Iowa legislative session heads to overtime
The golden dome of the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch) Two major roadblocks remain before Iowa lawmakers can pass the state’s budget and [...]
Vilsack says farms, not farmers, should work harder to grow rural com…
Former Iowa Governor and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack chats with Iowa farmers in Warren County on April 29, 2025. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch) WARREN COUNTY — [...]
Rollins emphasizes SNAP is for working Americans
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins reinforced SNAP work and citizenship requirements with memorandums sent to state agencies. (Photo by Lance Cheung/USDA)U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins issued memorandums to state [...]
Iowa House passes bill to establish state psilocybin program
Dried magic mushrooms with spore prints on tin foil. (Photo by Akchamczuk/Getty Images)The Iowa House passed legislation Monday to legalize the use of psilocybin, the psychoactive compound found in “magic [...]
Advocates say clean energy tax credits further Trump agenda regardles…
A small solar field in Boone. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch) Research from The Nature Conservancy found current clean energy tax credits, if kept in place through 2032 would [...]
Democrats accuse GOP senators of ‘affirmative action’ for Iowa med sc…
At least 80% of students enrolled in UI medical and dental programs would have to be Iowa residents or have a connection with the state under a bill that passed [...]
UI graduate student union compiles resources after campus learns of v…
University of Iowa graduate students are working to compile information and resources for international students worried about their visas. (Photo by Brooklyn Draisey/Iowa Capital Dispatch)After news broke of a visa [...]
Iowa Senate sends secretary of state’s election bill to governor’s de…
Vote stickers in a basket on Election Day 2024. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch) Senators sent legislation on Iowa’s elections to Gov. Kim Reynolds’ desk Monday that included provisions [...]
USDA cuts hit small farms as Trump showers billions on big farms
Shae, left, and Anna Pesek pose with calves on their Over the Moon farm in Iowa. The farm was one of thousands benefiting from a local food program recently cut [...]
Iowa Senate Education Committee moves several bills ahead of funnel d…
The Iowa Senate Education Committee moved ahead a number of bills focused on K-12 and higher education Thursday. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)The Iowa Senate Education Committee advanced a [...]
Minnesota plane crash: Small plane crashes into home in Brooklyn Park…
BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. -- A small plane traveling from Iowa crashed in a Minneapolis, Minnesota, suburb Saturday, investigators said.The Federal Aviation Administration said the SOCATA TBM7 crashed in a residential [...]
Iowa justices grill magistrate over racial slur and comments in sex-a…
Magistrate David J. Hanson addresses the Iowa Supreme Court on March 27, 2025. (Video capture courtesy of the Iowa Supreme Court) An Iowa magistrate who questioned in court whether a [...]
Pesticide immunity bill advances from Iowa Senate
An Iowa bill pertaining to pesticide lawsuits would help the makers of RoundUp and other pesticides. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch) Iowa senators narrowly passed a bill Wednesday that [...]
Iowa House votes to increase penalties, training for open records, me…
The Iowa House passed a bill Monday expanding required training for local officials on open meetings and records laws and raising penalties for violations. (Photo by Getty Images)The Iowa House [...]
Des Moines University students learn their residency program at Match…
Des Moines University students learned their medical residency program at a DMU Match Day celebration on March 21, 2025. (Photo by Brooklyn Draisey/Iowa Capital Dispatch)A crowd of students, their families [...]
Outdoor recreation in Iowa has an $8 billion annual economic output
Iowans gathered for Celebrate Iowa's Outdoors Day to champion outdoor recreation in Iowa. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch) Iowans gathered at the Iowa Capitol Thursday to celebrate the parks, [...]
Iowa Senate passes bill banning citizens’ police review boards
The Iowa Senate passed legislation March 17, 2025 to ban citizens' police review boards. (Stock photo by Oliver Helbig/Getty Images)Iowa local governments would not be able to have citizen police [...]
Gov. Tim Walz says at Iowa town hall he is ‘soul-searching’ after 202…
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz held a town hall event at Roosevelt High School in Des Moines March 14, 2025, answering questions and hearing from Iowans who expressed their problems with [...]
15 Iowa dairies win state grants for production, labor upgrades
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig enjoys ice cream from the Iowa State University Creamery. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch) AMES — Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig announced [...]
Bill on public sector union lists clears Senate
The Iowa Capitol on Feb. 25, 2025. (Photo by Kathie Obradovich/Iowa Capital Dispatch)The Iowa Senate approved legislation Monday allowing Iowa residents to seek district court action during a public sector [...]
D.C. Dispatch: Iowa delegation calls for USDA aid for turkey farmers …
(Photo by Stephen Ausmus/Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture)Iowa’s federal delegation is calling for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide financial relief for turkey farmers impacted by the [...]
Senate committee approves bill to limit DNR’s ability to acquire land
A trail at Jester Park near Saylorville Lake on Nov. 6, 2024. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch) The Senate Natural Resources Committee advanced a bill Wednesday that would bar [...]
Inspectors allege abuse and neglect at care facility that’s in receiv…
The Aspire of Washington nursing home. (Photo via Google Earth)An Iowa nursing home run by an out-of-state company with a long history of regulatory violations has been hit with $64,750 [...]
Iowa removes gender identity protections from civil rights code
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Iowa Lawmakers Pass Bill to Eliminate Transgender Civil Rights Protec…
Iowa lawmakers overwhelmingly passed a bill on Thursday that would end state civil rights protections for transgender people. Advocates for L.G.B.T.Q. rights said that Iowa would become the first state [...]
Agri Star’s Postville plant sued for water-quality violations
City of Postville, Iowa. (Photo via Google Earth)A nonprofit advocacy group is suing Agri Star Meat & Poultry of Postville for alleged violations of the federal Clean Water Act. Driftless [...]
Iowans advocate, tell their stories about reproductive rights
Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa and supporters gathered for a lobbying day at the Iowa Capitol Feb. 24. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch) Iowans dressed in pink and toting [...]
Restaurant inspection update: Moldy buns, roaches in garlic
The Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing oversees restaurant inspections in Iowa. (Photo via Getty Images; DIAL logo courtesy of Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing)State, city and [...]
Governor’s bill tackling child care access advances in both chambers
A teacher draws with students. (Photo by Cavan Images/Getty Images)The governor’s legislative proposal aimed at improving access to child care across the state advanced through subcommittees in both chambers Wednesday. [...]
Bill would add nutrition, natural light provisions to therapeutic cla…
(Photo by Dan Forer/Getty Images)Schools could use state grant funding for therapeutic classrooms to provide access to vitamin and mineral supplementals, “minimally processed whole foods” and exposure to natural light [...]
University of Iowa Health Care union begins bargaining with Iowa Boar…
The University of Iowa Health Care employee union met with the Iowa Board of Regents bargaining team Feb. 14, 2025 to trade initial proposals. (Photo courtesy of the University of [...]
Bill would expand teaching restriction on ‘gender identity,’ ‘sexual …
As a 2023 law restricting schools from curriculum and instruction related to gender identity and sexual orientation for kindergarten through 6th grade remains challenged in court, state lawmakers on Wednesday [...]
Public hearing on state public K-12 school funding set for Thursday •…
Iowa House lawmakers plan to hold a public hearing Thursday on the state’s funding for the public K-12 education system in the coming school year. The public hearing was called [...]
Biofuels leaders push for year-round E15 • Iowa Capital Dispatch
ALTOONA — Monte Shaw, executive director of Iowa Renewable Fuels Association urged industry leaders and farmers at the association’s summit Tuesday to pursue expanding markets and to be wary of [...]
DNR to host community meetings on hunting, possible rule changes • Io…
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is hosting a series of public meetings to discuss the past hunting and trapping season and possible rule and regulation changes to the sports. [...]
More than $400K in public money misspent through state-run program • …
Iowa Auditor of State Rob Sand issued a report Thursday that says more than $400,000 in taxpayer money was improperly spent through a program run by Iowa Workforce Development. At [...]
Bill to establish UI school of ‘intellectual freedom’ moves to commit…
Former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad spoke Tuesday at a subcommittee meeting in support of legislation that would launch a “school of intellectual freedom” at the University of Iowa, countering critics [...]
A floating barn and 150 pairs of boots • Iowa Capital Dispatch
In Buggy Land, cattle sometimes break through fencing and wander out onto the road. But cattle don’t fly through the air here the way they do in Ireland. They don’t [...]
Two Iowa nursing homes added to list of the nation’s worst care facil…
Two western Iowa nursing homes with a history of regulatory violations have been added to a federal list of the nation’s worst care facilities. The Garden View Care Center in [...]
Iowa Supreme Court’s Attorney Disciplinary Board is not a public body…
Lawyers for the State of Iowa are asking a judge to dismiss a public-records lawsuit by arguing the Iowa Supreme Court’s Attorney Disciplinary Board is not a public body that’s [...]
Iowa’s new rural development director announced, plus 50 energy proje…
Theresa Greenfield, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development state director for Iowa, announced Tuesday that Kate Sand, the acting deputy director, will be taking her place during the upcoming [...]
U.S. House GOP kicks off new session with border security push • Iowa…
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House passed its first bill of the 119th Congress Tuesday, a measure that increases migrant detention and is named after a Georgia nursing student whose murder [...]
Iowans can learn which cancers are most common in their county • Iow…
The Iowa Cancer Registry plans to deliver county-specific reports to all 99 counties in Iowa and meet with communities to point out particular policies or trends that might be driving [...]
Jimmy Carter was among several presidents with Iowa ties • Iowa Capit…
Jimmy Carter was a Georgia peanut farmer and former one-term governor when he decided to run for the presidency in 1975. He was almost unknown nationally. He had virtually no [...]
Dissecting Mizzou win against Tennessee and basketball team
On this episode of the Eye on the Tigers Podcast, Eli Hoff and Benjamin Hochman discuss Missouri's splashy transfer portal pickup of Penn State quarterback Beau Pribula. Eli ponders how [...]
Season with a dash of memory • Iowa Capital Dispatch
Dear readers, Merry Yuletide! I’m posting a few singular greetings from holidays past: postcards from a bygone era, with images of a simpler time portraying a slower pace of life. [...]
Reynolds sets Jan. 28 special election date to fill Lt. Gov. Cournoye…
The special election to replace now-Lt. Gov. Chris Cournoyer in the Iowa Senate will be Jan. 28, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Monday. The LeClaire Republican resigned from her seat representing [...]
Top Republican demands answers from Zuckerberg, accusing Meta of ‘sha…
EXCLUSIVE: A top Republican senator will accuse Meta – the parent company of Facebook – of "shadow-banning" and removing social media posts in a letter Tuesday demanding answers from CEO [...]
Iowa has lost a rare public servant and friend, Jim Leach • Iowa Capi…
Iowa and the nation lost a rare public servant last week. And Deba Leach lost her husband, Jim. Former Congressman Jim Leach was a moderate-to-liberal Republican representing Iowa’s eastern congressional [...]
Pipeline opponents receive cease and desist letters from Summit • Io…
Several opponents of the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions carbon sequestration pipeline have received letters on behalf of the company threatening lawsuits over perceived defamation, an environmental group representative said. Jess [...]