The number of new cases of COVID-19 reported by the Iowa Department of Public Health declined from the record-setting 38,574 new cases in last week’s IDPH weekly update, but was still the second-highest weekly total IDPH has reported during the pandemic. According to the department, another 34,949 Iowans tested positive for the virus since its […]
Iowa Legislature
Posted inCommunity/News
Condition of the State: COVID cases and hospitalizations near record levels; Gov. Reynolds avoids mentioning pandemic in speech to legislature
The surge in COVID-19 continues in Iowa, with the Iowa Department of Public Health reporting weekly totals for new cases and hospitalization not seen since the worst of the pandemic in late 2020. IDPH reported 31,748 new cases in its weekly update on Wednesday, a 58 percent increase from the 20,075 new cases in its […]
Posted inCommunity/News
A ‘sinister agenda’ and tax cuts: Iowa Republican leaders announce their legislative priorities
It’s standard practice for the presiding official in each chamber of the Iowa Legislature to use their first speeches on the opening day of the new session to lay out the majority party’s agenda, but Iowa Senate President Jake Chapman’s speech on Monday was far from standard. The Adel Republican spent the bulk of his […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Winner beware (again): Incompetent scammer tries to phish CRANDIC winner but calls the wrong number
Little Village’s Best of the CRANDIC 2021 issue hasn’t even been out for a week yet, but it’s already attracted its second scammer targeting some of the winners. Or, at least, trying to target. The second scammer doesn’t seem to have the minimal competency of the first. The first was a New Jersey trophy shop, […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Judge strikes down Iowa’s ban on Medicaid covering gender-affirming medical procedures
In 2019, the Iowa Supreme Court struck down a state regulation prohibiting Medicaid from covering gender-affirming procedures deemed medically necessary, finding it violated the Iowa Civil Rights Act (ICRA). Republicans in the state legislature responded by passing a statute intended to amend the ICRA and make that sort of discrimination legal by prohibiting “any state […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Rep. Mary Mascher will not run for reelection in 2022
Rep. Mary Mascher of Iowa City announced on Monday she will not run for reelection next year. Mascher, a leader among progressive Democrats in the Iowa House of Representatives, was first elected to her seat in 1994. “I want to thank the people of Johnson County for their love and support over the last 28 […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘It’s time to rotate the crops’: Sen. Joe Bolkcom says he won’t seek reelection
Joe Bolkcom, who has represented Iowa City in the state Senate since 1999, announced on Thursday morning he will not run for reelection next year. “It’s time to rotate the crops,” he said in a video posted online. That was a phrase used by Tom Vilsack during the 1998 election that sent Bolkcom to the […]
Posted inCommunity/News
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 […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa Senate Republicans vote on party line to reject first set of redistricting maps
Republicans in the Iowa Senate rejected the first set of redistricting maps drawn up by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency (LSA) on Tuesday. The vote in the Senate broke down along party lines, with all 32 Republicans opposing the maps that reset the boundaries of the districts in the Iowa House and Senate, as well […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Rally against voter suppression Saturday will gather activists, elected officials and candidates on the Pentacrest
There will be a rally on the Pentacrest in Iowa City on Saturday protesting attempts at voter suppression that proliferated in the wake of the 2020 election, as well as constant lies about voter fraud spread by Donald Trump. “Between January 1 and July 14, 2021, at least 18 states enacted 30 laws that restrict […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Not guilty: Jury acquits 18-year-old charged with assault for touching state trooper’s arm during a protest
Josie Mulvihill was still a senior at Norwalk High School when she was arrested for touching the arm of an Iowa State Patrol (ISP) officer during a protest at the Iowa State Capitol in April. The 18-year-old was charged with assaulting a law enforcement officer, even though Officer Dylan Hernandez said Mulvihill “pushed my arm […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Protesters banned from Iowa Capitol reach settlement with the state in First Amendment lawsuit
The Iowa Department of Public Safety and Iowa State Patrol (ISP) will no longer attempt to ban protesters from the Iowa State Capitol for participating in protests, as it did last year, under the terms of a settlement approved by a federal judge on Tuesday. The state of Iowa will also pay $5,000 each to […]
