After capturing national headlines on Friday for her response of, “Well, we all are going to die,” to an Iowan worried cuts to Medicaid in the Republican budget bill will cause untimely death, Sen. Joni Ernst decided to respond to critics of her dismissive response by mocking them in a passive-aggressive video posted as two […]
Community/News
Posted inCommunity/News
Peak Iowa: 100 years ago, central Iowans embraced gender-nonconforming immigrant and fortune teller Heroda Kaiji
Heroda Kaiji, when he sensed that he was dying, asked his friends to take him from his rooming house apartment in Stuart to a shady hill beside the South Raccoon River near Dexter. He wanted to spend his final moments looking out across Dexfield Park, the amusement park where he had performed as a palmist […]
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Federal court dismisses Iowa company’s attempt to overturn 40-year-old wetlands protection law
On Thursday, a federal judge in Cedar Rapids rejected an attempt by the owner of a farm in Delaware County to overturn a 40-year-old law protecting wetlands. Judge C.J. Williams, the chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa, issued a summary judgment in the case after determining the company […]
Posted inCommunity/News
More than 3 million people would lose SNAP benefits under GOP bill, nonpartisan report says
The massive tax and spending bill passed by U.S. House Republicans would likely result in 3.2 million people losing food assistance benefits, and saddle states with around $14 billion a year in costs, according to a new analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Democrats have argued the bill, which the House passed, 215-214 early […]
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Des Moines Register responds to Reynolds’ lawsuit by once again requesting documents she refuses to turn over
Last month, Gov. Kim Reynolds took the extraordinary step of filing a lawsuit against the Des Moines Register, asking for an injunction to stop the newspaper from continuing to request copies of four emails written by her staff. The governor asserted the emails were covered by executive privilege, and therefore not subject to being released […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
Bob Krause is making another bid for Congress. The other Democrat running in District 1 has thoughts.
Perennial candidate Bob Krause announced on Monday he is running for Congress in Iowa’s 1st Congressional District. Krause, a Democrat from Burlington, served in the Iowa House in the 1970s. “I will lead by fighting for issues that you care about,” Krause said in his campaign launch video. “Not like Miller-Meeks. She votes like Trump’s […]
Posted inCommunity/News
David Pautsch, founder of the Quad Cities Prayer Breakfast, is once again running against ‘Trump hater’ Rep. Miller-Meeks
Promising “at least three major town halls and dozens of public stops,” Republican David Paustch announced on Friday he’s launching a tour of all 20 counties in Iowa’s 1st Congressional District. The 71-year-old Pautsch, best known as the host of the annual Quad Cities Prayer Breakfast, is running for the House seat currently held by […]
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Last-minute amendment to House budget bill targets healthcare for trans Americans; bill would take Medicaid from 86,000 Iowans
The U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of the tax and spending bill supported by President Trump early on Thursday morning. A last-minute change to the bill, apparently to make it more appealing to rightwing members of Congress threatening to vote no, targets transgender Americans. An amendment to the bill’s ban on Medicaid paying […]
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‘I want clean water. I want clean air’: Democrat Nathan Sage brings Senate campaign to Iowa City
“At the end of the day, we’re all pissed off and we’re tired of what’s going on and we need a change,” Nathan Sage told the packed room at Big Grove Brewery and Taproom in Iowa City on Monday night. A steady drizzle of rain that grew into a booming thunderstorm didn’t discourage people from […]
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Iowa Board of Regents hears student leaders’ concerns about proposed tuition increases
Frustration. Defeat. Uncertainty about whether they will be able to complete their goals. These are some of the feelings University of Iowa Student Body President Thomas Knudsen said fellow UI students have expressed to him as they watch tuition and fees rise along with many other expenses. Knudsen, a junior at the UI, shared stories […]
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Foreseeing ‘irreparable harm,’ federal judge blocks most of Iowa’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law with preliminary injunction
A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction late on Thursday, blocking parts of the anti-LGBTQ education bill signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds in May 2023. SF 496 attracted nationwide attention for its school book ban provision, but it went well beyond that, making changes to state law to effectively erase almost any acknowledgment […]
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Judge cites lack of confidence in Homeland Security, issues injunction protecting four UI students in lawsuit
Stating that she has “little confidence” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will comply with its own regulations, a federal judge on Thursday issued a preliminary injunction protecting four University of Iowa students and graduates from deportation. The three international students and one international-student graduate are suing Homeland Security for revoking their status as students […]
