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Iowa Senate committee moves budget bills as negotiations continue

Under Iowa's Golden Dome.

by Robin Opsahl, Iowa Capital Dispatch May 6, 2025 Though an agreement is yet to be reached on state spending for the upcoming fiscal year, the Senate Appropriations Committee moved four bills forward in a Tuesday meeting. Senators passed four budget bills through the appropriations committee Tuesday, making them available for floor debate in the […]

Nearly half of Iowa corn acres planted

Corn has begun to emerge in parts of Iowa. (Photo by Jared Strong/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

by Cami Koons, Iowa Capital Dispatch May 5, 2025 Despite another week of rainy conditions, which left an average of just over three days suitable for field work, Iowa farmers have more corn and soybeans in the ground than this time last year. Corn planted in the state reached 49%, which is three days ahead […]

Could black bears call Iowa home again? 

Black bear sightings might be more common in Iowa. (Photo of black bears in North Carolina by NC Garry Tucker/ USFWS)

by Cami Koons, Iowa Capital Dispatch May 2, 2025 Several black bears spent the winter tucked into dens in northeastern Iowa, which wildlife experts say is a “step up the ladder” toward an established breeding population of bears in the state. Black bear sightings in the region have been fairly regular over the past decade […]

D.C. Dispatch: 3 of 4 Iowa U.S. representatives tap out of governor’s race

The U.S. Capitol on March 14, 2024. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

by Robin Opsahl, Iowa Capital Dispatch May 2, 2025 While Iowa’s federal delegation has spent the week taking action on issues like fentanyl and Air Force facilities in Washington, D.C., some of Iowa’s U.S. representatives have also weighed in on an issue in their home state — the upcoming governor’s race. After Gov. Kim Reynolds […]

Gov. Kim Reynolds signs bill restricting cellphones in classrooms

Mike McGrory, left, superintendent of the Ottumwa Community School District, thanked Gov. Kim Reynolds as she signed into law a bill setting a statewide minimum ban on cellphones during instructional time at public K-12 schools. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

by Robin Opsahl, Iowa Capital Dispatch April 30, 2025 Starting in the 2025-2026 school year, public Iowa K-12 school districts will be required to set policies that, at minimum, ban the use of cellphones during class time under a law signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds Wednesday. The ban on cellphones during instructional periods was one […]

Lawsuit over newspaper’s 2024 presidential poll moves to federal court

he U.S. Supreme Court, pictured, issued a decision on a case dealing with a legal precedent that gave federal agencies broad discretion to use their judgment to resolve any ambiguity Congress left in a federal statute. (Photo by Jane Norman/States Newsroom)

by Clark Kauffman, Iowa Capital Dispatch April 29, 2025 A lawsuit over a Des Moines Register poll that showed Kamala Harris leading Donald Trump in Iowa during the final days of the 2024 campaign has been moved to federal court. The lawsuit, one of two related to the poll, is a potential class-action case filed […]

Vilsack says farms, not farmers, should work harder to grow rural communities

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)

by Cami Koons, Iowa Capital Dispatch April 29, 2025 WARREN COUNTY — Tom Vilsack, former Iowa governor and the U.S. secretary of agriculture during the Obama and Biden administrations, spoke Tuesday with farmers and rural Iowans about his ideas to grow rural communities. In the pine-paneled Middleswart Lodge, looking out over Lake Ahquabi State Park, […]

Reynolds’ open-records lawsuit against the Register is disturbing and dangerous

Gov. Kim Reynolds speaks to reporters at a Statehouse forum Jan. 4, 2022, sponsored by the Iowa Capitol Press Association. (Photo by Kathie Obradovich/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

by Kathie Obradovich, Iowa Capital Dispatch April 28, 2025 Gov. Kim Reynolds’ lawsuit against the Des Moines Register is both unusual and dangerous for open government in Iowa. Reynolds announced last week that she was filing suit seeking to stop the Register “from demanding production of the documents protected by executive privilege.” That’s strange and […]

Senate Republicans and Reynolds reach ‘budget compromise’ that excludes House

The Iowa Capitol in Des Moines on April 1, 2025. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

by Robin Opsahl, Iowa Capital Dispatch April 28, 2025 While Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and Senate Republicans said Monday they have reached a “budget compromise” on how to fund the state heading into the 2026 fiscal year, House Republicans are asking for more money in some areas. Passing the state budget through a series of […]

Bill regulating pharmacy benefit managers passes Iowa Senate

Under Iowa's Golden Dome.

by Robin Opsahl, Iowa Capital Dispatch April 28, 2025 The Iowa Senate passed a bill setting new standards for pharmacy benefit managers that lawmakers said will help keep rural pharmacies in business and lower the cost of prescription drugs. Senate File 383, passed 36-14, is the legislation passed through the committee process earlier this year […]

                 

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