Gov. Kim Reynolds announced on Wednesday that she is deploying 109 members of the Iowa National Guard to Texas, along with officers of the Iowa State Patrol, to assist Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s state-level border control program, Operation Lone Star. “The deployment will last until Sept. 1, 2023, with the mission of deterring illegal border […]
COVID-19
Posted inCommunity/News
‘We all suffer from the loss of them’: How the AIDS crisis shaped the next generation of LGBTQ activism in Iowa City
This is the final article in a three-part series examining the legacy of HIV/AIDS in Iowa City. In the early 1980s, Rev. John Harper was a fresh-faced graduate student at the University of Iowa and a semi-active member of the Gay People’s Union. He’d heard about some disease affecting gay men in New York and […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘No one believed that it would ever come to this place’: Fear and hatred clouded efforts to care for Iowa’s early AIDS patients
This is the second article in a three-part series examining the legacy of HIV/AIDS in Iowa City. Read part one here. It’s October 1980, and Jack Stapleton is treating a 19-year-old girl diagnosed with a rare lung infection: pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. Stapleton, then an internal medicine intern in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, became interested in […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Set to close after 181 years, Iowa Wesleyan University is ‘disappointed in the lack of state support’; Gov. Reynolds rebuffs blame
Iowa Wesleyan University announced on Monday it will permanently close at the end of the current semester. In a statement posted on its website, the 181-year-old private university in Mount Pleasant cited financial problems, including a decline in donor support and Gov. Kim Reynolds’ refusal to provide assistance using American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa governor says ‘it’s not easy for me either’ as she signs laws considered life-threatening by trans care providers
After not making any public comment on the bill to ban prescribed gender-affirming medical care for transgender Iowans under 18 passed by the Republican majorities in the Iowa Legislature, Gov. Kim Reynolds confirmed on Tuesday she will sign the bill. Responding to questions from reporters, the governor compared the medical care to health- and safety-threatening […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Biden administration restarts program that delivers free at-home COVID-19 test kits
The U.S. Postal Service will begin delivering free at-home COVID-19 tests again, the Biden administration announced on Thursday. Four tests will be available for every household and can be ordered online at covid.gov/tests. The tests can also be ordered by calling 1-800-232-0233. Other questions related to the test distribution can be answered at the phone […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Managers fired by Tyson for COVID-19 betting pool at Waterloo plant sue company
Six of the seven managers fired from the Tyson’s Food Plant in Waterloo in December 2020 for creating a betting pool to wager on workers getting COVID-19 are suing the company, claiming they earned incentive payments for meeting production goals they never received. The Des Moines Register reported on Tuesday that five fired managers filed […]
Posted inCommunity/News
People’s Law Library of Iowa aims to make the law accessible for all Iowans
Librarians at the State Library of Iowa and the University of Iowa Law Library have launched The People’s Law Library of Iowa, an online resource that helps people understand legal issues in “plain language.” The website guides Iowans through difficult topics, such as landlord and tenant law, and then connects them with additional resources, such […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Dana James: We were never in the same pandemic
I’ll admit it. I’m ambivalent about this stage of the coronavirus pandemic. Twenty-nine months since it began, Americans have long tired of all things pandemic-related, but I find it difficult to move forward and let go of the habits that have kept my family safe. I still wear N-95 face masks religiously. I don’t dine […]
Posted inCommunity/News
You have until Friday to order free rapid COVID tests before the federal program ends
This week will be the last chance to get free rapid COVID-19 tests from the federal government. The program the Biden administration launched in January, using the post office to deliver the at-home test kits at no cost, will stop taking orders on Friday. “Ordering through this program will be suspended on Friday, September 2 […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Tyson asks U.S. Supreme Court to shield it from COVID-19 lawsuits in Iowa courts
Faced with court rulings that say a Trump administration directive doesn’t protect Tyson Foods from liability caused by workers’ deaths due to COVID-19, the food giant is now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on the matter. Arguing that recent court rulings against the company will have “drastic consequences for the next national […]
Posted inCommunity/News
First case of monkeypox confirmed in Johnson County
The Johnson County Public Health Department (JCPH) announced the first confirmed case of monkeypox in Johnson County on Tuesday evening. It is the fifth confirmed case of the virus in Iowa. JCPH is working with the Iowa Department of Public Health “to investigate the circumstances of exposure and inform close contacts,” JCPH said in a […]
