Iowa News Archives | Little Village

Steve King brings national attention to Iowa by retweeting a British neo-Nazi

Posted on Jun 13, 2018 by Paul Brennan

Like many Iowans, the national media has grown so used to Rep. Steve King tweeting racist, xenophobic or just odd things that it takes a special tweet by King to attract attention. The eight-term Western Iowa congressman managed to serve up such a tweet on Tuesday. On its surface this tweet isn’t as arresting as his Monday tweet in which he decried a Swedish youth soccer program’s effort to accommodate players who don’t eat pork as a sign of that rightwing fantasy “the Muslim conquest of Europe,” while at the same time promoting Iowa’s pork industry.
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Gov. Reynolds says Iowans ‘should probably’ get to vote on same-sex marriage, but her office says she doesn’t mean it

Posted on Jun 13, 2018 by Paul Brennan

On Tuesday, Gov. Kim Reynolds said “from the very beginning” her position on same-sex marriage has been “it probably should go to a vote of the people and they should weigh in.” Later that afternoon, the governor’s spokesperson said the governor doesn’t believe what she said she believes, and that Reynolds accepts the legality of […]

Trump administration: Immigrants fleeing ‘private violence’ like domestic abuse shouldn’t be granted asylum

Posted on Jun 12, 2018 by Paul Brennan

On Monday, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Session took the extraordinary step of overturning a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) of the Justice Department that granted asylum to A.B., a Salvadorian woman who fled to the United States to escape from domestic violence. “Generally, claims by aliens pertaining to domestic violence or gang […]

Ex-Iowa Finance Authority fired for sexual harassment shouldn’t be getting unemployment, judge rules

Posted on Jun 11, 2018 by Paul Brennan

Former Iowa Finance Authority (IFA) Director Dave Jamison isn’t entitled to unemployment benefits an administrative law judge ruled on Thursday. Jamison was fired in March after IFA employees filed complaints against him alleging years of sexual harassment. The former director had originally been granted unemployment benefits and was paid $3,185 between April and June. Jamison […]

Judge rules Iowa’s prohibition on Medicaid coverage for gender-reassignment procedures is unconstitutional

Posted on Jun 8, 2018 by Paul Brennan

On Wednesday, Polk County Chief District Judge Arthur Gamble ruled a provision in Iowa law prohibiting the use of Medicaid funds for gender-reassignment procedures deemed medically necessary by doctors “violates the ICRA [Iowa Civil Rights Act] and the Iowa Constitution.” Gamble issued his ruling in a lawsuit brought by two transgender Iowans, Carol Ann Beal […]

Finkenauer campaign was responsible for text messages sending voters to the wrong polling places

Posted on Jun 6, 2018 by Paul Brennan

Abby Finkenauer’s congressional campaign was responsible for the text messages containing erroneous information about where to vote in the primary election that were sent to voters in five Iowa counties on Monday and Tuesday, according to the Secretary of State’s office. On Wednesday afternoon, the office issued a press release explaining that a vendor working […]

Hubbell, Wahls and Dejear win, and other notable results from the 2018 primary election

Posted on Jun 6, 2018 by Paul Brennan

Fred Hubbell won the Democratic nomination for governor with a decisive victory in Tuesday’s primary election. For months it was widely speculated that none of the six Democratic candidates for governor would receive 35 percent of the vote, which would leave the selection of the nominee to the Democratic Party convention. Even though the primary […]

Democratic candidates for governor address marijuana and core values at final joint appearance

Posted on May 31, 2018 by Paul Brennan

What the legal status of marijuana should be stood out as a rare point of disagreement among the five remaining Democrats in the race of governor during a televised joint appearance at the State Historical Museum of Iowa in Des Moines on Wednesday night. It was the final such event of the primary campaign, and […]

Raygun is hosting a poster show to support abortion access for Iowa women

Posted on May 24, 2018 by Isabella Rosario

Art will be a medium for activism at the Cedar Rapids Access Poster Show on Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. Hosted by Raygun at its Cedar Rapids store in the NewBo District, proceeds from the event will benefit the Iowa Abortion Access Fund . […]

Democratic candidate for governor Nate Boulton accused of sexual misconduct (Updated)

Posted on May 23, 2018 by Paul Brennan

Update: On Thursday morning, Nate Boulton announced he was suspending his campaign for governor. On Wednesday, the Des Moines Register broke the news that three women have accused Nate Boulton of “touching them without their consent.” Boulton, a first term state senator, is currently running for the Democratic nomination for governor. The Register’s Brianne Pfannenstiel […]

Dix move: Disgraced ex-Iowa Senate Republican leader quietly gives the GOP his six-figure reelection fund

Posted on May 22, 2018 by Paul Brennan

Former Iowa Senate Republican leader Bill Dix’s reelection campaign had collected more than half a million dollars in donations when Dix resigned from the Senate and quit politics in March following Iowa Starting Line’s publication of a video of the married politician kissing a lobbyist in a Des Moines bar. On Tuesday, Ryan Foley of […]

ACLU of Iowa, Planned Parenthood and the Emma Goldman Clinic sue to overturn Iowa’s new abortion law

Posted on May 15, 2018 by Paul Brennan

Update: On June 1, Polk County District Court Judge Michael Huppert issued a temporary injunction blocking enforcement of the new abortion law at the conclusion of the first hearing on the lawsuit. Attorneys representing the state did not object to the injunction. A court challenge to Iowa’s new law banning most abortions after a fetal […]