Nearly 79 percent of students who used Iowa’s funding program for K-12 private schools were “already projected” to attend private schools, according to a report released Wednesday by Iowa Auditor Rob Sand. The Iowa Department of Education called the report a “policy advocacy brief” that critiqued statutory provisions of the Iowa Education Savings Account (ESA) […]
Statewide
Posted inElection Coverage
Libertarian candidates kicked off the ballot in Iowa after alleged pressure campaign involving RFK Jr.
The State Objections Panel ruled Monday that two Libertarian candidates running for governor and Congress should be taken off the 2026 Iowa general election ballot, sustaining challenges to their qualifications as candidates. A third Libertarian survived a challenge to his campaign paperwork and will remain on the November 2026 ballot. Republicans filed multiple challenges last […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Republican for governor Zach Lahn chooses state Rep. Derek Wulf as his running mate
Republican candidate for governor Zach Lahn announced on Friday morning that he’s chosen state Rep. Derek Wulf as his running mate. Wulf is in his second term in the Iowa House representing parts of Black Hawk, Benton and Tama counties. He was chair of the House Agriculture Committee during the most recent session of the […]
Posted inCommunity/News
President Trump makes his first public comments about Randy Feenstra losing to ‘the other guy’
Sitting at his desk in the Oval Office on Thursday, President Donald Trump responded to questions from reporters, including a question about the loss of Randy Feenstra in Iowa’s Republican primary for governor last week. After ignoring the Iowa gubernatorial primary all year, Trump finally endorsed four-term congressman and putative frontrunner Randy Feenstra five days […]
Posted inStatewide
Gov. Reynolds outsources IT services to New Jersey corporation, eliminating 200 state government jobs
Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Tuesday that she is outsourcing all of the state’s executive branch information technology (IT) work to an out-of-state corporation, eliminating the jobs of approximately 200 people who work for the Iowa Division of Information Technology. Cognizant Government Solutions, based in New Jersey, will provide the IT services, and the state’s data will […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Rob Sand chooses his running mate
Less than a week after officially becoming the Democratic nominee for governor, Rob Sand announced Dave Muhlbauer, a farmer and member of the Crawford County Board of Supervisors, as his choice for lieutenant governor. “Dave has a track record of working with everyone to deliver for western Iowa and knows it’s time to rotate the […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
‘What’s more I-O-W-A, Americana, “76 Trombones” than a marching band?’: Iowa Pride Ensembles are making noise all June
“We didn’t know what to expect,” said co-founder Amanda Thomas-Murphy. “We said we would be happy if 10 people performed with us, but the response was huge! So many members of the community from all over the state stepped up, participated and made our first Pride season amazing.”
Posted inCommunity/News
Rob Sand warns Iowa is facing ‘a fiscal time bomb,’ calls for four debates with Zach Lahn
Iowa’s state budget deficits are a “fiscal time bomb,” and addressing the problem “before the bomb explodes” will be the top priority if he’s elected governor, Rob Sand told the annual conference of the Iowa Association of Business and Industry (ABI) in Coralville on Thursday. ABI had scheduled a nonpartisan forum for gubernatorial candidates at […]
Posted inCommunity/News
University of Iowa launches new research project into state’s health crisis
The University of Iowa on Wednesday announced the launch of a statewide research initiative aimed at understanding how environmental exposures may be causing a range of dire health problems experienced by people around the state. With initial funding of $6 million and a goal for $10 million, the university said it will gather and analyze […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Lahn beats Trump-backed Feenstra by less than 1% of the vote; Turek scores landslide victory over Wahls
It was almost midnight when the Associated Press finally declared a winner in the Republican race for governor in Tuesday’s primary. By that time, Randy Feenstra, the presumed frontrunner in the race, had conceded to winner Zach Lahn, and the Iowa Democratic Party and Democratic Governors Association had already sent out statements, both of which […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
A friendship and a folk band, the Awful Purdies celebrates 20 years this summer with a ‘goulash’ of new songs
Awful Purdies are a group of five women who joined forces like an Americana Voltron. For the past 20 years, they have been rocking the region with their beautiful blend of folk, honky tonk, bluegrass and a little bit of soul. This synthesis is achieved through an amalgamation of instruments that range from cello, mandolin […]
Posted inElection Coverage
Feenstra and Lahn spent hundreds of thousands in the final days before the primary
As the June 2 primary drew closer, the two candidates leading the field of five Republicans running for governor spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in less than two weeks, according to the latest campaign finance reports from the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board (IECDB). This latest report covers the 12 days from May […]
