Thirty-six years after the Reagan administration began a long-delayed public education campaign about HIV/AIDS, Gov. Kim Reynolds and Republicans in the Iowa Legislature have decided that education about HIV/AIDS is no longer needed in public schools. One of the provisions of SF 496 — a bill introduced by the governor’s office that makes major changes […]
Iowa Legislature
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa food banks in ‘dire situation,’ anticipate more strain if governor signs restrictions on SNAP benefits
Food banks across the state continue to struggle to meet the needs of their communities as food insecurity rises in Iowa. On Tuesday morning, CommUnity Crisis Services in Iowa City sent out a news release to let the public know the strain its food bank is under. The food bank, which expanded in 2020 and […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Senate Republicans vote to restrict powers of the State Auditor, the only Democrat in statewide elected office
This story originally appeared in LV Daily, Little Village’s Monday-Friday email newsletter. Sign up to have it delivered for free to your inbox. Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand calls SF 478, passed by the Senate on Wednesday, “the greatest pro-corruption bill and the worst perversion of checks and balances in Iowa’s history.” It’s a bill […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa Senate Republicans maintain status quo spending on state parks, water quality improvements
This story originally appeared in LV Daily, Little Village’s Monday-Friday email newsletter. Sign up to have it delivered for free to your inbox. No state has less public land, such as parks or nature preserves, than Iowa, and state Senate Republicans are working to make sure it stays that way. And despite the heavy nitrate […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa Legislature OKs Reynolds’ remaining education restrictions
A bill containing Gov. Kim Reynolds’ remaining education policy priorities passed the Iowa Senate with just support from Republicans on Wednesday. The governor’s top priorities this year include: requiring written permission from parents before a teacher or school can do anything to acknowledge a transgender or nonbinary student’s identity; preventing teachers from acknowledging LGBTQ people […]
Posted inLetters
Letter to the editor: Smaller government and protecting children
By Pat Bowen, Iowa City If Iowa Republicans were serious about protecting children, and smaller government, our public schools would be fully funded and they wouldn’t be wanting to rollback long established protections governing child labor. Recently the Senate and House passed (SF 538, HF 623) to ban gender affirming medical care for transgender children. […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Students across Iowa walk out of class to protest anti-LGBTQ bills: ‘We want to keep our friends alive’
Students at schools across Iowa walked out of class on Wednesday to protest against more than two dozen anti-LGBTQ bills Republican members of the Iowa Legislature have introduced this year. The bills include sweeping so-called “education reform” bills. One would prohibit teachers and schools from mentioning any gender-related issues to younger students, force all Iowa […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Parents and labor leaders protest Republican plan to loosen child labor laws
Hundreds of union workers and parents filled the Iowa State Capitol with chants of “Our kids are not for sale!” on Monday afternoon. The group, organized by Progress Iowa, rallied in the rotunda to protest a bill that would loosen child labor laws in the state, allowing 14- to 17-year-olds to work jobs that are […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Groups will rally in Cedar Rapids to support transgender kids, while Mike Pence campaigns at CR Pizza Ranch
A coalition of community organizations will hold a rally in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday in support of transgender students, as political attacks on those young people by state and national Republican leaders continue. Multiple bills targeting transgender students, designed to restrict support schools and teachers can provide, and aiming to ban books touching on gender […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Gov. Reynolds boasts about her anti-LGBTQ school policies, calls for new law restricting students’ access to books conservatives don’t like
Speaking at a gathering of conservative activists on Thursday, Gov. Kim Reynolds expressed her opposition to schools offering support to transgender students and called for a new law to restrict student access to books some conservative parents find objectionable. The governor characterized these proposals as part of her agenda of “parental rights,” a term she […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘Mean-spirited’ bill restricting how teachers can support transgender students moves quickly through Iowa House
On Tuesday afternoon, the three members of an Iowa House subcommittee listened to an hour of testimony on HF 9, a bill aimed at preventing teachers and other school staff from acknowledging the identities of transgender students unless they first receive parental permission to do so. With only a few exceptions, the speakers testified strongly […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Gov. Reynolds: Admin costs, accountability standards for ESA plan unknown until after it’s approved, ‘parental rights bill’ will only affect public schools (Updated)
Update: Despite the lack of details regarding how the governor’s program would be administered, the Iowa Senate approved the education savings account bill shortly before 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday. The House approved the bill earlier on Monday night. In the Senate, three Republicans joined all the Democrats in voting against the bill. Nine Republicans in […]
