Iowa House lawmakers approved legislation Thursday to alter university presidential searches, tuition options and general education requirements. General education review HF 2361, passed by the Iowa House Higher Education Committee more than one month ago alongside other legislation, would require state universities to include courses in American history and government in general education requirements. The […]
Steven Holt
Posted inStatewide
‘Chipping away at the rights of Iowans’: House passes bill to eliminate local civil rights protections for trans people
On Thursday, the Iowa House approved a bill that prohibits local governments from having any civil rights ordinances that provide greater protections for rights than state law does. Eliminating the power of local governments to protect the rights of transgender and nonbinary people is one of Gov. Kim Reynolds’ stated priorities for her final legislative session as governor.
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa House Republicans advance bills to eliminate local civil rights protections, allow parents to force LGBTQ kids into ‘conversion therapy’
Republican members of two Iowa House Judiciary subcommittees advanced two bills on Monday that continue the anti-LGBTQ agenda Gov. Kim Reynolds and legislative Republicans have enshrined in state law since 2022. As the hearings were underway, supporters of transgender rights and advocates for LGBTQ Iowans protested in the rotunda and halls of the State Capitol. […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa House passes bill to restrict use of eminent domain for Summit’s CO2 pipeline
Companies would no longer be able to use eminent domain to appropriate privately owned land for carbon pipeline projects under a bill approved by the Iowa House on Wednesday. HF 2104 passed with bipartisan support, 64-28. Ten of the House’s 33 Democrats joined 54 of the chamber’s 67 Republicans in voting for the bill. “I […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘Spitting in the face of landowners’: Iowa House Republicans denounce Reynolds’ veto of eminent domain bill, call for special session to override it
Republicans in the Iowa Legislature have rarely publicly disagreed with Gov. Kim Reynolds during her eight years in office. Even when they didn’t support her position on an issue, they would downplay any differences. That all changed on Wednesday, when Gov. Reynolds vetoed HF 639, a bill that would have added new requirements on projects […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Senate passes bill restricting eminent domain for carbon pipelines
Iowa senators voted 27-22 late Monday to pass a bill to limit the ability of carbon sequestration pipelines to use eminent domain, sending it to the governor’s desk after a drawn-out debate. The decision follows four years of urging from Iowans and House lawmakers for eminent domain reform in response to the proposed Summit Carbon […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa House lawmakers clash over legislation restricting DEI at public, private colleges; bills pass
When debating the first of many pieces of legislation targeting diversity, equity and inclusion Tuesday in the Iowa House, Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, D-Ames, said she’s already heard from individuals and groups seeing the negative impacts of stripping away DEI at Iowa colleges and universities. An Iowa State University professor was asked to stop requiring students […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa House advances bill to block CO2 pipelines from eminent domain rights
The Iowa House Judiciary Committee advanced bills Thursday to block hazardous liquid pipelines carrying carbon dioxide from the use of eminent domain. Two bills also advanced granting rights to intervene in Iowa Utilities Commission proceedings, which GOP lawmakers have done against the case of the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline project. HSB 287 specifies that the […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa becomes the first state to erase parts of its Civil Rights Act
Iowa has now made history as the first state to erase parts of its civil rights code to strip protections from some of its citizens. Despite the enormity of cutting gender identity out of the Iowa Civil Rights Act — thereby eliminating rights of transgender and nonbinary Iowans that have been in place for 18 […]
Posted inCommunity/News
GOP bill to eliminate rights of trans Iowans passes subcommittee and committee in less than a day
Hundreds gathered in the hallways and rotunda of the State Capitol to protest the attempt to strip transgender Iowans of civil rights and stop the state government from recognizing the existence of their identities via a bill Republicans are fast-tracking through the Iowa House. “Trans rights are human rights” and “Say no, fight back,” they […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘Pointless, unnecessary and unbelievably cruel’: Rep. Steve Holt proposes bill eliminating civil rights protections for trans people
Iowa would make history by gutting protections enshrined in its Civil Rights Act for almost two decades to make discrimination against transgender Iowans legal, if a bill introduced in the Iowa House on Thursday becomes law. HSB 242 would also alter definitions used in state law to eliminate acknowledging the existence of transgender people as […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Despite some legal setbacks, Iowa’s expanding cannabis beverage brands aren’t going anywhere
In the beer and wine section of Fareway, between the cases of Busch Light and White Claw, you can find a range of nonalcoholic beverage brands, all local. There’s Climbing Kites, a zero-calorie, zero-sugar citrusy sparkling water reminiscent of La Croix or Topo Chico (although they’ve rolled out two, more indulgent “Kitetail” Infusions: a caffeinated, […]
