in the state. ARL has provided all of the City of Des Moines’ shelter services since […]
