Iowa's Secretary of State says four Iowa high schools have already qualified for a new award for getting eligible students registered to vote. A new state law lets 17-year-olds register to vote if they will be 18 by Election Day in November. Secretary of State Paul Pate established an award this … [Read more...]
Governor ends public airing of state agency budget requests
Governor Kim Reynolds is breaking from predecessor and mentor Terry Branstad's practice of having state agency directors present their spending outlines for the next budgeting year in a public forum. Reynolds is meeting privately with the top bureaucrats in state government to go over items for … [Read more...]
Ames native becomes youngest women elected to office in Iowa
Voters in Ames made history in their municipal election yesterday. Twenty-year-old Iowa State University student Rachel Junck, an Ames native, was elected to a seat on the Ames City Council. She's the youngest woman ever elected to public office in Iowa. Junck fell just seven votes short of … [Read more...]
Reynolds mulls options in court fight over ‘ag gag’ law
Governor Kim Reynolds says she's disappointed a federal judge has temporarily blocked a new Iowa law that significantly boosted the penalty for trespassing on a farm. "We're going to continue to work with the Iowa attorney general to look at what our next steps may look like," Reynolds says. … [Read more...]
California Senator Kamala Harris suspends her 2020 presidential bid
Another candidate has dropped out of the Democratic presidential race. California Senator Kamala Harris indicated in an email message that she does not have the financial resources to continue. Harris opened 17 campaign offices around the state of Iowa. She had more than 100 paid staff working … [Read more...]
Another round of state matching grants awarded for job-skill-building programs
State officials notified 22 applicants yesterday that they're getting state grants for programs that will give up to a thousand Iowans new job skills. A few of the winning applicants drove to Des Moines today to talk about their projects. J.B. Holland of Decorah said without the $50,000 state … [Read more...]
Record 2 million Iowans registered to vote
More than two million Iowans are registered to vote in Iowa -- a new milestone for this point in an election cycle. There have never been this many registered voters in Iowa at the beginning of December, heading into a General Election year. Secretary of State Paul Pate cites a variety of … [Read more...]
Warren links student debt plan to rural growth
Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren suggests her plan to eliminate student loan debt may address population losses in rural Iowa. Warren was on the University of Iowa campus Monday afternoon, speaking to a crowd of 650. "How many folks leave Iowa and don't come back, right? Think … [Read more...]
Two statewide officials trained to respond to opioid overdoses
A representative of the Iowa Harm Reduction Coalition was at the Iowa capitol today to train two state officials how to administer Naloxone, a drug that can reverse an opioid overdose. State Auditor Rob Sand said in late October of 2018 he attended the funeral of a woman who was the sister of one … [Read more...]
Harris says she’s reaching non-traditional caucus-goers
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Iowa, including an event Sunday morning in Indianola that attracted about 60 people. "This is what I'm seeing all over the state, which is people who could be doing so many other things with their time coming out to have … [Read more...]