Deidre DeJear worked on her first campaign while she was still in high school. Her grandmother, Mattie Washington, was running for a seat on the Election Commission in Yazoo County, Mississippi, and a young Deidre Howard spent the summer of her sophomore year helping with the campaign. Washington already had a long history as a […]
Gov. Kim Reynolds
Posted inCommunity/News
Have incumbents met their match? An overview of the statewide races on Iowans’ midterm ballots
It’s a truism of American politics that with rare exceptions, incumbents always have a big advantage in an election. And nowhere is that truism truer than Iowa. Chuck Grassley has been in the U.S. Senate longer than all but one of his colleagues — Democratic Patrick Leahy, who is retiring this year — and longer […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Biden issues pardon for simple possession of marijuana convictions; DeJear promises to ‘legalize cannabis in Iowa’ as governor
On Thursday, President Joe Biden announced “a pardon of all prior Federal offenses of simple possession of marijuana.” “There are thousands of people who have prior Federal convictions for marijuana possession, who may be denied employment, housing, or educational opportunities as a result,” the president said in his statement announcing the pardon. “My action will […]
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 inCommunity/News
‘We can do better, because we’ve done better’: Deidre DeJear on Iowa’s future, LGBTQ rights, abortion access and legalizing cannabis
“I just want to get back to basics,” Deidre DeJear told the people gathered on the fifth floor patio of the Chauncey on Thursday evening, in response to a question about what her first three priorities would be if elected governor. The Democratic nominee named funding public education, guaranteeing the right to choose an abortion […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘This is not the end. The end is when we win’: Thousands rally at the Iowa State Capitol for abortion rights
“All of us are here today to stand in solidarity with all of you, as we stand with child-bearing people all over the country,” Luana Nelson-Brown told the more than 2,000 people gathered on the West Terrace of the Iowa State Capitol on Sunday afternoon for the Iowans for Reproductive Justice Rally. Nelson-Brown is the […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa Supreme Court rejects key part of Gov. Reynolds’ attempt to impose further abortion restrictions
The Iowa Supreme Court has rejected Gov. Kim Reynolds’ request to reconsider its recent abortion decision, keeping in place its instruction to a lower court to use the “undue burden standard” to determine if abortion restrictions violate the rights of Iowans guaranteed by the state constitution. Reynolds’ petition for a rehearing of a case regarding […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
Gov. Reynolds won’t ask lawmakers to outlaw abortion yet, will try to get the courts to do that
Gov. Kim Reynolds said on Wednesday she’s waiting until state courts decide whether to revive a never-enforced 2018 law banning almost all abortions in Iowa, before she’ll announce if there will be a special session of the Iowa Legislature this year to further restrict reproductive rights. The so-called “fetal heartbeat bill” was struck down as […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Gov. Kim Reynolds announces plans to severely restrict abortion in Iowa
Four days after the U.S. Supreme Court discarded half a century of established legal precedent to end constitutional protection for the right to an abortion, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced she’s taking action to almost completely ban abortion in Iowa. “The Supreme Court’s historic decision reaffirms that states have the right to protect the innocent and […]
Posted inEastern Iowa Community/News
The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, rescinding a right for the first time in its history
“As of today, this Court holds, a State can always force a woman to give birth, prohibiting even the earliest abortions,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote, summing up what the Republican-appointed majority on the U.S. Supreme Court did in its decision Friday that stripped Americans of the federally protected right to abortion. “A State can thus […]
Posted inCentral Iowa
Iowa Supreme Court slashes abortion rights protections, Reynolds calls decision ‘a significant victory’
Just four years after its landmark decision establishing the fundamental right to an abortion as not only protected by the Iowa Constitution, but having greater protection under the state constitution than under the U.S. Constitution, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the right is not in the Iowa Constitution, allowing a state-mandated 24-hour […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Gov. Reynolds signs ban on COVID-19 vaccine requirements at schools, child care centers and universities
No public or private school, college or university, nor any licensed child care center in the state of Iowa will be able to require anyone attending it — from preschooler to graduate student — to be vaccinated against COVID-19 under a bill Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law on Tuesday. The CDC currently recommends everyone […]
