Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks was blunt in his assessment of Public Measure 1, which would amend the Iowa Constitution in a way that would stop most attempts to regulate guns in the state. “This amendment is a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” Maybanks said at a news conference on Tuesday at the Cedar Rapids Public […]
Ashley Hinson
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa Republican leaders line up behind Trump after FBI raid: ‘We’ve got a right 2b skeptical’
Iowa’s leading Republicans once again followed Donald Trump’s lead and used social media on Tuesday to suggest corruption led to FBI agents executing a search warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property on Monday. Not corruption on Trump’s part, of course. Iowa GOP leaders have consistently ignored or avoided acting on evidence of Trump’s corruption, whether personal, […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
Reps. Hinson and Miller-Meeks vote against raising the age to buy semiautomatic rifles, Red Flag laws and other gun safety measures
On Wednesday, members of the Oversight and Reform Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives watched a video in which Miah Cerrillo described the mass shooting that killed 19 of her classmates and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. “He shot my friend that was next to me,” she said in a […]
Posted inCommunity/News
4/20 in 2022: Iowa GOP leaders entertaining ‘no discussion whatsoever’ on marijuana reform
More than a year after an Iowa Poll showed 54 percent of Iowans favor legalizing marijuana for recreational use and 78 percent want to see the state’s Medical Cannabidiol Program expanded, Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Republicans who control the Iowa Legislature show no sign of doing either. Earlier this month, Iowa Capital Dispatch reported […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Sixteen candidates for U.S. House and Senate will be on the June primary ballot, including the ‘Trump tractor guy’
On Tuesday, the Iowa Secretary of State Office released an updated list of candidates for the U.S. House and Senate in the June 7 primary election. To be eligible for the ballot, candidates needed to file their nominating petitions and other paperwork with the Secretary of State’s Office by the end of day on Friday. […]
Posted inCOVID-19
John Deere strike: Tom Vilsack meets striking workers, judge issues injunction against picketers and Iowa Republicans weigh in
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack visited a United Auto Workers (UAW) picket line outside the John Deere plant in Ankeny on Wednesday. The former Iowa governor showed support for the workers as the strike, which began at midnight on Oct. 14, finished its first week. “For too long in this country, we haven’t paid […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Donald Trump lies, stokes xenophobia and endorses Chuck Grassley in speech at Iowa State Fairgrounds
When Donald Trump finally began speaking at the Iowa State Fairgrounds on Saturday night, it took him less than two minutes to get to his central message: “The election was rigged.” He was lying, but about an hour into his speech, the former president did say something true about the 2020 election. “I never conceded. […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Johnson County and Linn County would be in the same congressional district, if new redistricting map is approved
Johnson County and Linn County would once again be in the same congressional district, if the Iowa Legislature adopts the redistricting map published by the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency (LSA) on Thursday. The two counites had both been part of Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, before the district’s boundaries were redrawn in 2010. In the […]
Posted inCommunity/News
State Sen. Liz Mathis announces bid for Ashley Hinson’s 1st District seat
State Sen. Liz Mathis announced on Tuesday she is running for Congress in Iowa’s 1st District. Mathis, a Democrat who has represented Linn County in the state Senate since 2011, will challenge first-term Republican incumbent Rep. Ashley Hinson, who has already said she is running for reelection in 2022. “It’s clear Iowans want leaders who […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa Democrats talk politics, hint at future campaigns at a party for Rep. Christina Bohannan
There was a happy, upbeat atmosphere at state Rep. Christina Bohannan’s combination 50th birthday party and campaign fundraiser at The Celebration Farm on Friday night. But that didn’t stop the evening’s honoree from acknowledging an unhappy fact at the beginning of her speech welcoming party-goers. “This has been a tough year for Iowa Democrats,” Bohannan […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘There must be consequences’: Rep. Cindy Axne calls for Trump’s removal while Iowa’s Republicans in Congress avoid criticizing him
All four members of Iowa’s House of Representatives delegation and both of its senators issued statements condemning the actions of the mob that overran the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. But only one of them actually addressed Donald Trump’s responsibility for inciting an insurrection aimed at stopping the certification of the Electoral College votes and preventing […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Sen. Joni Ernst won’t say if she’ll object to certifying Biden’s win; other Iowa Republicans accept Trump’s loss
With less than a day left before Congress is scheduled to certify the votes of the Electoral College, confirming Joe Biden’s win, Sen. Joni Ernst had not yet decided whether she will join Donald Trump’s latest attempt to nullify the results of the Nov. 3 presidential election. “Sen. Ernst is continuing to hear from Iowans […]
