A majority of Iowans approve of the job Kim Reynolds is doing as governor, according to a new Iowa Poll published by the Des Moines Register on Wednesday. A majority also approve of how the governor is handling the COVID-19 pandemic. The poll was published on the same day the Iowa Department of Public Health […]
Gov. Kim Reynolds
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Audit: Gov. Reynolds misused almost $450,000 of COVID aid to pay her office staff
Gov. Kim Reynolds misappropriated almost $450,000 in federal pandemic relief funds to cover the salaries and benefits of 21 employees in her office, according to a report published by the Iowa State Auditor’s Office on Monday. This is not the first time Auditor Rob Sand has issued a report alleging Reynolds misused CARES dollars meant […]
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Iowa joins another lawsuit against vaccine mandates; new COVID cases spike, pushing Iowa over half a million total cases
Gov. Kim Reynolds announced on Wednesday that Iowa is suing the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) to stop the requirement that all workers at healthcare facilities that accept Medicare and Medicaid be vaccinated against COVID-19. The action came just six days after the governor said the state would take “immediate legal action” to stop […]
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Gov. Reynolds says Iowa will sue to stop federal vaccine requirements; more than 7,000 Iowans have died of COVID, IDPH says
Iowa “will take immediate legal action to challenge” new workplace standards on COVID-19 vaccinations issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Thursday, Gov. Kim Reynolds said. In a written statement after OSHA published the new standards, Reynolds called the effort to increase vaccination rates and protect workers in congregate settings from being exposed […]
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LULAC files lawsuit to overturn Iowa’s ‘English-Only Law’ for voting materials
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) of Iowa took legal action on Wednesday to overturn a 13-year-old court order that prevents 97 of Iowa’s 99 counties from providing official voting materials in any language other than English, regardless of whether a voter is proficient in English. The civil rights organization filed a petition […]
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Roughly two out of five COVID-19 deaths in Iowa were preventable, former UI Public Health dean postulates
The Iowa Department of Public Health reported another 117 deaths from COVID-19 in its weekly update on Wednesday, increasing the state’s pandemic death toll to 6,965. The number of deaths from the virus reported by IDPH has increased in every weekly update in October. “It is instructive to compare Iowa and Minnesota, which have nearly […]
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Experts highlight importance of masks in schools; Gov. Reynolds says she’ll sue to stop any vaccine mandates
In the next issue of Pediatrics, a journal published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, medical experts from Children’s National Hospital in Washington D.C., the George Washington University and Johns Hopkins University write that attempts by the states, including Iowa, to ban the use of masks in schools undermines public health efforts to contain COVID-19 […]
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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 […]
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COVID-19: Reynolds talks about banning vaccine mandates and suing the Biden administration; IDPH reports 94 more deaths, 8,167 new cases
During a phone interview on a conservative talk radio show on Wednesday, Gov. Kim Reynolds said she’s “continuing to have good conversations with the legislature” about passing a bill banning any kind of COVID-19 vaccine mandate during its upcoming special session. That session, scheduled for Oct. 28, has been called to consider the second set […]
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Where and how to vote early, and what has changed since Gov. Reynolds signed new voting restrictions into law
Early voting for the Nov. 2 election began on Wednesday, as county auditors started mailing out absentee ballots requested by voters, and opened their offices for in-person early voting. This is the first election since Gov. Kim Reynolds signed new restrictions on voting into law in March. Iowa was one of 19 Republican-controlled states to […]
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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. […]
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Iowa schools will be able to keep mask mandates, as judge issues preliminary injunction
“It is in the public’s interest to allow local public school districts to exercise their discretion to adopt universal masking policies in an effort to inhibit the spread of COVID-19 and protect the children in their schools,” U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pratt wrote in his decision on Friday. Pratt issued a preliminary injunction against […]
