In a history-making decision, a Polk County jury found on Wednesday that the Iowa Department of Corrections (IDOC) and the Iowa Department of Administrative Services (IDAS) engaged in sex discrimination and gender identity discrimination against Jesse Vroegh, a transgender man and former IDOC employee. The lawsuit, filed in August 2017, was the first discrimination lawsuit […]
Footnotes on the 2020 Caucus is an occasional series observing some of the traditions, rituals and oddities of the Iowa presidential caucuses. Sen. Cory Booker officially announced his candidacy for president on Friday. The announcement, which he made on Twitter and in an email to supporters, probably only surprised people who thought the New Jersey […]
There will be no mail delivery or pick-up in Iowa on Wednesday, Jan. 30, the United States Postal Service announced Tuesday afternoon. Normal service was cancelled because of the extreme wind chill mail carriers would face on their routes. In addition to Iowa, mail service will canceled in Minnesota, western Illinois and western Wisconsin. Normal […]
RAGBRAI will feature a twist this year. Instead of arriving at the Mississippi on the final day of the week-long ride across Iowa, cyclists will have the chance to dip their wheels in the river on Friday night in Burlington, before following the river the next day to the ride’s final destination, Keokuk.
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A district court judge in Polk County struck down Iowa’s so-called “fetal heartbeat” law on Tuesday. Judge Michael Huppert ruled the law, which banned almost all abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected at six weeks, violates the state’s constitution. “We are grateful the Court blocked Gov. Reynolds’ egregious attempt to ban safe, legal […]
Gov. Kim Reynolds said in her Condition of the State address on Tuesday that she’s ready to take action to advance her priorities. Reynolds told the assembled legislators, “the future I see isn’t around the corner, or after the next election. The future is now.” Except, it seems, for the one policy area where Reynolds […]
On Saturday morning, Sen. Joni Ernst’s official Twitter account posted two tweets addressing the New York Times profile of fellow Iowa Republican Steve King published Jan. 10, which featured the congressman asking, “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” I condemn Rep. Steve King’s comments on white supremacy; they […]
Iowa’s most famous congressman, Steve King, took to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday to assure the nation that, despite his long history of white nationalist statements, his loudly professed belief in white nationalist conspiracy theories and his endorsement of white nationalist political candidates, he is not a white nationalist. “But […]
A federal judge struck down Iowa’s “ag gag” law on Wednesday. Senior Judge James Gritzner of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa ruled the 2012 Iowa law that made it illegal to gain access to an agricultural production facility under false pretenses with “the intent to commit an act not authorized […]
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an attempt by Iowa and 12 other states to fast-track their lawsuit against the state of California. The suit claims a 2008 California law that prohibits the sale of eggs from hens kept in cages that prevent them from “lying down, standing up, and fully extending his or […]
John Culver, who represented Iowa in both chambers of Congress, died on Wednesday at his home in Washington D.C. He was 86 years old. Culver, a Democrat, represented Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, which then included Linn County, for 10 years, starting in 1965. He then served one term in the U.S. Senate, from 1975 to […]
The Iowa State Senate Ethics Committee unanimously dismissed a sexual harassment complaint against Sen. Nate Boulton on Thursday. The meeting to consider the complaint filed against Boulton by Des Moines attorney Sharon Wegner lasted only four minutes. The committee didn’t examine the merits of Wegner’s complaint, ruling instead that because the alleged incident occurred in […]
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