A Republican state senator falsely claimed COVID-19 vaccines are ineffective and called the idea of requiring them the “political belief of authoritarians who want to force their belief in… the hive-mindset,” just before the Iowa Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill that bans COVID-19 vaccine requirements at schools, universities and child care facilities. Sen. Jason […]
COVID-19
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Watch: Katie Roche catches up with William Elliott Whitmore backstage at the Englert
Ahead of his first show back at the Englert since pre-COVID (March 4, 2022), William Elliott Whitmore sat down with Englert Development Director and Awful Purdies accordionist Katie Roche for a wide-ranging conversation about kids, lyrics and Iowa roots. “I love coming [to the Englert],” Whitmore said. “It’s like family, it’s people that we know […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Auditor concludes Gov. Reynolds has failed to justify almost $450,000 in pandemic relief spent on staff pay
Just hours before Gov. Kim Reynolds boasted about her handling of the pandemic (“we honored your freedoms”) in the Republican response to the State of the Union address on Tuesday, Iowa Auditor Rob Sand published a report that reiterated his finding from last October that the governor had misappropriated almost $450,000 in federal pandemic relief […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Following new CDC guidance, Iowa City lifts mask mandate
Starting on Tuesday, Iowa City will no longer have mask mandates for city buildings or other public spaces. According to a news release, the city is acting based on updated masking guidelines issued on Friday by the CDC. “We want to give people a break from things like mask-wearing,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said […]
Posted inCommunity/News
As national GOP leaders praise Gov. Reynolds’ handling of the pandemic, Iowa COVID deaths surpass 9,000
One day after national Republican leaders praised Gov. Kim Reynolds as “a national leader in effectively balancing lives and livelihoods” during the pandemic, the Iowa Department of Public Health disclosed that more than 9,000 Iowans have died from COVID-19. In its update on Wednesday, IDPH reported another 137 deaths from the virus, bringing the state’s […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa discovers thousands of previously unreported COVID cases, as Republicans push through bill to nix vaccination incentives
The state changed how it provides information about COVID-19 cases and deaths to the public this week, as the Reynolds administration officially stopped treating the pandemic as a public health emergency at the stroke of midnight on Wednesday. Instead of the weekly COVID-19 update the Iowa Department of Public Health used to post to coronavirus.iowa.gov […]
Posted inCommunity/News
COVID-19: Gov. Reynolds says ‘We need to move on,’ IDPH reports another 172 deaths
“It’s time to end it and move on,” Gov. Kim Reynolds told reporters at the Iowa State Capitol on Wednesday when asked about her decision to stop classifying COVID-19 as a public health emergency next week. “And we need to treat it [COVID-19] like we do other viruses. So, the Department of Public Health will […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Gov. Reynolds: COVID-19 is now ‘part of our everyday lives,’ no longer ‘a public health emergency’
Gov. Kim Reynolds announced on Thursday her administration will officially stop taking any action that treats “COVID-19 as a public health emergency” at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 15. That is when the extension of the state’s Public Health Disaster Emergency Proclamation the governor signed before her announcement expires. The proclamation was first issued on […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Only 19% of the state’s 5-11 year-olds fully vaccinated against COVID; Iowa Republicans advance bill to ban vaccine requirement in schools and childcare centers
The number of new cases of COVID-19 in the Iowa Department of Health’s weekly update declined for the second week in a row, possibly indicating the surge driven by the spread of the Omicron variant in the state is now receding. According to IDPH, there were 22,730 newly confirmed cases of the virus over the […]
Posted inCommunity/News
As COVID surges on, Iowa Republicans advance bills to make it easier to use ivermectin and harder to vaccinate kids
The number of new cases of COVID-19 reported by the Iowa Department of Public Health declined from the record-setting 38,574 new cases in last week’s IDPH weekly update, but was still the second-highest weekly total IDPH has reported during the pandemic. According to the department, another 34,949 Iowans tested positive for the virus since its […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Appeals court limits scope of preliminary injunction against Iowa’s school mask ban
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday that a preliminary injunction stopping the Reynolds administration from enforcing a ban on face masks in Iowa schools is too broad, and should only apply to the 10 school districts named in the lawsuit. The Iowa Department of Education (IDOE) will now be able to enforce […]
Posted inCommunity/News
As spring semester gets underway, the grad student union pushes UI to improve its ‘worst in the Big 10’ pandemic policies
On Jan. 11, a week before classes started for the University of Iowa’s spring semester, the Campaign to Organize Graduate Students (COGS) Local 896, the union representing UI grad students, sent a letter to the Iowa Board of Regents and UI administrators asking for classes to be conducted online for the first two weeks of […]
