Concerns about aging members of Congress and the president were raised again after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky froze while speaking to reporters last week. Iowa Senator Joni Ernst says elected officials are expected to be able to handle the...
ISBDC targets minority business owners
The Iowa Small Business Development Center is launching what it's calling an Inclusivity Challenge to make sure minority business owners and entrepreneurs have the resources to succeed as the pandemic continues. Lisa Shimkat, the center's state director, says it’s...
Iowa House Minority Leader Todd Prichard stepping down
The Democratic leader in the Iowa House is stepping down and a new House Minority Leader will be chosen on June 14. House Democrats selected State Representative Todd Prichard of Charles City as their leader after the 2018 election and then again after the 2020...
New Iowa House Minority Leader says it’s an ‘all Iowa’ job
Democrats who'll be serving in the Iowa House next year met Saturday and elected State Representative Todd Prichard of Charles City as their new leader. "The message was unity," Prichard told reporters after the private meeting among House Democrats concluded. "Let's...
Minority lawmaker gives emotional speech about anti-sanctuary cities bill
One of the six African Americans serving in the Iowa House delivered an emotional speech to mark the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Junior's assassination earlier this week. Representative Ako Abdul-Samad, a Democrat from Des Moines, has been a member of the...
Agency aim: reduce minority unemployment 5 percent in 5 years
Officials in a key state agency recently held more than a dozen "listening sessions" with unemployed Iowans and their advocates. Iowa Workforce Development director Beth Townsend says this is their goal: "We want to reduce unemployment rates for our minority...
Janet Petersen of Des Moines new minority leader for Senate Democrats
The 20 Democrats in the Iowa Senate met privately Sunday and elected a new leader. Rob Hogg of Cedar Rapids had been the Democratic minority leader in the state senate for almost a year. Hogg got the job shortly after Democrats suffered election losses in November of...
Senate minority leader sees role as facilitator of ‘team effort’
For the first time in 20 years, Democrats in the Iowa Senate have a new leader. Senator Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs had been the legislature's top Democrat until he was defeated in November. Soon after, Senator Rob Hogg of Cedar Rapids was chosen by his colleagues...
Census data shows West Liberty has a “minority, majority”
The Muscatine County town of West Liberty is the first in the state in decades to have a majority of its population be made up of a minority group. University of Iowa researcher, Jeff Schott, says the southeast Iowa city is part of a cultural change happening in Iowa....
Cedar Rapids schools look to close minority gap
School districts across the state are looking for ways to help minority students catch up with their white classmates. In Cedar Rapids, school leaders met with community members Thursday at the African American Museum to talk about how to help minority and low-income...