Companies would no longer be able to use eminent domain to appropriate privately owned land for carbon pipeline projects under a bill approved by the Iowa House on Wednesday. HF 2104 passed with bipartisan support, 64-28. Ten of the House’s 33 Democrats joined 54 of the chamber’s 67 Republicans in voting for the bill. “I […]
Community/News
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Iowa Senate Republicans advance bill to eliminate possibility of reopening Iowa City State Historical Society research center
A Senate subcommittee advanced a measure Tuesday to remove the state requirement to maintain a State Historical Society of Iowa research center in Iowa City — a point of litigation as the state has already moved to close the facility. SSB 3033 strikes the state requirement for the Iowa Department of Administrative Services to maintain […]
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ICE legal observer training draws overflow crowd in Iowa City
“We are all here because we want to know what to do when ICE shows up in our communities,” Alejandra Escobar told the hundreds of people gathered for the Community Defense and Legal Observer training session Escucha Mi Voz Iowa (EMV) held in Iowa City on Saturday. Escobar is an organizer with EMV, a nonprofit […]
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Judge orders release of ICE detainee in Muscatine County Jail who faces capture, torture if deported
A federal judge has ordered the Muscatine County Jail to release an ICE detainee who had been incarcerated for almost a year after a judge ruled in his favor on an asylum request. Court records indicate Jose Yugar-Cruz, 36, entered the United States in July 2024 after fleeing his home country of Bolivia. In court […]
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Ashley Hinson blames Renee Good for being shot and killed by ICE agent
During a phone conference with Iowa reporters on Wednesday, Rep. Ashley Hinson again repeated her contention that ICE agent Jonathan Ross was justified in shooting and killing Renee Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7. The 2nd District Republican congressmember, who is currently running for the U.S. Senate, blamed Good for the shooting. “I’ve seen those videos, […]
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Reynolds poses plans to ‘change how local government works’ in Condition of the State speech preluded by protests
“As I’ve declared every time I’ve been at this podium, the condition of our state is strong,” Gov. Kim Reynolds said the Condition of the State Address on Tuesday night. This is the last legislative session in which Reynolds, who announced in April she was not running for reelection, will have the power to sign […]
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This historic Dubuque tower once dripped with lead
Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love a Bad Name”? 1986. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ “Free Fallin’”? 1989. The process to create small-diameter lead shot by allowing molten lead to free-fall through a copper sieve in a tall tower into water? Patented in 1782 by plumber William Watts, who built the first shot tower as an […]
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Iowa GOP leaders stress unity, throw digs at Rob Sand as 2026 legislative session opens
As the state Legislature is set to tackle some potentially contentious issues in the 2026 legislative session, Iowa Republican leaders emphasized “unity” as they gathered for the GOP legislative breakfast Monday before gaveling in. There have been multiple leadership changes leading into the session that could shift dynamics in the Legislature. Iowa Senate Majority Leader […]
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‘Fear travels fast,’ but didn’t stop hundreds in Iowa City from protesting ICE, remembering Renee Good on Sunday
Despite freezing temperatures on Sunday, hundreds gathered on the University of Iowa Pentacrest and marched to the Ped Mall for a rally in response to the killing Renee Nicole Macklin Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis four days earlier. Good was serving as a legal observer of ICE and Border Patrol agents sent to […]
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The tiny Iowa Pleistocene Snail has survived millennia in the Driftless Area
The giant ground sloth may be the most beloved of all of Iowa’s Ice Age animals, thanks to Rusty the Giant Sloth charming generations of students since he went on display at the University of Iowa’s Museum of Natural History in 1985. Rusty’s contemporaries, the mammoth and the giant beaver, also have a kind of […]
Posted inElection Coverage
Rob Sand announces $9.5 million fundraising total for 2025
Rob Sand, the leading Democratic candidate for governor, raised $9.5 million last year, his campaign announced on Thursday. “A majority of the donations — two thirds — came from Iowans,” the campaign’s statement said. According to the campaign, “Nearly 97 percent of contributions were $100 or less, with an average individual donation of $74, and […]
Posted inElection Coverage
A candid guide to the candidates running in Iowa this year
The 2026 election will be unlike any in decades. In addition to an open seat for governor and an open seat for U.S. Senate — a combination that hasn’t happened since 1968 — there are also open seats in two of Iowa’s four congressional districts and no incumbent running for State Auditor. In a state […]
