Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird filed a petition in Polk County District Court on Thursday, asking a judge to declare Winneshiek County in violation of Chapter 27A of Iowa Code, making it ineligible to receive any state funds. That section of Iowa Code requires every “local entity” in the state to cooperate with federal immigration […]
Community/News
Posted inCommunity/News
AG Bird threatens to cut off state funds for Winneshiek County after Gov. Reynolds complains about a Facebook post by the sheriff
Update: On Thursday afternoon, Attorney General Brenna Bird announced she had filed the threatened lawsuit against in Winneshiek County and Sheriff Marx. In a report released Wednesday afternoon, the Iowa Attorney General’s Office said AG Brenna Bird will ask a district court to cut off all state funds for Winneshiek County over a Feb. 4 Facebook […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Federal judge issues new injunction halting Iowa’s school book ban
The book ban signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds in 2023 has once again been blocked by a federal judge. On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Locher issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the state from enforcing the law requiring schools to remove all books with “descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act,” […]
Posted inCommunity/News
NIH ends future funding to study the health effects of climate change
The National Institutes of Health will no longer be funding work on the health effects of climate change, according to internal records reviewed by ProPublica.
Posted inCommunity/News
Coach Jan Jensen and Kate Martin join the Coralville Community Food Pantry to ‘Team Up Against Hunger’
It’s been a year of changes for the University of Iowa Women’s Basketball Team, with new players taking over from big names like Caitlin Clark and Kate “Money” Martin, both now in the WNBA. The squad also got its first new head coach in a quarter century, as Jan Jensen replaced Lisa Bluder, who retired […]
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Trump’s move to cut support for libraries and museums will be felt in Iowa
Accompanied by a security team and members of Elon Musk’s DOGE, Keith Sonderling arrived at the offices of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) on Thursday to take over the independent federal agency as its new acting director. President Trump appointed Sonderling to the position earlier on Thursday, even though Sonderling is already […]
Posted inStatewide
Bill shuts Iowa’s largest counties out of economic development funds for three years
Iowa’s four most populous counties would not be able to access state economic development programs and their funds for three years under a bill advanced Wednesday by an Iowa House subcommittee. The legislation, HSB 310, would impose a three-year moratorium, from July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2028, on all programs administered by the Iowa […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
From basements to grand stages, Mission Creek Festival has nourished Iowa City culture for two decades. This year marks the end of an era.
Mission Creek Festival’s namesake is a ghost river in San Francisco. It once connected the center of the city to Mission Bay, though during the past two centuries it has largely been filled in and redirected through subterranean channels. Over the years, parts of the land that Mission Creek ran through have experienced soil liquefaction, […]
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Iowa House lawmakers clash over legislation restricting DEI at public, private colleges; bills pass
When debating the first of many pieces of legislation targeting diversity, equity and inclusion Tuesday in the Iowa House, Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, D-Ames, said she’s already heard from individuals and groups seeing the negative impacts of stripping away DEI at Iowa colleges and universities. An Iowa State University professor was asked to stop requiring students […]
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Responding to the moment, Iowa City’s Transgender Day of Visibility expands to seven days of shows, support groups and direct action
This year has seen a sustained assault on the rights of transgender people from the Trump administration and in Iowa, which became the first state ever to erase part of its civil rights act. Republicans in the Legislature pushed through a bill that eliminated protections on the basis of gender identity, which had been added […]
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Gov. Tim Walz says at Iowa town hall he is ‘soul-searching’ after 2024
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz told Iowans on his first stop of a national town hall tour that he wanted to give a voice to people who feel unheard by Republicans in Washington. But he said there was another motive for these events: he is “soul-searching” following the 2024 general election, when he and Vice President […]
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University of Iowa sends email to grad students saying it will ‘no longer guarantee financial support’ for them
The University of Iowa is informing graduate students that it “can no longer guarantee financial support” for them. Grad students in the university’s English Department received an email from their department executive officer (DEO) on Wednesday night informing them of the change. It’s unclear how many other departments have sent out their own emails, but […]
