Natalie Krebs

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Iowa Public Radio

The Trump administration is making major cuts to federal agencies like the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as part of a broad government restructuring aimed at saving taxpayer dollars. But some worry these cuts could have drastic effects on the research and outreach programs aimed at lowering Iowa’s high cancer rates.

Iowa has one of the highest cancer rates in the country. While rates are falling overall in the U.S., Iowa is one of just a few states where the disease is on the rise. Experts don't know exactly why.

Oncologists like George Weiner at the University of Iowa are trying to help. Weiner has spent his decades-long career researching cancer and running trials. After 23 years, he stepped down as director of UI’s Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center in 2023 to go back to research full time. He said it’s a really exciting time in the field.

“We now are able to do amazing things with cancer immunotherapy that we couldn't have imagined when I started my career.”

But he’s worried because the federal government is trying to cut funding to the NIH and has laid off thousands of federal health and human services employees. He said this is already disrupting the research pipeline, creating chaos and causing irreversible damage by delaying research and trials.

Read more about how cuts and layoffs may impact cancer research in Iowa.

The American Lung Association’s annual State of the Air Report found air pollution worsened in general across the Midwest, including in Iowa. Des Moines no longer ranks as one of the cleanest cities in the country.

The report looks at ozone and particle pollution.

Kristina Hamilton, who works for the American Lung Association, says it’s partly due to wildfires and the effects of global warming. But she says Iowa still uses coal in certain parts of the state.

“Even though Iowa is a leader in some ways — in clean energy — we're still seeing the harmful effects of coal, contributing to the air pollution problem.”

Hamilton says she encourages Iowa leaders to find more ways to transition away from the use of coal to improve air quality.

She also encourages people to do things at an individual level like walking or biking instead of driving.

The Iowa Board of Regents approved a new civic engagement center at Iowa State University. It expands on an existing free speech initiative on campus.

The proposal for the new Cyclone Civics Center says it will promote free speech and civic engagement. It says that knowledge of core American principles and civil liberties is lacking and that it may work with similar civics programs across the state.

The new center is intended to help create a “civic disposition,” or attitudes and beliefs that support American democracy.

The University of Iowa could also see what Republican lawmakers are calling a new “school for intellectual freedom” if approved by the governor. They say it will encourage more varied perspectives on campus, where they believe conservative views are discouraged.

Both centers were introduced after the regents made changes to their policies on diversity, equity and inclusion, asking the universities to restructure or eliminate DEI offices and positions.

The civics program is expected to cost almost $2 million over the next five years.

Grant Winterer

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Iowa Public Radio

Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson held a town hall in Mason City Thursday, where she faced pushback from constituents on her support of DOGE, tariffs and the lack of a new Farm Bill.

The congresswoman, who represents Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, reiterated her defense of DOGE, saying that she believes those tax dollars can be meaningfully rerouted toward economic expansion.

“I would much rather see that go to places that are going to incentivize that trade access and market development, which are going to make us more competitive. I think the point of DOGE is to make sure those services are available to Americans long term, and we can strengthen those programs.”

Some voters were also critical of her support for recent deportations.

Hinson replied that she’d been supportive of several measures regarding guest worker permits and skilled labor visas but said the asylum-seeking process has been exploited by some entering the country.

“I’m willing to work on immigration-related issues, but first and foremost we must focus on deporting the people who should not be here. We’ve got millions upon millions of illegal immigrants in this country who abuse the asylum process.”

Hinson added she wasn’t sure if there would be adequate money to pay for the pending deportation hearings.

Seven former nurses are suing the state after six years of reported assaults at a state-run mental health hospital in northeast Iowa.

Independence Mental Health Institute is one of the state’s two inpatient hospitals. While working there, the nurses allege they were assaulted and seriously injured by patients multiple times.

One nurse claims that she had a miscarriage as a result of a patient assaulting her. The nurses say their injuries were preventable, but management did not respond to their concerns.

An inspector fined the institute more than $70,000 for multiple safety violations in 2019.

The nurses say they want the state to admit to wrongdoing and mismanagement.

Public university students spoke out at a meeting of the Iowa Board of Regents to share their frustration over the board’s stance on diversity, equity and inclusion.

During the public comment section of the meeting, students stood up against the Board of Regents’ policy changes relating to DEI — in particular, the dismantling of DEI websites and the elimination of DEI offices and positions at the universities.

The Trump administration is demanding that universities eliminate DEI programs. But students want the regents to take a stand against the administration. Darrell Washington, a student at the University of Iowa, spoke at the meeting.

“It is an erasure. It is a choice to scrub our histories, our identities, our truths out of the curriculum — out of existence. It’s a choice to ignore us, to pretend we were never here. But we are here. We are not a footnote. We are the story.”

Other students said the Board of Regents is the only thing between unchecked federal regulation and their universities.

A research site in Boone is using solar power, air and water to make farm fertilizer. The group behind the project calls it “green ammonia” because it does not rely on fossil fuels, like most synthetic fertilizers do.

Landus Cooperative partnered with the company Talusag to produce the fertilizer. The site in Boone is North America’s first commercial-scale “green ammonia” field trial. Hiro Iwanaga, co-founder and CEO of TalusAg, explains why producing the product in Iowa is a gamechanger.

“Traditional ammonia depends on a global supply chain. That's costly, that's unreliable, that's carbon intensive. We manufacture closer to where the product is used, we cut down risk while giving farmers a stable, more predictable source of one of the most critical inputs.”

Earlier this month, Landus applied green ammonia to corn field trial plots on-site and will compare results with control strips throughout the growing season.

The system in Boone began production in February. The partners are building a larger system in Eagle Grove and hope to have green ammonia commercially available next year.

All of Iowa’s public school districts and charter schools have signed a letter stating that they are complying with federal policies on diversity, equity and inclusion. The letter is part of a nationwide push by the Trump administration to remove what it calls “illegal DEI practices.”

If a state doesn’t agree, school districts could lose their federal funding. For Des Moines Public Schools, $70 million would be at stake.

The school board held a special meeting this week to strike out references to Black and Latinx students in the board’s goals for student performance. DMPS Board Member Kimberly Martorano says even though the language is gone, she is still committed to the original values.

“We must hold ourselves accountable for ensuring that these changes do not disproportionately harm any group of our students.”

A dozen other states are challenging the DEI letter in federal court.

Iowans expressed concerns about the state’s plan to add work requirements to Medicaid during a public comment meeting Wednesday in Urbandale.

The meeting was the first of two required public comment hearings following Gov. Kim Reynolds’ announcement that she plans to seek federal approval to add work requirements to Medicaid.

The proposal would require those ages 19 to 64 who are on the state’s Medicaid expansion plan to work at least 100 hours or earn the equivalent of 100 hours’ worth of pay equal to the state minimum wage each month. It allows some exceptions such as for caregivers of children under 6.

Heather Sanders of Ankeny says she has struggled to find a job while taking care of her 92-year-old mother.

“Nobody will hire me at the age of 54. I have tried everything, and I've even tried to pay somebody to babysit her while I go out somewhere. Nobody will hire me like that.”

The state will have a second public comment meeting in Marshalltown April 29, which is also available to attend online.

A Johnson County Democrat announced that he’s running for Iowa’s 1^st Congressional District.

Travis Terrell is a patient access specialist with University of Iowa Health Care in Johnson County. He’s running to unseat Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks in 2026, who he says has abandoned the district by refusing to talk to her constituents.

Terrell says health care and immigration are areas he wants to see reformed.

“When I'm in Washington and you're wondering who I’m working for, you’ll never have to guess. Because my family is still going to be here, and I’m going to be doing everything I can to protect them and every family like mine that got left behind.”

Terrell also says he wants to reform campaign finance. He says he would not take a single corporate donation, no matter how big.

“I honestly feel like no politician should be taking corporate money, and that is something that I would get behind. I would join the congress people that want to get corporate money out of politics because it’s destroyed our country.”

So far, Terrell is the only Democrat who has announced a run for the seat.

Four graduate students at the University of Iowa are now asking for a temporary restraining order against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. If approved, it would prevent their arrest or deportation based on the termination of their F-1 statuses.

Court documents filed by their attorneys say the international students from China and India have suffered irreparable harm after having their visas revoked and legal statuses terminated without notice.

The students are also suing the Trump administration for its actions and asking for their statuses to be restored.

Photo courtesy of the Rock Valley Community School District

A northwest Iowa school district is making significant progress after historic flooding last summer.

Rock Valley Community School District's high school principal, Nicole Roder, says last month, the final group of students were able to return to classes in a renovated school building.

“We're pretty resilient and, you know, we're happy that we had so many people there for us in our time of need. And they're still there. They haven't left us.”

The flood caused an estimated $35 million in damage to the school district.

Roder says after payments from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and insurance, the district will still need to cover $10 million in expenses. Work still needs to be done on landscaping and the football field.

A group of high schoolers in the Quad Cities built a two-seater airplane that’s soon to be flight-tested.

The PNB Aviation Club is made up of students in the Pleasant Valley, Bettendorf and North Scott school districts. They are mentored by members of the local Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 75.

Over the past four years, they’ve been building a Van’s RV-12iS airplane, meeting three times a week for a grand total of roughly 4,000 hours.

Tom Shelton, a mentor and member of EAA Chapter 75, says the chapter has been discussing the project for nearly 10 years. He says part of their mission is to promote aviation knowledge with students.

“It is not about building the airplane. It is about educating students and developing a sense of responsibility, accountability and bringing science and math to a practical application, a hands-on application.”

The plane just received its airworthiness certificate and will be test flown in the coming months.

Iowa’s first homeless court launches in Sioux City

A new program to help people who are homeless with legal issues will soon be launched in Sioux City.

The city received a $25,000 grant from the Iowa Finance Authority to launch the state’s first homeless court. People who go through it could potentially have their misdemeanor cases and fines dismissed.

Neighborhood Services Manager Jill Wanderscheid says the program is modeled after others across the country.

“Sometimes that is a barrier to not only securing housing, but employment — all sorts of other things. And so, we really feel like it could have an impact on those that are unhoused in our community.”

Wanderscheid says there are about 300 people waiting for housing in Sioux City. If the program is successful, she says there’s a good chance it will expand to other parts of the state.

South Dakota regulators say Summit Carbon Solutions will need to reapply for a permit application to build a carbon dioxide pipeline in the state.

The Iowa-based company filed an application in November, but requested an indefinite extension after South Dakota passed a law banning eminent domain for CO2 pipelines. The Public Utilities Commission voted 2-1 Tuesday in denying Summit’s request.

Commissioner Kristie Fiegen says Summit’s current application under the new law is incomplete.

“At this point, we really don’t know the route. We don’t know the timeframes. We don’t know their plan. We don’t know their construction timeframes or even cost. The application is not ready to go forward.”

Summit said the decision is disappointing, but the company is committed to South Dakota and will refile the application. Without its pipeline, Summit says “the ethanol industry, farmers and land values in the state will all suffer.”

Pipeline construction in Iowa cannot begin until South Dakota grants a permit.

Read more.

Drake University is the target of a civil rights complaint that claims a scholarship program is discriminatory because it is offered to students of color but not white students.

The university offers a renewable $500 grant to students of color who participate in the Crew Scholars Program. But the Equal Protection Project says it’s unfair.

William Jacobson, the project’s president, says by preferring someone of a certain race, a school excludes someone else from a spot. He says there are other ways to diversify student populations that don’t rely on race.

“This is a systemic discrimination that affects all students who do not qualify based on race.”

The complaint goes to the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. The Equal Protection Project has filed dozens of similar complaints against colleges across the country, including at the University of Northern Iowa.

A nonprofit that supports 100 soil and water conservation districts in Iowa says most of its federal funding has been restored, which means it can rehire staff that were laid off in February.

Dien Judge is executive director of Conservation Districts of Iowa.

“What it means for landowners and farmers is that, if you’ve got projects you want to get done, there’s staff that can work on that.”

CDI works with locally elected commissioners and state and federal agencies to help protect natural resources on working lands. Judge says the Inflation Reduction Act funds are still frozen, but non-IRA grant money is coming through and invoices are being paid.

He says CDI has offered jobs back to 38 of the 39 staff that were laid off. Some have found positions elsewhere, he says, but most are returning.

Four international students at the University of Iowa are suing the U.S. government for terminating their student visa statuses.

The graduate students say the federal government unlawfully terminated their F-1 statuses without any explanation and are challenging the actions under the Fifth Amendment.

Court documents say the students have not committed any criminal offenses and remained in good academic standing.

Three of the students are studying chemical engineering and one is an epidemiologist for the state. Two of the students are from China and the other two are from India. The students are asking for their statuses to be restored.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s crop report shows farmers have started planting, but wet weather and storms slowed some of their progress.

The report shows 18% of the projected corn crop was planted by April 20 — three days ahead of last year and five days ahead of the five-year average. The report also shows 11% of the expected soybean crop is in the ground. That’s three days ahead of last year and one week ahead of the five-year average.

Some areas of the state had rain and hail, but it’s not yet known how that will impact crops that have already been planted. The forecast shows more rain is expected this week, which could also keep farmers out of the fields.

Amy Gieseke, the Iowa Department of Education's community college bureau chief, says there were 119,310 students enrolled in the state’s 15 community colleges in 2024. That’s up 1.8% over the previous year, bucking the trend where credit enrollment has declined an average of 1.6% over the past five years.

Gieseke says prior to the pandemic, in 2019, community colleges were enrolling more than 128,000 students. At the peak of COVID, that number dropped as low as 116,000, and then slowly started to recover.

She says the number of credit hours has increased, and the makeup of the student body is 56.5% female and 43.5% male, which she says has been very consistent over the past 20 years.

University of Iowa Health Care is asking the Iowa Board of Regents to approve a new facility at their next meeting. It would operate as a new family medicine clinic in Tiffin, which UI Health Care says will bring prenatal and primary care services to one of the fastest growing communities in Iowa.

This comes after it unveiled a new orthopedics hospital in North Liberty earlier this month.

UI Health Care is also proposing new leases for the Center for Disabilities and Development in Iowa City and Mission Cancer + Blood in Des Moines.

The Catholic Church will soon prepare to select a new leader after the death of Pope Francis Monday. In the wake of the pope’s death, Rev. Trevor Chicoine reflects on the teachings Francis left behind.

As the leader of four parishes, Chicoine says he doesn’t want the church to be seen as divided when attention turns to who is named the next pope. Instead, he wants people to remember Francis as someone who showed the world that the church cares for them.

Chicoine says his congregation tries to avoid political polarization. For him, the pope’s job is to pass on the faith.

“I think that's pretty rare these days, that you see somebody who's so across the board, stands up for everybody's dignity.”

Chicoine hopes the next pope will carry forward the care Francis had for all people.

The Diocese of Des Moines is holding a memorial mass for Francis Saturday morning at the Basilica of St. John.

Four out of the six Regional Climate Centers across the U.S. have shut down after funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ran out. That includes the center in the Midwest that collected data for nine states, including Iowa.

The centers gather climate information for drought monitoring and share online weather tracking tools that many in the agriculture and construction industries depend on.

Matthew Sittel, assistant state climatologist at Kansas State University, says he depends on both the Midwestern and Southern regional climate centers. He’s worried they won’t return.

“It's tough … Do we lose these products for a week? For a month? For a year? Forever? Nobody knows.”

One regional climate center director says the funds were held up due to additional contract reviews. The Trump administration previously proposed a 25% budget cut to NOAA for next fiscal year.

Read more from Harvest Public Media.

Nearly all the staff members at a division that studies blood disorders at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention have been put on leave, according to experts familiar with the division’s operations.

The programs within the division include the Sickle Cell Disease Data Collection program, which gathers information on how patients access care.

Sickle cell disease is a genetic blood illness that mostly impacts Black and Hispanic people in the U.S. Dr. Emily Meier, who cares for people with blood disorders and cancers, says the cuts threaten the project’s future.

“I just think it's such a travesty that all of these years of work and expertise are just kind of thrown out the window. But it’s really depressing.”

Meier says sickle cell patients face a shortage of specialists, which pushes them to seek care at emergency rooms, where providers often do not know how to properly treat them.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced in a press release that staffing changes across the agency are necessary to streamline its processes and save nearly $1.8 billion in taxpayer money.

Read more from Side Effects Public Media.

One of the largest diabetes studies is under threat from the research funding cuts made by the Trump administration. The Diabetes Prevention Program has sites in Midwest states, including Indiana and Illinois. The research aims to study Alzheimer’s in patients with a family history of diabetes.

More than $80 million in federal funds flow through Columbia University. But the Trump administration recently canceled grants to the university.

Dr. David Nathan, a board chair for the project, says the study has surveyed more than 1,000 patients for decades. He says researchers can’t recreate this study without millions of dollars.

Read more about how funding cuts may impact the study.

Madeleine Charis King

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Iowa Public Radio

Iowa Sen. Mike Bousselot, R-Ankeny, announced Monday that he’s exploring a run for governor.

He’s the first to announce a potential campaign since Gov. Kim Reynolds said she won’t run for reelection in 2026. Former state Rep. Brad Sherman had previously announced he’s seeking the GOP nomination.

Bousselot has represented Ankeny in the Iowa Senate since 2023, and he served in the Iowa House for two years before that. He owns and operates real estate development and land investment businesses.

Bousselot worked as state budget director under Reynolds and as chief of staff to former Gov. Terry Branstad. Several other Republican elected officials are considering running for governor.

Red Sky Nation

A jury in Woodbury County recently delivered a conviction in the first-degree murder of a Native American man. Activists say the case is an example of how Indigenous people are at higher risk for gun violence and death.

Marlon Whiteeyes of Sioux City was shot and killed in 2023 by Yasin Abdi, who was convicted last week of first-degree murder. Whiteeyes died after Abdi shot him four times. Investigators say the shooting happened when Whiteeyes ran away after trying to break up a fight on a street in Sioux City.

Josh Taylor is with the advocacy group Red Sky Nation. His group says the firearm homicide rate is four times higher for Native Americans.

“We have too many cases here, just locally, of this — the missing and murdered indigenous relatives — and Marlon's case fell right into that.”

Red Sky Nation works on community awareness, including an annual powwow and keeping cold cases involving Native Americans alive.

The Iowa Supreme Court removed a magistrate judge in Fayette County after determining he showed racial bias and a lack of impartiality.

The Supreme Court says the removal of Magistrate David Hanson comes after he issued a denial of an arrest warrant that included his own disparaging views about young male victims of sexual assault. He also made statements in open court in another case using a derogatory racial slur about a criminal defendant.

The Supreme Court says Hanson was not self-aware and defended his inappropriate actions throughout the Iowa Commission on Judicial Qualifications’ investigation. The ruling says after careful consideration, the justices conclude that Hanson is unsuited to be a judge, and no attempts at behavior modification are going to change that significantly.

Members of the neo-Nazi group the Aryan Freedom Network held a demonstration in Marion, a suburb of Cedar Rapids. The group promotes hardline, white supremacist views and carried a flagpole with a swastika Saturday.

The city of Marion said in a news release that while the group does not reflect the values of the community, the demonstrators were protected by the First Amendment. City Councilmember Gage Miskimen said Nazis do not belong in Marion or anywhere else.

Catholic leaders in Iowa are mourning the death of Pope Francis with messages celebrating his leadership and compassion.

Des Moines Bishop William Joensen said in a statement that Francis was a bridge builder who called on the church to foster unity.

Bishop Dennis Walsh of Davenport called Francis “a great champion for the rights of migrants and refugees.”

Archbishop of Dubuque Thomas Zinkula said in a statement that Francis was humble and compassionate, and was especially committed to helping people on the margins of society. He said Francis will be remembered for his unwavering call to serve the poor and care for creation.

Francis died Monday morning at the age of 88. He was the first non-European to lead the Roman Catholic Church. He served as pope for 12 years.

Lawmakers kept busy last week, sending several bills to Gov. Kim Reynolds' desk for her signature, including a disaster relief bill, a bill to change Iowa’s election recount process and a bill to ban citizen police review boards.

And while the Legislature has yet to finalize a Medicaid work requirement bill, Reynolds announced she’s separately seeking federal approval for her plan that would require certain people receiving Medicaid to prove they’re working at least 100 hours per month.

The Legislature has also been exploring changes to the state's open records laws, but changes made in the Senate version are drawing some pushback.

🎧 Listen as IPR reporters Katarina Sostaric and Meghan McKinney review the latest in Iowa politics.

It’s still unclear how federal funds will be released from a federal program that helps struggling customers pay utility bills after the Trump administration fired the staff this month.

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, disperses billions of dollars each year to U.S. states, territories and tribes.

Karen Lusson, a senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, says without federal staff to coordinate, it could be a while before states see those funds.

“That's a significant amount of money … the health and the safety of all of these vulnerable populations are in jeopardy.”

In Iowa, more than 90,000 households received financial assistance to pay for heating and cooling in fiscal year 2024.

Lusson says without access to the funding more people could be at risk of heat stroke this summer, especially children and the elderly.

Mark Wolfe of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association says he worries the remaining funds won't be dispersed, which could put many in the Midwest and Great Plains at risk.

“Low-income families will have more problems paying their energy bills without federal assistance. We've done surveys. We know what happens. People go without. They don't buy medicine. They cut back on food. They cut back on clothing and other essentials in order to pay that bill.”

A Senate committee called on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to testify this week about the layoffs at LIHEAP and elsewhere. The hearing has been delayed.

The U.S. has about 70 new citizens today after a naturalization ceremony at the University of Northern Iowa. The process was a relief to many who feared possible deportation.

The new Americans came from 26 countries, with ages ranging from 20s to 70s.

Ya Hya was one of them. He was born in Sudan and has been in the U.S. for about 6 years.

He said through an interpreter that gaining citizenship means a passport for travel and puts to rest fears of deportation.

“If you have a US passport, you can travel, you can stay here. You don’t have to worry about deportation.”

Chuyu Lee emigrated to the U.S. from Taiwan on a student visa, and said he’d like to see the government clarify what is permitted for international students who rely on those visas.

“It would be great if the government could give a clear indication of what people can or can’t do under which visa. That would be helpful, and would clarify some confusion in the future.”

The ceremony was the first to be held on UNI’s campus since the Covid pandemic.

Some members of the federal service agency AmeriCorps have been sent home as part of the DOGE team’s efforts to reduce government spending. In eastern Iowa, members at the Vinton office were suddenly laid off just two months into their ten-month program.

AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps members partner with local organizations to provide volunteer work across the country. Members stationed at the Vinton office were eight weeks into serving at the Indian Creek Nature Center. Some of the work they were doing included woodland cleanup and prescribed burns.

John Myers, the executive director of the center, says the AmeriCorps office in Washington, D.C., called to notify him about the layoffs, but did not say why they were happening.

“AmeriCorps was very effective at their work. They were hard workers, they were in 40 hours a week and really made a huge difference all the way around, and that’s something that’s hard to backfill with volunteers.”

The Iowa Department of Education is one step closer to approving new K-12 science standards, after amending some controversial wording changes.

Earlier this year, members of the public accused the department of watering down language around evolution and around climate change and human impacts and activities. The Department of Ed said a public survey garnered over 5,300 responses. The current version restores some, but not all, of the phrasing in question.

It also adds Iowa connections to the material and incorporates what the department calls career connections to show relevant science career paths students can pursue.

The standards were last updated in 2015. An executive order by Gov. Terry Branstad in 2013 required the state to regularly review education standards and incorporate opportunities for public feedback.

The Board of Education could adopt the new standards at its next meeting in May.

A handful of Iowa City’s largest buildings downtown are facing foreclosure after a ruling by a district judge. They’re properties owned by local developer Marc Moen and his associates. One of the properties is the landmark Chauncey Hotel.

Court documents say Moen and others owed roughly $28 million in unpaid loans. The lawsuit, filed by Green State Credit Union, says they owed the highest amount of debt on the Chauncey – almost $20 million. The properties will be auctioned off at a special sheriff’s sale.

The Family Planning Council of Iowa said it’s concerned that its services could be affected after unexpectedly receiving significantly less federal funding this year.

The nonprofit is one of two organizations in Iowa that receive federal funding through Title X, a 55-year-old federal program that supports reproductive heath care and family planning services at nearly 4,000 clinics nationwide for low-income people. The other is the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services.

Allison Smith, the executive director of the Family Planning Council of Iowa, said it had been expecting to receive $2.2 million this month as part of its allocated funding for the fourth year of a five-year project period. Instead, she said it has received just over $1 million with no explanation from federal officials.

The Family Planning Council of Iowa assists with contraception, sexually transmitted infections (STI) testing and treatment, pregnancy support and cancer screenings. It's been a Title X grant recipient for more than 40 years.

Smith said she's concerned if the organization doesn't get the rest of the funding, it could mean reducing services or even closing clinics.

"This funding supports about 30,000 Iowans. And so, when we're looking at halving that amount of care, that's a pretty significant cut," she said. "Oftentimes, it's the only way for people to see a doctor. It's their main source of care."

Read more from Natalie Krebs.

Photo courtesy of Storm Lake Police Department

Storm Lake in northwest Iowa is without power after high winds blew through the community early Friday morning.

The police department says the city is facing “significant challenges.”

There is widespread damage, including downed power lines and trees. Some roads are blocked.

The Buena Vista County Emergency Coordinator tells the Sioux City Journal that power could be out until tonight.

The National Weather Service tells the Des Moines Register that a tornado was reported in Fremont and Page counties in southwest Iowa last night. Video from storm chasers showed it on the ground for several miles in rural areas. No small towns in the region appear to be directly impacted.

Many places saw large hail. Photos show that baseball-sized hail fell in Pottawattamie County near Underwood. Two-inch hail fell in Waverly, according to the National Weather Service in Des Moines.

James Kelley

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Iowa Public Radio

The Trump administration has been cutting federal funding for colleges and universities across the country, and its effects at the University of Iowa are upsetting some students and faculty.

In the middle of campus Thursday, students and professors gathered to share testimonials about how the White House’s attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion and higher education have been impacting them.

Christopher Merrill, the director of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, said the cuts to his program impact writers from around the world. Three alumni have gone on to win Nobel Prizes in literature.

“We ended up getting about $1 million taken away from us, when all of our grants were terminated. Ninety percent of that million dollars would have been spent in the United States — at the Graduate Hotel, at all of our wonderful eateries and cafés and bars around town.”

Additionally, five international students have had their visas revoked by the Trump administration, which has created a culture of fear at the university, according to a graduate student.

The Iowa Department of Public Safety signed an agreement with federal immigration officials to establish an immigration enforcement task force.

The Des Moines Register reports the group will be made up of three officers from Iowa who will be trained to identify and detain people in the U.S. without legal status.

Iowa DPS says the agreement formalizes a relationship that already exists between the state and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The ACLU of Iowa criticized the agreement, telling the Register it undermines trust between immigrant communities and local law enforcement.

The Linn County jail has started housing a small number of people for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of a new contract signed in January.

The Linn County Sheriff’s Office renegotiated a longstanding agreement with the U.S. Marshals Service, which included housing some federal inmates. Recently, it began taking in a small number of ICE detainees.

Sheriff Brian Gardner says ICE had been reaching out to his office, asking the jail to house detainees, leading up to the renegotiations.

“With the agreement with the Marshals Service, we provided them up to 70 beds. Last, when I checked, they were at the 50-ish range, so that left about 20 additional spaces that they could have filled and haven’t. And so, we told ICE that they were able to make up that difference if necessary.”

Gardner says Linn County is currently holding one or two people for ICE.

The Iowa Flood Center at the University of Iowa is facing new funding cuts due to the federal government pulling funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The center, which is partly funded through NOAA, expected to get around $5-6 million through the federal agency. But now, it will get less than $700,000.

Director Larry Weber says the center’s work saves lives with better flood forecasts.

“The program provided roughly $40 million over the last four years to the state of Iowa for these small communities. And in many of those communities, that's the difference between a project being built and simply not being built.”

He says without the flood center’s sensors, there won’t be accurate monitoring.

Weber made his comments on IPR’s River to River.

This story was updated to reflect the correct amount of funding NOAA will receive. It is less than $700,000, not $7,000.

Democrat Kevin Techau announced his intent to run against Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson in Iowa’s 2^nd Congressional District.

Techau is a sixth generation Iowan. He served in the U.S. Air Force and was Iowa Department of Public Safety commissioner under former Gov. Tom Vilsack. Techau says he’s running for Hinson’s seat in part because he believes the congresswoman has been a divisive presence in the district.

“There’s just no reason we can’t work together for the benefit of Iowa. And right now, that’s not happening with Ashley Hinson. I’m dedicated to making Iowa safer and bringing economic opportunities back to Iowa.”

Techau says he believes Hinson isn’t living up to her campaign promises.

“Washington is full of broken promises, and Ashley Hinson is right at the front of that line. She ran the most recent campaign on economic issues, bringing prices down, fighting inflation — and she’s done nothing of the sort.”

Hinson was reelected last year with nearly 60% of the vote.

The Iowa Department of Transportation saw a record number of visits to its offices last week from people applying for Real ID cards. After May 7, travelers 18 years and older will need a Real ID or a valid passport to board domestic flights and enter some federal facilities.

As of this week, about 76% of Iowans with driver’s licenses or state IDs have transitioned to the new cards, which are designed to be counterfeit-proof.

The Department of Homeland Security said, as of April, about 60% of the country’s driver’s license and state ID card holders had Real IDs.

The Real IDs won’t be required for driving, voting or showing proof of age to buy alcohol.

Read more from the Midwest Newsroom’s Holley Edgell.

Des Moines Performing Arts

A southeast Iowa native who’s been dancing almost as long as he’s been able to walk is performing in central Iowa Thursday night as a veteran member of the Chicago Tap Theatre.

Isaac Stauffer, who grew up in Wayland, is performing at the Civic Center in Des Moines with the Chicago Tap Theatre. Now in his seventh year with the Chicago-based troupe, Stauffer’s performance in Des Moines will be his professional debut in his home state. He says he’s thrilled.

“Ever since moving to Chicago and joining Chicago Tap Theatre, I’ve been wanting to get the company to perform in Iowa. But you know, there’s contracts and a lot of things that have to align for that to happen. So, I’ve been all around the country — I’ve toured internationally — but this one, back in Iowa, will really be something special.”

The University of Iowa graduate says this company fuses storytelling with a high-energy celebration of tap dance, with each show blending rhythm, creativity and emotion. He says one of the reasons he joined the company was because of their unique style of performing exclusively to live music.

“It’s something that was always really important to the artistic director and founder, and it’s been true since the company’s inception.”

Stauffer’s dancing career began when he first appeared on an Iowa State Fair stage at age 6. He eventually won the Sprout division of the Bill Riley Talent Show, and then moved up to the 13 and older bracket. He says working his way up to winning “the whole thing” at age 21 — the cut off age for performers — was fate.

Dancing can be exceptionally hard on professional dancers, as they have to keep their bodies in peak shape. But at age 35, Stauffer says he still has a long, promising career ahead.

“People perform professionally as tap dancers into their 50s and 60s sometimes, so there’s no end in sight for me currently.”

The Iowa Environmental Council and the Harkin Institute at Drake University are launching an initiative to examine cancer in Iowa. The two groups want to better understand how Iowa’s agricultural industry and other unique environmental factors could be contributing to the state’s high cancer rate.

Iowa Environmental Council Executive Director Sarah Green says there are a lot of environmental factors that stand out in the state.

“Iowa has the most factory farm waste of any other state in the country. Iowa has more concentrated animal feeding operations than any other state in the country.”

Green says the initiative will include a literature review, a listening tour, the creation of an expert coalition and a public outreach campaign.

“It's critical that our findings and communications campaign reach every single county. When people are informed, they become part of the solution, when they make different choices and advocate for positive change.”

Iowa has the second highest rate of new cancer diagnoses in the country and is one of just two states with increasing cancer rates, according to the Iowa Cancer Registry.

Long emergency room waits in the U.S. are common, especially for older patients. Some wait for many hours or even days to get a hospital bed. Experts say this will only get worse as the population ages and patients arrive at the hospital with more complex diseases and more cases of dementia.

In 2022 — the most recent year with available data — 3 million visits to an ER that led to a hospital admission had a wait of four hours or longer before getting a regular hospital bed. The majority of the patients who were boarded were 65 or older.

Arjun Venkatesh, who studies emergency medicine at Yale University, says part of the problem is a lack of staffed hospital beds.

“We have about just as many hospital beds in America today as we did 20 years ago. The reason that's a problem is that emergency department visits are up 30-40% over that time.”

National organizations like the American College of Emergency Physicians have been advocating for systemic changes on the policy and hospital levels to tackle the issue. But those groups say the efforts haven’t moved the needle far enough.

Read more from Ben Thorp and Devna Bose with Side Effect’s Public Media.

National Weather Service

Iowans will want to keep an eye on the sky late Thursday afternoon and into the evening, as severe weather is possible.

National Weather Service Meteorologist Alexis Jimenez says much of the state may see a few powerful storms rumble overhead. However, the risk is strongest for southwest Iowa.

“They have the enhanced risk down there in southwest Iowa, and we’re even looking up towards that hail threat continuing up towards Des Moines as we get to the evening hours.”

Tornadoes can appear at any time of day and during any of the four seasons, but Jimenez says the odds of seeing a twister late Thursday may be greater.

“The tornado risk can’t be completely ruled out as you get towards far southwest Iowa. But as storms move towards Des Moines, once the sun sets, that threat really diminishes. Similarly, for any damaging wind, damaging hail — even in excess of two inches in diameter — is possible through this evening.”

The forecast calls for another chance of rain Saturday night and for much of the day Sunday.

Lucia Cheng

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Iowa Public Radio

Iowa cold case investigators now have a new tool to help find leads on unsolved cases: a deck of playing cards.

Attorney General Brenna Bird introduced the cards Wednesday. The deck contains the information and pictures of 52 cold case victims. The decks will be distributed to prisoners in order to spark conversations that Bird hopes will help investigators.

“This card deck is a way we get the word out to people who might hold that missing piece of information that could unlock the truth.”

Bird says other states have had these kinds of playing cards for years and successfully solved cases because of them.

There are more than 400 unsolved cases across Iowa.

The Iowa House Oversight Committee questioned state court officials Wednesday about IT errors that sent more than $27 million of court debt money to the wrong government funds. Lawmakers asked why officials waited three years to tell the Legislature about the mistake.

State Court Administrator Bob Gast says the judicial branch spent that time studying the problem. He says in hindsight, they should have told lawmakers sooner.

“At the outset, it seemed premature to notify the Legislature about issues about which we did not know the scope or have a resolution. But again, we did not try to hide it.”

Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison, says it looks like the court system tried to hide the problem. He asked for documents to prove money wasn’t stolen.

Court officials say they have fixed the problem and they will provide documentation. However, they say it’s up to the Legislature to restore previously misallocated funds and to simplify the court debt system.

The Cedar Rapids Community School District is eliminating 27 full-time jobs in its Educational Leadership and Support Center. This is on top of a previous announcement from the school district saying it would lay off 6% of its teachers and support staff.

The new layoffs will save the district $1.6 million as it faces a $12 million budget deficit going into the next school year. The district says it hasn't eliminated any student programs.

Roughly 60% of the reductions will happen naturally through unfilled vacancies and attrition, while the rest will be let go starting June 30.

Two candidates will soon face off in a special election in eastern Iowa’s House District 78. The election was set after Rep. Sami Scheetz resigned in March to serve on the Linn County Board of Supervisors.

Democrat Angel Ramirez will face off against Republican Bernie Hayes in the special election April 29.

Ramirez is a peace facilitator for Kids First Law Center. She’s also the executive director of a fellowship nonprofit in Cedar Rapids, and previously worked as a legislative aide for state Sen. Rob Hogg.

“Our communities are being impacted, not only by our federal government being ran by billionaires who have no regard for the American people, but also a state government that’s stripping away civil rights,” Ramirez said. “They want bold, progressive, human-centered leadership here in Iowa.”

Her opponent, Hayes, is the chair of the Linn County Republicans. He said focusing on building strong families will be a priority of his if he is elected.

“We can design a system that rewards doing life the right way, to the point where it stabilizes families and encourages them to stay together and to work together and discipline their kids and motivate their kids.”

The winner of the special election will serve the rest of Scheetz’ two-year term.

Madeleine C. King

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Iowa Public Radio

Des Moines Area Regional Transit (DART) is losing its electric buses due to safety concerns.

In the two years since DART bought seven electric buses to use in their fleet, the buses have had suspension problems, transmission problems and structural failures. The transit system’s typical hybrid fleets usually last for 12 years.

Chief Operating and Planning Officer Luis Montoya says its current repairs have been under warranty, but once repairs become DART’s responsibility, Montoya says he can’t justify the future cost.

“These buses were rusting from the inside, and that, long term — they were not going to be safe for continued use.”

DART bought the electric buses with help from federal grants. Now that DART has received a waiver to avoid repaying a portion of those grants to the federal government, it will sell the bus parts.

Iowa State University Insect Zoo

A petition and letter-writing campaign is being launched in an effort to save the popular Insect Zoo at Iowa State University. Officials at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences plan to close the facility at the end of the semester after three decades.

Ginny Mitchell says in her 13 years as the educational program coordinator, the Insect Zoo has reached more than 500,000 Iowans — mostly children — through the Ames campus and during visits to schools, libraries and other facilities across the state.

The Insect Zoo is home to more than 175 species of arthropods, as well as millipedes, spiders, scorpions and all sorts of other creatures. Mitchell’s job is being eliminated, along with those of 10 ISU students from the Department of Plant Pathology, Entomology and Microbiology, who help run the zoo and take it on the road.

“The Insect Zoo does not just belong with Iowa State University. It belongs to the children of Iowa. These are the foundational humans of our state — of our country. It is very important, it’s very vital, especially as an agricultural state, to have information, knowledge and a lack of fear for insects. And that’s what the Insect Zoo does.”

While ISU’s Reiman Gardens may be able to add some of the insects from the zoo to its collection in the butterfly habitat, the future remains uncertain for the many dozens of other rare, living specimens from around the globe.

The petition is collecting digital signatures and supporters’ stories about the Insect Zoo and donations can be made to help with its deficit through the ISU Foundation. The deficit started to mount during the shutdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic and snowballed, according to Mitchell. She says the Insect Zoo is now about $150,000 in the red.

The facility is slated for closure June 30.

Courtesy of the Sage campaign

The first Democrat to declare a campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2026 is a first-time candidate who says he will work to repair the party’s relationship with working class voters.

Nathan Sage of Indianola will compete for the Democratic nomination against incumbent Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, who is running for a third term in the Senate next year.

Sage is currently the executive director of the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce. He’s a veteran who was deployed to Iraq three times while serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and the Army.

He believes he can connect with voters who have felt left behind by the Democratic Party.

“That’s who I am. I work for the working class. I’m part of the working class. I want to make the working class … give them a seat at the table because they built the table, they should have a seat at it.”

More Democrats are reportedly considering running for Ernst’s seat in the Senate. Ernst also faces multiple challengers in the Republican primary, including former state Sen. Jim Carlin.

Read more.

Iowa storm victims were not included in an automatic extension on Tuesday’s Tax Day, like other parts of the country.

Most Americans must file their taxes on or before April 15. However, taxpayers in places that were declared federal disaster areas received an extra two weeks — until May 1 — to file. This includes a large portion of the southeastern part of the U.S. ravaged by hurricanes.

People impacted by catastrophic wildfires in Los Angeles have until October to file their taxes.

Last year, extensions were available for Iowans impacted by tornadoes and flooding. A spokesperson for the Internal Revenue Service says there is no disaster-related relief for Iowa this year.

James Kelley

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Iowa Public Radio

Sen. Chuck Grassley hosted a crowded town hall meeting Tuesday in southeast Iowa’s Fort Madison. The area voted overwhelmingly for President Donald Trump in 2024, but people at the town hall criticized the administration’s handling of tariffs, immigration and veterans’ affairs.

Grassley faced special criticism for Congress not reigning in the executive branch, leading to what one audience member called a constitutional crisis. In response, Grassley said his new bill limiting executive authority on tariffs would restore power to Congress.

Grassley said he’s trying to correct decades of Democratic leadership in the 20th century that are to blame for executive overreach on interstate and foreign commerce.

Read more.

Gov. Kim Reynolds is asking the federal government to issue a presidential disaster declaration for four western Iowa counties impacted by a blizzard in March.

Reynolds is requesting funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for people and communities in Crawford, Harrison, Monona and Woodbury counties.

It’s estimated that the weather caused more than $8 million in damage.

Strong winds and heavy snow caused widespread power outages across the area. Some residents lost power for an extended period of time.

Madeleine King

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Iowa Public Radio

Multiple murals on a laundromat in Des Moines were painted over this weekend without warning, including a mural of the late civil rights leader and Congressman John Lewis.

The image and the words “Black Lives Matter” were painted by artist Reuben Cheatem in 2020 as part of a community mural initiative. He says he wasn’t notified that it would be painted over by the property owners, JBD Investments, to prep the building for sale.

“I understand the impermanence, but it's still destroying artwork that had been established there. And so, it just would have been nice to have known beforehand."

Cheatem says he hopes other businesses are able to see how much the mural meant to the community and that a replacement can be painted elsewhere.

As Des Moines continues to seek out solutions to homelessness, people can now be cited for camping downtown and in other public areas. At the same time, the city is dealing with a chronic shortage of affordable housing.

But providing affordable housing is only one part of the equation to solve homelessness. What happens after people get into housing also matters, especially as those people adjust to being in a permanent home.

Homeward, Polk County’s homelessness planning organization, analyzes how different housing solutions will affect the community. CEO Angie Arthur says she has seen an example of what can happen when people get into housing but don’t have case managers to provide continued support.

“We're going to need partnerships from the county, from cities, from employers, from nonprofits, from service providers, from private citizens. This is going to take a community response.”

Read more about Polk County’s services to help people stay housed through aftercare support.

Five students at the University of Iowa have had their visas revoked.

The graduate student union, Campaign to Organize Graduate Students (COGS), says the announcement came during a webinar with International Programs Dean Russell Ganim.

University officials say U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has not directly encountered students who have had their visas revoked. COGS is encouraging students to contact the Immigration Clinic at the UI College of Law.

Inside Higher Ed says the Trump administration has changed the legal status of more than 1,200 international students at over 180 colleges and universities across the country.

The Sioux City City Council reversed course Monday on budget cuts proposed for the local human rights commission.

The council unanimously decided to trim the budget by about $35,000, instead of the $140,000 approved in February. Officials say this will allow the department that investigates discrimination claims to continue its work and keep full-time staff. Two part-time jobs will be impacted.

Sioux City Human Rights Commission Executive Director Karen Mackey says now is not the time to stop important civil rights work in the community.

“We’re law enforcement. Especially during this time of our country, having a local civil rights enforcement agency is vital.”

Funding for an annual multicultural fair will come from the city’s business budget instead of the human rights commission.

A state-run residential care facility is facing a lawsuit from the family of a deceased nurse. Shannon Billheimer took her own life after she was allegedly fired for reporting abuse at the Woodward Resource Center.

Woodward is the only state-run facility for people with intellectual disabilities.

The lawsuit says Woodward has a history of retaliating against employees who report abuse. It also says after Billheimer reported the abuse, the investigation focused on her rather than the alleged abuser.

The center has been fined three times in the last five months for deficiencies in resident care.

A law requiring certain counties to elect their supervisors by district was signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds last week. It says Black Hawk, Johnson and Story counties — the three counties with a public university — must create equal-sized districts, rather than elect their supervisors at-large.

Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, helped manage the bill. He said it’s designed to reduce voter suppression in rural areas. However, Black Hawk County Supervisor Tavis Hall said there’s no way to draw a district where rural voters get the only say without gerrymandering.

“There is not a way to draw a strictly rural district. We have 131,000 population, and over 100,000 live between Waterloo and Cedar Falls. In order to achieve a strictly rural district, you would have to do the sort of gerrymandering that’s not legal within the state.”

The three counties are assembling committees to begin the redistricting process, which must be approved by the Legislative Services Committee before Dec. 31.

Madeleine C King

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Iowa Public Radio

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird hasn’t said whether she will be campaigning for reelection as attorney general or running to succeed Gov. Kim Reynolds.

The crowd at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition spring event over the weekend watched a video message from Reynolds about her decision not to seek reelection and later heard from Bird in person.

“I will stand for freedom. I will fight for Iowa, and we will fight alongside each other as we work to make America great again.”

The event’s master of ceremonies hinted Republicans would “hear more from her later,” and Bird suggested that she’s wrestling with the decision about her political future.

“I’ve had a verse on my mind. Sometimes as you pray, sometimes something comes to you, but one is, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ Have you ever prayed that one before? We probably all have at different times, but I am certainly listening. I appreciate your prayers.”

Bird touted a series of court rulings, policy changes and new laws at the state and federal level, but told the crowd that the conservative movement has more work to do.

“We won those fights, and I’m sure glad we did. But they’re never going to be over, are they? We have to keep on fighting.”

The Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition’s members are a crucial voting block for the Republican Party, and many speakers at the event stressed the stakes in the upcoming midterm election, which is typically tough for the president’s political party.

University of Northern Iowa

Researchers from the University of Northern Iowa are exploring some of the nation’s deepest caves to learn about life in extreme environments, and their findings could ultimately help NASA in its search for life on other planets.

UNI Astrochemistry and Astrobiology Professor Joshua Sebree has led undergraduate students on 50-60 fact-finding missions far underground, both in Iowa and surrounding states.

“We go out to Cold Water Cave, which is the longest cave in Iowa at over 17 miles … and we visit there once a month for various research projects.”

While it would be difficult for people to live in those subterranean environments for long, Sebree says other creatures can thrive in caves, but they can be quite elusive.

“We’re always on the hunt for an extreme fish, the fish that can survive in caves. But then we’re also looking for different chemical fossils that have been preserved in the rock over time. We’re looking at how the glow-in-the-dark properties of these rocks can tell us about the different waters that made the caves eons ago and so we can get a picture of how the cave has evolved over time.”

The team of UNI cavers uses ultraviolet light, or blacklight, to examine mineral formations in the caves. He says the glowing patterns can offer new insight into how water — and potential life — once interacted deep underground and could indicate how life might exist in places like Jupiter’s moon Europa.

UNI’s research is being supported by NASA and the Iowa Space Grant Consortium.

Liz Martin

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University of Iowa

University of Iowa Health Care’s newest hospital was unveiled Friday in North Liberty. It’s a one-of-a-kind medical center in one of the fastest growing areas of the state.

The new 469,000 square-foot facility was designed with a special focus on orthopedic care. It has a walk-in clinic, emergency room, pharmacy, laboratories and a state-of-the-art physical therapy center.

Soon, the halls will be filled with 700 staff members. Officials estimate roughly 300 will come from inside the UI Health Care network.

U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Iowa Senate Minority Leader Janice Weiner and the mayors of Cedar Rapids and Iowa City were among the crowd.

UI Health Care CEO Bradley Haws says the new facility will allow innovation to flourish.

“We view this as an ideal place, where we can innovate and actually challenge and develop orthopedic care into an even more renowned service that we provide. And this will provide us a learning laboratory from which we can do that.”

Construction for the new hospital began in October 2021. It’s scheduled to open April 28.

Rachel Cramer

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Iowa Public Radio

Jefferson, a town of 4,000 people in western Iowa, is receiving national recognition for its historic preservation and investments in public art.

The nonprofit Jefferson Matters is one of three recipients across the U.S. to receive the 2025 Great American Main Street Award.

Since 2012, Jefferson Matters has led efforts to rehabilitate over 100 buildings and open new businesses. Rooftop murals are visible from the top of the town’s bell tower, which attracts an average of 6,500 visitors each year. Public art installations, events and studios are another draw.

Jefferson is the 10th Iowa community to receive a Great American Main Street Award. The last award in Iowa went to Woodbine in 2014.

Read more.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds announced she won’t be running for reelection on Friday. That means the governor's race won't have an incumbent on the ballot, leaving the spot open for other Republicans to throw their name in the ring. Former Rep. Brad Sherman had already announced he'd be running in the primary, and Attorney General Brenna Bird has indicated she might be interested in joining the race as well.

Meanwhile, under the golden dome of Iowa’s Capitol, lawmakers passed a series of bills, sending them to Reynolds’ desk for her signature. That includes the K-12 school funding package, which was finalized nearly two months after the deadline to decide education funding. Lawmakers also passed a bill to lower the minimum age to carry handguns to 18 and a bill to restrict cellphone use in schools. Other bills that were passed last week include a measure aimed at improving math scores and another proposal from Secretary of State Paul Pate that aims to strengthen checks of voters’ citizenship status.

🎧 Listen as IPR State Government Reporter Katarina Sostaric and Morning Edition Host Meghan McKinney discuss what happened last week — and what to expect this week — in Iowa's 2025 legislative session.

Police officers in Davenport are increasing their foot patrol presence downtown as part of a larger partnership with local mental health and housing agencies.

The partnerships between the Davenport Police Department, Vera French Mental Health Center and Humility Homes and Services have existed for years. But now, they’re using those connections to employ a taskforce of 15 off-duty police officers to check in on local businesses and engage in harm reduction practices.

Megan Brown-Saldana is the chief development officer with Humility Homes and Services.

“People don't have to know everything, and we cannot expect our police officers to also know every single thing about every social service agency and every risk factor. This is how we partner together, to make sure that when we can do something to help.”

The pilot program was created in response to a variety of factors, including reports of people feeling less safe downtown and a shortage in housing supply. It’s scheduled to run for one year and has been given $65,000.

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate says he’s asking the Trump administration to continue programs and funding that help states with election security.

The Trump administration has paused election security programs through the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Pate, a Republican, says it would be “pretty serious” for Iowa if those ended. He says federal support helps the state keep its voter registration database secure, among other things.

Pate says he has heard in conversations with federal officials that they will continue to provide some kind of security support.

“They’re reformatting it. And of course, I’m waiting anxiously to find out what that looks like. But we do count on a lot of those cyber protections. We partner with the other state agencies, the federal agencies as well, and I would really not want to see that go away.”

Pate made his comments Friday during a taping of Iowa Press on Iowa PBS.

The Iowa Attorney General’s office says two Sioux City police officers were justified in shooting and killing a man during a traffic stop in February.

The officers pulled over a car with a broken license plate light. They identified Vicente Manzo Hernandez as a passenger and tried to arrest him because he was wanted on a warrant.

Hernandez tried moving into the driver’s seat. Body camera footage shows Officer Dyllon Frederickson reached in to grab Hernandez. Then, Frederickson’s foot was trapped in the car as Hernandez tried to drive away. Frederickson shot Hernandez so he wouldn’t be dragged by the car.

The Attorney General’s office determined it was a reasonable use of force.

University of Iowa researchers are studying if psychedelics can help treat alcohol use disorder. The study will give participants who are struggling with drinking either ketamine or psilocybin.

Peg Nopoulos, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Iowa, says there’s research that suggests psychedelics have the potential to help those struggling with addiction.

“If we find that these drugs are useful for alcohol, they will probably also, I hope, be useful for opioid addiction, or methamphetamine use disorder, or nicotine — whatever.”

Nopoulos says it’s possible that psychedelics can influence abnormal brain circuitry that’s associated with addiction.

The study is still in its early stages, and researchers are actively recruiting participants who have alcohol use disorder.

Madeleine Charis King

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Iowa Public Radio

Gov. Kim Reynolds is not running for reelection, setting up a wide-open race in 2026.

Reynolds first became governor in 2017 after Gov. Terry Branstad was appointed as U.S. Ambassador to China. She was reelected twice in 2018 and 2022.

In a video statement, Reynolds said she is stepping aside at the end of her term to give back to her family that has supported her political career.

“Now it’s time for me to be there for them. To help them through the next stage of life. To see every track meet and basketball game; to see them grow before they’re all grown.”

Reynolds has led a Republican trifecta in state government since becoming governor. She has used it to enact a broad restructuring of state agencies, to expand charter schools and education savings accounts and to establish a flat income tax.

Former state Rep. Brad Sherman is the only Republican who has previously announced plans to run for governor. On the Democratic side, Paul Dahl of Webster City is the only candidate who has announced plans to run for governor so far.

Read more.

Photo Courtesy of KSCJ

MercyOne Medical Center in Sioux City recognized April as National Donate Life Month at its annual ceremony Wednesday. An organ donor flag was raised to remind everyone of the importance of donation.

John Jorgensen, a donation services coordinator with Iowa Donor Network, said 130 donors gave 387 organs for transplant.

“That was a record year for organ donation in our state,” he said. “Thousands more lives were healed through the gifts of tissue — 1,118 tissue donations in Iowa.”

Jorgensen said it was the second straight year for record tissue donations.

Jennifer McDonald shared the story of her husband Steven, who donated his organs.

“My husband’s death was sudden and traumatic. On July 2, 2022, Steve took his own life. His passing has been a profound loss for our family and friends, and we have found solace in knowing that his gift of life has saved others. Steve was able to donate his heart and both kidneys to three recipients,” McDonald said.

She said she found out first-hand how important organ donations can be.

“I have had the opportunity to correspond via letters with one of Steve’s recipients, Michael, a 54-year-old former U.S. Marshal, who was in need of a new heart and received that gift of life with Steve’s donation,” she said. “This is something that Michael is truly grateful for. Steve was always a giver, wanting to help, and it only made sense for our family to allow him to keep doing that after his passing.”

The Iowa Donor Network said there are 600 people in Iowa and more than 104,000 Americans overall currently waiting for a life-saving organ transplant. Learn more about how to register as an organ donor in Iowa.

Officials at two of Iowa’s public universities have confirmed instances of student visas being cancelled.

Officials say students at both the University of Iowa and Iowa State University have been impacted by the Trump administration’s visa cancellations. For privacy reasons, they were unable to provide any more information.

According to Inside Higher Ed, the U.S. Department of State has revoked the F-1 or J-1 visas of more than 600 international students and recent graduates at roughly 120 colleges and universities around the country. They may now face deportation.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last month that the cancellations are meant to target students who have participated in social activism on campus, particularly those who protested the war in Gaza.

In many cases, the students have not been given an explanation for why their visas are being revoked, and many have not heard from immigration authorities.

A new state report has determined nearly all pregnancy-related deaths of Iowa residents in recent years were preventable.

The state’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee Report looked at 20 pregnancy-related deaths that occurred between 2019 and 2021 and determined that 19 were preventable. It found the deaths disproportionately affected people who are Hispanic and Black and on Medicaid.

Stephanie Radke, an OB/GYN at University of Iowa Health Care and the chair of the committee, says the committee reviewed extensive records to determine how preventable each death could have been.

“What were their interactions with the health care system? What was their social situation around the time they became pregnant? And could those things, if we think they contributed to the person dying, do we have a chance of addressing those things?”

The report makes numerous recommendations for health care providers, facilities, systems and communities, including better screening and care coordination efforts.

State and federal officials detected bird flu in a backyard flock in Hardin County. An Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship spokesperson says the flock included about 250 chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese and guineas.

This marks Iowa’s seventh detection of the H5N1 virus this year within domestic birds.

H5N1 detections are confirmed by the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to believe the threat to the general public remains low.

Eggs and poultry meat should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the CDC.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is asking people who find five or more sick or dead wild birds within a week to report their findings to their local wildlife biologist or state conservation officer.

Iowa DNR

Spring is spawning season, and Iowa’s fish hatcheries are working to grow fish to fill lakes across the state.

Kim Hawkins, a fisheries biologist with the Iowa DNR, runs the Spirit Lake Fish Hatchery. She says they were very successful in collecting the northern pike needed this year. Hawkins says they caught over 130 fish in one night. Last year, it took six nights to catch the same amount.

After caching the fish, they extract the eggs from the females and fertilize them with the males. Then, they put the eggs in an incubator and wait for them to hatch.

“With these northern pike, since they usually spawn in shallow sloughs or shallow lakes, and those types of areas with that water nice and warm in those sections, it only takes about 13-15 days for them to hatch.”

Other species are grown in the hatchery and then released, but not the pike. Hawkins says right after they hatch, they bring them to the lakes that requested them. She says most go to shallow lakes or newly renovated areas.

Hawkins says Spirit Lake also handles walleyes and muskies.

“Our walleyes will go in about 30 different lakes and impoundments, and we are only one of two hatcheries in Iowa that do the walleye fry … Muskies are our priority in this hatchery. We are the ones who produce those for Iowa.”

She says the Spirit Lake Hatchery is open to the public every day until the netting is completed for the walleyes and muskies.

Anna Pope

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Harvest Public Media

Calls to eliminate junk food from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are growing.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called on states to ask for waivers to keep sugary or processed foods from being paid for with SNAP. The U.S. Department of Agriculture — which oversees the federal food program — has refused such waivers in the past.

However, proposed bills introduced this year in Congress and 18 states, including Iowa, seek to restrict what SNAP recipients can buy. Some food advocates say the restrictions would have harmful effects.

Read more from Harvest Public Media’s Anna Pope.

Iowa’s four Republican representatives in the U.S. House all voted in favor of a budget resolution that would preserve the 2017 tax cuts from President Donald Trump’s first term. The outline passed by the House and Senate does not demand spending cuts as deep as the plan passed by the House earlier this year.

Before the vote on the resolution, Iowa’s 2^nd Congressional District Rep. Ashley Hinson said that it’s important to advance Trump’s agenda.

“We wrote a very conservative bill in the House because I think that's what Americans want. But what I want to see happen is for us to actually move forward with the process, so that's what I've been communicating to my colleagues. I want to keep those Trump tax cuts in place.”

Democrats have warned that spending cuts could affect things like the Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). According to the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture report, about 130,000 Iowa households were receiving SNAP benefits in December of 2024.

Hinson said Republicans can reach the budget targets by eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. She’s also open to work requirements for federal food assistance.

The State of Iowa is awarding nearly $3 million to help install or upgrade gas station pumps for E15 and biodiesel.

The Iowa Renewable Fuel Infrastructure Program recently approved 114 projects around the state. A 2022 state law requires most gas stations to offer the E15 ethanol blend in at least one pump by Jan. 1.

Since the grant program began in 2006, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship has distributed $57.7 million.

The latest round of state funding is in addition to the federal grants announced by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins during her visit to Iowa last week.

The University of Iowa is working on a policy for revoking its honorary degrees in response to directives from the Board of Regents.

The university currently does not have a policy for revoking honorary degrees. But in February, the Board of Regents said public universities may develop procedures for doing so if a recipient did not meet all the necessary conditions to receive the degree.

Honorary degrees are given to individuals with outstanding career achievements, who may or may not have attended the university that awarded them the degree.

A spokesperson from the University of Iowa says there have been initial discussions and plans to begin working on a policy. To date, the university has not revoked an honorary degree. Past recipients include actor Gene Wilder and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Marilynne Robinson.

Both Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa already have policies for revoking degrees.

Millions of dollars in grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities have been canceled for arts and cultural groups across all 50 states.

The National Humanities Alliance, an umbrella organization that supports the humanities, says it’s heard directly from all three of Iowa’s public universities and the State Historical Society of Iowa about grants they were awarded that have been terminated.

Heather Plucar, executive director of Humanities Iowa, says dozens of smaller organizations will be impacted as well because significant grants to state humanities councils have been canceled.

“We won't be able to help librarians and volunteers and folks in historical societies in a meaningful manner without this funding."

Humanities Iowa is partnering with other cultural organizations, like the Iowa Museum Association and the Iowa Library Association, to advocate for supporting the humanities.

Read more.

Lutheran Services in Iowa laid off about a third of the 100 employees at the end of March who help immigrants and refugees at offices in Des Moines, Waterloo and Sioux City. The nonprofit lost federal funding in January after President Donald Trump took office.

Nick Wuertz, LSI’s director of immigration and refugee community services, says the nonprofit will continue its work despite the loss of funding.

““It’s well documented that even though we're welcoming people here for humanitarian reasons, they are significant net contributors to our state and local economy. Not only does it not make humanitarian sense, but it also doesn't make any economic sense for us to not continue to invite people here that want to build a new life and contribute to our communities.”

Wuertz says private donations of $300,000 are helping keep about half of the impacted employees on the job through April.

“I think that's been the one bright spot in all of this is just seeing how much Iowans truly care and how much people in local communities really value their immigrant refugee neighbors and value the diversity and the contributions they bring to the community.”

After the federal government cut funding in January, it still owed LSI $1.5 million in back payments.

Wuertz says the organization is still looking for money to help immigrants and refugees with higher rent and utility costs.

He adds that travel has stopped for all new arrivals, even people vetted and screened to come into the country.

“We see the folks that we welcome continue to work in the local community, contribute to the workforce, and many of them even start small businesses, so it's really sad and there's a huge blow and loss for the community.”

LSI employs about 400 people in Iowa and says programs focusing on foster care, adoption and early childhood are still operating as normal.

Trade disputes are adding to uncertainty facing Iowa’s biodiesel producers.

Grant Kimberly, executive director of the Iowa Biodiesel Board, says biodiesel production continues to slow as refiners await final details of new tax credits. Now tariffs have added another wrinkle.

Over three quarters of the biodiesel produced in Iowa last year came from soybeans. Kimberly says a trade war could lead the world’s largest importer of soybeans, China, to seek other suppliers like Brazil and Argentina. That could permanently affect Iowa exports.

“This goes on too long, what it does is it incentivizes our competition to grow faster than they otherwise would grow. And then once you have new acres brought into production in other parts of the world and you have new investments made in infrastructure and export facilities and logistics and transportation, that stuff remains in place and will be ongoing competition going forward.”

The board is calling on the Trump administration to increase the amount of biodiesel that must be blended into the nation’s fuel supply annually. Kimberly says setting the higher number would give the industry more certainty during this volatile time and give a needed win to the biodiesel industry and farmers.

He says the soybean industry has invested more than $6 billion into new soybean crushing plants.

“Definitely, there's plenty of capacity, and if we're going to have some trade disruptions for things like soybeans, because China is the number one soybean buyer in the world, we really need to have more domestic markets, start kicking up, and, and using more here at home.”

On April 29, voters in House District 78 will elect a new state representative. The area encompasses part of Cedar Rapids.

Rep. Sami Scheetz, D-Cedar Rapids, left his role in the Statehouse to serve as a Linn County supervisor, saying he can be more effective as a leader at the local level.

Iowa law says the governor must give at least eighteen days' notice of a special election.

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley says he’ll continue drumming up support for his bill that would limit a president’s power to impose tariffs, even after President Donald Trump vowed he’ll veto the measure if it reaches his desk.

Grassley says he’s long pushed for changes in two laws dating back to the 1960s and ’70s in which Congress delegated to the president most of its power to regulate interstate and foreign commerce.

“It’s one of 18 powers specifically listed for Congress to do. Congress gave up this authority. I think Congress ought to try to recapture its constitutional authority, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

Grassley says his bill is bipartisan and he notes six fellow Republican senators have signed on to support it, but he didn’t comment on the bill’s chances to pass. Just last week, the president enacted another round of steep tariffs, impacting trade with dozens of nations.

“This bill obviously doesn’t affect what Trump did, because it’s not retroactive, but Trump did give me the opportunity when he raised the issue of tariffs to get back on my bandwagon.”

The bill would require Congress to approve the president’s tariffs on trading partners before they could take effect. Calling himself a “free and fair trader,” Grassley says trade benefits the family farmer, while tariffs usually target agriculture. He says the timing of the bill was intentional.

Even though a veto looms, Grassley says he’ll continue shepherding this legislation, “regardless of the president’s comments, because the Constitution’s on my side.”

A new lawsuit claims an executive order signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds weakened state oversight of water resources and pipeline companies.

Reynolds issued Executive Order 10 in January 2023. It requires all administrative rules coming from state agencies to pass a cost-benefit analysis.

Three Iowans brought the lawsuit. One of their claims is that the executive order made state regulations less effective in preventing pollution from livestock farms from reaching rivers and streams.

When she signed the executive order, Reynolds said the state’s administrative code was putting an undue burden on Iowans and the state’s economy.

The Sioux City City Council may reconsider a plan to significantly reduce the budget for the local human rights commission.

In February, the council slashed the budget by more than a third, or $140,000, for next fiscal year. The department helps enforce anti-discrimination laws.

During a meeting Monday, supporters of the Sioux City Human Rights Commission packed the council chambers, including Mike Goodman.

“It is critical that we have proper local support for the rights of our citizens. We're a diverse community. We value equity, diversity and inclusion, and I'm proud to say that.”

Dan Moore, the mayor pro tem, is one of two council members in support of fully funding the commission.

“It's an essential service and I voted against the cut. You know, I would vote against it again.”

The head of the Human Rights Commission says if the money isn’t reinstated, staff hours will be cut, and some of the most vulnerable in the community will suffer.

The council voted to decide next Monday on whether to reinstate the budget.

Gasoline prices in Iowa have crept up slightly in the past week, and some blame the new international tariffs. In some states, prices at the pump have jumped as much as 30 cents since the start of April.

However, AAA spokesperson Brynna Knapp says the changes people are seeing in the state are common for the season.

“This is typical for the March-April timeframe … As demand for gas generally goes up in the spring and we switch into our summer blend from our winter blend of gas.”

Knapp says the tariffs President Donald Trump imposed last week on imports are not to blame for the latest gas price hikes. She says tariffs on crude and refined oil were excluded from the latest round of tariffs.

“So, no tariffs on Canadian or Mexican petroleum, and no tariffs on European gasoline cargoes that come into the U.S. But it’s too early for us to comment on if they will impact gas prices directly.”

AAA says the current average gas price in Iowa is $3.09 a gallon, up from $3.02 a week ago and from $2.99 a month ago. The current national average is $3.25.

National Weather Service offices across the Midwest are eliminating or scaling back weather balloon launches because of staffing shortages.

Weather balloons are typically released twice per day at 92 weather service offices. The balloons collect atmospheric information that informs forecasting models.

The NWS office in Omaha is one of five offices nationwide to suspend balloon launches. Adam Houston, an atmospheric sciences professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, says fewer balloon launches could be the tip of the iceberg.

“Losing them is a problem. But I think in some ways, my biggest concern is what this portends for other types of observations.”

Experts say a staffing shortage was already a problem before the Trump administration announced a federal hiring freeze in January.

Read more from Harvest Public Media’s Molly Ashford.

The Johnson County Board of Supervisors sent a letter to Gov. Kim Reynolds objecting to a bill that would change the county’s election procedures. If signed into law, it would require the three counties with a Board of Regents university — Black Hawk, Johnson and Story counties — to elect their supervisors by equal-sized districts, rather than at-large.

In the letter, the county supervisors say the bill is a “targeted interference” and urge Reynolds to be even-handed to all of Iowa’s 99 counties. In Johnson County, the board is made up entirely of Democrats.

Supporters of the bill say it would reduce voter suppression in rural areas. County officials say voters have always had the option to elect supervisors by district but have chosen not to.

The bill passed in the Legislature and is awaiting the governor's signature.

Retaliatory tariffs from an escalating trade war threaten Iowa’s top agricultural exports of soybeans, pork and corn.

Export markets consume roughly half of U.S. soybeans, more than a quarter of pork products and around 15% of the country’s corn production.

Iowa Corn Growers Association President Stu Swanson says the U.S. exported nearly 5 billion bushels of corn and value-added corn products last year. He says the Trump administration’s new tariffs come on top of low commodity prices and high input costs.

“We see tariffs impact us as farmers and the economy and finances on the farm, but it also relates heavily to rural Iowa and the communities we live in.”

A downturn in the farm economy has contributed to recent layoffs at Corteva, John Deere, Bridgestone-Firestone and Cargill.

The American Soybean Association is urging the administration to quickly negotiate with impacted countries, including China — the largest importer of U.S. soybeans.

Beginning in one month, some Iowans may find their driver’s license is no longer an acceptable form of identification when flying commercial. Starting May 7, travelers will be required to have what’s known as a REAL ID or another acceptable form of identification to fly.

The REAL ID requirement came on the heels of 9/11, after a Congressional committee recommended enhanced security measures to fly on a commercial plane or to enter a federal facility. The REAL ID Act was passed in 2005, but the deadline to require its enforcement has been pushed back several times.

AAA spokesman Brian Ortner says most Iowans have likely already made the switch.

“It looks just like your driver’s license right now, and a great way to check is [to] look at your driver’s license. See if there’s a gold star in the top right corner of your card. If there is, you have a REAL ID.”

Ortner says anyone who wants to get set up with a REAL ID needs proof of identity, like a passport, proof of Social Security number and a way to verify a home address, such as a mailed utility bill or medical document.

“You only have to go through the REAL ID process one time. So, if you’re up for renewal of your driver’s license before May 7, it’s the perfect time to do it.”

Learn more about what’s required to get a REAL ID and how it can be used.

Trust for America's Health

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Protecting the Public’s Health from Diseases, Disasters and Bioterrorism 2025 Report

A new report on emergency preparedness ranked Iowa in the middle tier. The annual report by the nonprofit Trust for America’s Health ranks states on how prepared they are for things like disease outbreaks, natural disasters and bioterrorism.

Iowa ranked in the middle tier for preparedness with 15 other states, the same ranking it got last year.

Matt McKillop with Trust for America’s Health says no hospitals in Iowa received an A grade ranking from the LeapFrog group, indicating that there is a lot of room to improve patient safety practices.

“Strengthening patient safety measures can reduce preventable medical errors, infections and complications, particularly crucial during public health emergencies.”

McKillop says Iowa’s strengths include its participation in the nurse licensure compact and its increased funding for public health.

Ben Kieffer

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Iowa Public Radio

A new submarine named for the state of Iowa is now officially part of the U.S. Navy. The USS Iowa was commissioned over the weekend at a ceremony held in Groton, Conn., where it was built.

The name USS Iowa was previously used for a World War II warship that took part in battles in the Pacific and carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Former Iowa First Lady Christie Vilsack is sponsor of the USS Iowa submarine. She says she was honored to help bring it into service because of her connection to the name’s World War II history.

“My dad would be very proud, as a naval aviator who escorted the USS Iowa battleship with the President of the United States aboard. He would be very proud that I’m here today, honoring the Navy and the state of Iowa.”

The USS Iowa is a fast-attack, nuclear submarine that will carry around 130 officers and enlisted sailors. It’s one of the first submarines of its kind, specifically designed for both male and female sailors.

Madeleine King

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Iowa Public Radio

A portion of downtown Iowa City was closed off over the weekend, as thousands of protestors filled the streets to protest against the Trump administration.

It was part of a movement called “Hands Off!,” with similar protests happening across the country. Events were also planned across Iowa, from Red Oak to Sioux City, Des Moines and Decorah.

Protesters in Iowa City heard speeches from legislators, local leaders and community members. City councilmember Mazahir Salih was one of the speakers.

“Keep a stand against injustice and keep organizing because this country is not theirs to take. It’s ours to protect.”

Demonstrators directed much of their scrutiny at billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency. The department has made cuts to veterans affairs, the National Institutes of Health and social security.

Read more.

Officials in Johnson County are discussing ways to help people experiencing a crisis related to mental health or substance use outside of the already crowded county jail.

Leaders of county agencies participated in workshops this week to discuss strategies for crisis intervention. The goal was to divert people experiencing mental health and substance use disorders away from the criminal justice system and into treatment.

Rachel Zimmermann Smith, the Johnson County attorney, says the workshops were timely.

“We're not able to offer things in our jail that other communities are able to offer in their jail, such as substance abuse treatment, other treatment for other mental health issues and supportive programming, because we just don’t have the facility for it.”

She says people with mental health and substance use disorders often end up in jail because there aren’t prior interventions.

“Because that’s sort of in the forefront of our mind, along with pressures on the housing system and the health care system that make it really hard for people to access affordable supportive housing, this just seemed like a good time to sort of take stock on where they may be gaps in the system.”

Early proposals included building more safe housing and the development of a jail that could provide appropriate treatment.

MidAmerican Energy filed a request with the Iowa Utilities Commission seeking approval to add a capital investment charge to the bill of Iowa residential gas customers.

MidAmerican spokesman Geoff Greenwood says the charge would be 0.4%.

“The capital investment charge helps cover costs that MidAmerican has already paid out that are associated with certain natural gas system costs, such as safety and compliance and some other requirements that are imposed upon us by local governments."

Greenwood says there are several items the money would cover.

“Pipe relocation, that’s one example due to a local project, such as a street improvement. There also are some compliance changes that are requiring investment by the company that we’ve already made, so that is another charge that is eligible for this cost recovery."

Greenwood says if the charge is approved, it would be a small addition to customer's bills.

“It’s about 17 cents a month for our residential customers here in Iowa, and we have requested that the Iowa Utilities Commission approve that fee,” Greenwood says.

He says MidAmerican has around 620,000 natural gas customers in Iowa.

The Sierra Club of Iowa is claiming the Senate commerce committee pulled a “bait and switch” on a bill related to carbon pipelines. The committee approved extensive amendments removing proposed protections for landowners and a 25-year limit on operating carbon pipelines. During a presentation to the Iowa Farmers Union, Sierra Club of Iowa spokesperson Jess Mazour said the new language works in favor of companies like Summit Carbon Solutions.

“It is not a property rights bill. It is now what we're calling Summit's bill of rights. They did a bait and switch on us and put in really bad language that actually makes it easier for projects like Summit and other carbon pipelines to get approved in Iowa.”

Mazour says one new provision would force the Iowa Utilities Commission to approve or reject a pipeline permit within one year of receiving an application.

“So we think back to where we were at one year after Summit first applied. We would not have been ready to take this to court. It takes a long time to do discovery, find expert witnesses, meet these landowners and educate ourselves about a project that's probably been in the works for a decade. And so we're having to play catch up from day one.”

Mazour says the Sierra Club testified, and Senators voted in the subcommittee stage without knowledge of the changes. The bill is now eligible for a vote by the full Senate.

The city of Iowa City is installing new protective doors on its buses to reduce violence against transit workers.

The city council approved the resolution, saying bus driver protection doors have become an industry standard and that they will provide a safer and more secure work environment for drivers. The doors were tested by the city’s bus drivers for air circulation, visibility and other factors that may impact their driving.

The Midwest Bus Corporation was contracted to supply and install the protective doors for just under $250,000.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley is co-sponsoring a bipartisan bill that would require congressional approval on unilateral tariffs.

Grassley and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., introduced the legislation Thursday, one day after President Donald Trump announced he will increase tariffs on imports from dozens of countries.

Grassley said in a press release that the bill would restore the role of Congress in setting and approving trade policy.

“For too long, Congress has delegated its clear authority to regulate interstate and foreign commerce to the executive branch,” said Grassley, who introduced similar legislation in 2019 during Trump’s first term.

The current proposal, called the Trade Review Act of 2025, would require the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of a tariff, and provide analysis and reasoning for it. Congress would then have 60 days to approve the tariff, or it would expire. Congress would also be able to end tariffs at any time.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution aimed at blocking the White House from imposing tariffs on Canada. Both Grassley and Sen. Joni Ernst voted against the Democratic proposal. Four of their Republican colleagues voted with Democrats to pass it.

The Iowa Legislature reached its second key deadline of the session, when most bills must pass a committee in the opposite chamber to stay eligible.

Republicans have advanced policies like Medicaid work requirements and restrictions on diversity, equity and inclusion spending. And, it’s the first time the Senate advanced a bill in response to concerns about carbon capture pipelines — though they stripped key House proposals out of it.

A bill to put citizenship status on driver’s licenses failed to advance, as did a bill to remove Medicaid income limits for employed people with disabilities.

Senate President Amy Sinclair, R-Allerton, says everything the Senate is doing has the goal of making Iowa a “destination state.”

“Those priorities that the Senate had at the beginning of session — property tax policy, working on health care availability — all of those priorities that we had at the beginning of the session will still be our priorities. And we have bills that are alive to make that happen.”

Democratic leaders say the Republican majority hasn’t done anything to help Iowa’s economy.

KSCJ photo

Students at the Sioux City Career Academy are once again building two homes: one to sell and one to give to Habitat for Humanity. It’s the second year students at the academy have built homes. This year, they’re under the leadership of 26 juniors and 18 seniors who participated in last year’s build, according to Principal Eric Kilburn.

“They’ve gotten better at some of their work too. So, they’re quicker at framing, they’re more precise with some of the stonework and fascia and some of the more complicated work.”

He says the students are taking more interest in smaller details involved in the build and beginning to learn more about specific trades. He says the project is helping them find “what their passion is.”

“Might be framing. It might be roof work. It might be drywall. It could be electrical, some plumbing. We’re doing more plumbing in HVAC this year with our seniors.”

Kilburn says they are letting potential buyers see the home and suggest some changes if they are seriously interested in purchasing it.

“I want them to have a blank canvas. And right now, it’s fairly blank. We don’t have a countertop sorted yet. A lot of the finish and fixtures can be adjusted at this point. So yes, we would love people to come on in and put their dream to it.”

Potential buyers need to have a lot available for the home to be transported to and also need to submit a formal letter of interest to the Career Academy no later than May 9.

Staff members from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources are running the roads at night in all 99 counties this month, shining spotlights out both sides of their vehicles as they search for creatures.

Jace Elliott, a deer biologist with the DNR, says this annual Spring Spotlight Survey is one of the agency’s largest and most comprehensive efforts that provides valuable information on roughly a dozen species.

“It’s a nocturnal survey, where staff in every county of the state run two 25-mile transects with spotlights and note any mammals … both furbearers and deer that are spotted along the way.”

The surveys start about an hour after sunset, preferably on nights with low wind, high humidity and above-freezing temperatures. Elliott says the routes cover different habitats, from river bottoms to farm fields, prairies, woodlots, pastures and timber stands.

“Very common species, like deer, raccoons, opossums, skunks — those are typical to detect in any county. But then there are also some more rare or elusive species, like bobcats and mink. There’s about a dozen wildlife species, everything from deer to house cats.”

He says keeping the routes and conditions consistent provides more reliable data, and it offers an important index of observations about a variety of Iowa’s animal populations.

The survey was started in the 1970s as a way to collect information on the raccoon population, but it’s been greatly expanded. The results from this year’s survey will be posted in the summer on the Iowa DNR’s website.

Photo Courtesy of Oskaloosa High School

Members of the Oskaloosa High School baseball team will be playing under the lights at Wrigley Field in Chicago next month as part of a special road trip.

Assistant coach and volunteer Nathan Johnson says the team and their families will be in the stands to watch an afternoon Chicago Cubs game against the San Francisco Giants. Afterward, the team from southeast Iowa will take the field for a nighttime intersquad scrimmage.

“I think we have about 26 or 27 kids total that’ll be going on the trip, and we have tickets for the parents for the Cubs-Giants game before we play. It should be just a great day to do team building, but also just to have an experience for these kids.”

With two sons on the team, Johnson says being able to play in one of the oldest and most distinctive stadiums in Major League Baseball promises to be an exceptional treat and a dream come true for the teens.

“This is kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a lot of these kids. And just to be able to step onto this iconic field, Wrigley Field … It’ll just be a really cool day for everyone, and hopefully a lot of good feelings and good memories going away from that day.”

Wrigley Field opened in 1914, making it the second-oldest active MLB ballpark, behind only Fenway Park in Boston.

The trip is scheduled for May 7, and is thanks to Oskaloosa-based Musco Sports Lighting. Musco has a long-standing relationship with the Cubs and Wrigley Field. The company installed new field lighting at the stadium three years ago and has since worked on additional projects, including lighting for the exterior and tower areas.

Gov. Kim Reynolds says President Donald Trump is using tariffs as leverage to force trading partners to the negotiating table.

Reynolds issued a written statement after Trump revealed a slate of tariffs Wednesday afternoon. Reynolds said her job as governor “is to protect Iowans” and that she’s “working directly with the administration to ease the short-term impact, keep the ag economy strong, and open the door to new export opportunities.”

Reynolds said Trump’s tariffs will put “America’s farmers first,” and she accused the Biden administration of “consistently ignoring the needs of Iowa farmers.”

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins visited Iowa earlier this week. Rollins said she was planning a series of payments to farmers to make up for trade-related losses. However, she told reporters the government does not have as much money as it had during Trump’s first term for farmers who will take a financial hit due to tariffs.

A few hours after Trump announced the tariffs, four Republicans in the U.S. Senate joined Democrats to pass a resolution to end new tariffs on Canada. Trump had been urging his fellow Republicans to reject the bill, and Iowa Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst voted against it.

Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart said the Republicans who represent Iowa in Congress are “either inept or too afraid to fight” a president who’s “more focused on tariffs than on lowering prices.”

The emergency self-evacuation and shelter-in-place orders instituted Monday after a fire started at the co-op in Otley have been lifted.

Information from the Marion County Emergency Management Agency says the fire at Two Rivers Cooperative is now out and the orders were lifted at 10:30 Thursday morning. The fire in the fertilizer storage facility caused concerns about the air quality, but U.S. Environmental Protection Agency monitoring shows the air quality is now safe.

Investigators are trying to figure out the cause of the fire. Marion County Public Safety and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources are continuing to monitor the cleanup efforts.

Iowa 2^nd Congressional District Rep. Ashley Hinson defended layoffs and federal funding cuts in a virtual town hall Wednesday.

The Republican from Marion fielded questions on the Farm Bill, tariffs and government cuts. She was met with some resistance for her support of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

A constituent who called into the town hall said they felt as though federal budget cuts would negatively impact the district. Hinson defended her position, arguing the cuts freed up more resources for programs in Iowa.

“I think that taxpayers last year spoke very, very clearly, and they said they want us to hold the federal government accountable. It's unfortunate that, obviously, we have this much waste that we're finding. But what I do want to see happen is that we make sure we make services more effective for Iowans.”

The town hall was held just hours after President Donald Trump announced a broad expansion of tariffs on dozens of countries. Hinson said she believes the tariffs will help Iowa’s agricultural producers.

“President Trump’s goal is free and fair trade. I do want to ensure that that's carried out in the way that … and minimize damage to our producers and provides some certainty, while also making sure we're not being taken advantage of on the global stage.”

Hinson added she is pushing for legislation to open more foreign markets to Iowa’s farmers.

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and an Iowa nonprofit is focused on making the state a safer place, where children can thrive.

Prevent Child Abuse Iowa Executive Director Sharon Miller says the organization is focused on supporting parents and caregivers who face challenging situations. She says encouraging prevention in stressful circumstances could help some families make better choices while under pressure.

The newest figures for Iowa indicate that the reported number of suspected child abuse cases held steady last year, compared to the year before.

“Our number one case of child abuse is actually neglect, and roughly 60% of all child abuse cases in Iowa are neglect, which is classified as denial of critical care. That could be lack of food, lack of shelter, lack of resources, lack of secure housing — things like that.”

The agency’s annual Prevent Child Abuse Conference is scheduled for April 29-30 in Ankeny.

“What we really want to do is empower and uplift individuals that are home visitors, prevention workers, social workers, librarians, school professionals that work with families, day in and day out. Sometimes that work is overwhelming, and this gives us an opportunity to create and learn new skills, but also to lean on each other.

Prevent Child Abuse Iowa is marking its 50^th anniversary this year with a special event scheduled for June in Ames.

State Rep. Sami Scheetz has been appointed to serve as a Linn County Supervisor. He resigned from his seat in the Iowa House, where he represented District 78, which includes his hometown of Cedar Rapids.

Scheetz held the seat since 2022, but now he says he’s eager to change the lives of the people in the community that raised him.

“I was born and raised in this community; it’s my family. And so to be able to also be closer to my literal family, while also being able to serve the community that made me who I am today — it is sad to leave people, but at the same time, it really was not a hard decision.”

Scheetz says he will have more power to make changes at the local level as part of a majority on the three-person board in Linn County.

“There's huge impacts that it has on mental health, on food insecurity, on public health — with our public health department — on infrastructure ... local government touches people in a much more close and upfront way.”

Scheetz is filling the supervisor seat vacated by Ben Rogers, who announced his resignation in February to take a new role with UnityPoint Health. Scheetz’s appointment triggers a 14-day period in which a petition could still prompt a special election for the position on the county board.

A school district in northeast Iowa has become the first in the area to use artificial intelligence to detect possible guns in its buildings.

The Union Community School District in La Porte City installed camera software that detects guns in and around buildings, notifies staff and administration, and then calls law enforcement.

John Howard is the superintendent of the district, which has around 900 students. He says it’s a simpler alternative to arming teachers, which has been proposed elsewhere.

“We have never had any conversations about arming teachers in our district. I know some districts have, and that’s been met with some pushback in terms of insurance and other legalities. We’ve never had that conversation here.”

The system connects cameras across four buildings, spread out between two different towns. Howard said the system was paid for without using the state Safety and Security Grant.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill into law Wednesday banning cellphone use while driving, unless it’s in hands-free mode. She was joined by dozens of people, including family members of people killed by distracted drivers, lawmakers and law enforcement, who have been pushing for the bill for years.

Reynolds says neighboring states that passed similar laws have seen significant reductions in car crashes. She says she’s honored to sign the law in memory of every Iowan killed as a result of distracted driving.

“Thirty states across the country have passed hands-free legislation, and today Iowa becomes the 31^st. And I’m grateful because this legislation will save lives.”

The new law is set to take effect July 1.

Madeleine C. King

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Iowa Public Radio

Public transportation in Des Moines could lose significant funding if state legislators approve a proposed property tax overhaul.

The Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority (DART) started redesigning their network last year. If lawmakers choose to slash property taxes, DART could lose more than a third of its service.

Chief Strategy Officer Erin Hockman says DART is working with lawmakers to propose amendments to the property tax bill.

“Lawmakers have acknowledged that they understand DART is uniquely impacted, indicated they're willing to work with us to look at some solutions that we hope would minimize the impact to DART.”

Hockman says DART is planning for multiple budget scenarios and will continue holding public input meetings throughout this month.

An Iowa City father, who is trans, dropped a lawsuit against the city and his child’s high school Tuesday.

Finnegan Meadows brought the lawsuit after school administrators told him he could no longer use the men’s restroom, despite allegations that he had been doing so for 17 years.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird intervened earlier this week, pointing to 2023 legislation prohibiting people from using school bathrooms that don’t align with their biological sex.

Meadows dropped the case the next day.

Former Iowa Supreme Court Justice Mark McCormick has died.

McCormick served on the court for nearly 14 years, starting in 1972, before returning to private practice. He later entered politics and narrowly lost in the Democratic primary for governor to Tom Vilsack in 1998. He also ran for Des Moines mayor.

In a statement, Chief Justice Susan Christensen said McCormick’s “keen intellect, steady wisdom and generous spirit” left an impression on the people who knew him.

Radio Iowa photo

About a dozen people rallied outside the Iowa Capitol Tuesday, criticizing a bill shielding some farm chemical makers from lawsuits alleging product labels failed to warn of cancer risks. The bill narrowly won approval in the Iowa Senate last week and is eligible for consideration in the House.

Ava Auen-Ryan with Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Action said the Legislature’s time would be better spent finding ways to lower Iowa’s rising cancer rate, “not working on bills that provide immunity to giant corporations.”

Jenny Turner’s husband died in 2018 of a type of lymphoma she said has been linked to Roundup.

“He wasn’t a farmer. He was a school band director, but he used Roundup in our yard and he had summer landscaping jobs and he lived in Iowa, where we have high concentrations of pesticides and nitrates in our air and water.”

Turner, who is from West Des Moines, said the bill is being pushed by lobbyists to benefit Bayer — the manufacturer that makes Roundup — not farmers.

“Now, I know that glyphosate is useful for some farming, but everything has its pros and cons, and Roundup has a cost. Bayer would like to pretend that there is no cost … Our state Legislature must not help them silence people’s right to redress that cost in court.”

Bayer has accused “the litigation industry” of unfairly targeting glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup. The company says glyphosate minimizes the need for plowing and increases the productivity of crop land.

Photo Courtesy of Ernst Senate Staff

The U.S. Senate confirmed Iowa native Matt Whitaker as U.S. Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Whitaker is a former federal prosecutor, and he served as acting U.S. Attorney General during President Donald Trump’s first administration. During a brief speech on the Senate floor, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst said Whitaker’s experience has prepared him for an important aspect of the job.

“Over the last few years, during exchanges with NATO allies, a consistent theme emerged: the need for American leadership … a willingness to speak hard truths and encourage our partners to step up.”

Ernst said Whitaker will be an effective advocate of Trump’s “peace through strength approach” to national security.

“He understands the evolving threats our nation and our allies face, from terrorism to cyber warfare to transnational crime. His experiences navigating complex security challenges will make him an asset to NATO and a force for strengthening our alliances.”

Ernst and Whitaker were competitors for the Republican Party’s 2014 nomination for the U.S. Senate. Ernst, who won Iowa’s Senate seat that year, said the two have developed “a strong friendship” in the past decade and that shows his character.

“Matt has supported me in countless ways … offering wise counsel and keen insight on the issues facing our state, nation and world today.”

In January, Trump said Whitaker is “a strong warrior” and “true patriot” who, as U.S. Ambassador to NATO, will ensure the interests of the United States “are advanced and preserved.”

Whitaker’s nomination was approved by the U.S. Senate on a 52-45 vote.

Federal funding freezes related to COVID-19 spending announced last week appear to have affected grants totaling at least $53 million going to the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services.

According to a federal database, the vast majority of the funds had already been expended to the state when they were abruptly terminated March 24. The funding covers substance abuse prevention, community mental health services and COVID health disparities.

In a statement last week, Iowa HHS officials said they were already winding down services related to the grants as they knew they were temporary.

Federal officials cancelled more than $11 billion in funding related to the COVID response because they said the pandemic is over and the grants are now a waste of taxpayer dollars.

State Rep. Sami Scheetz, D-Cedar Rapids, has resigned to take a new role as a Linn County Supervisor.

In his resignation letter, he said it was an honor to serve the people in House District 78 and work alongside his colleagues to improve the lives of Iowans.

Scheetz' appointment begins a 14-day period wherein a petition with enough valid signatures could trigger a special election. The county supervisor seat was vacated by Ben Rogers, who announced his resignation in February.

Madeleine Charis King

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Iowa Public Radio

The federal Institute of Museum and Library Services placed all 70 members of its staff on administrative leave, and some Iowa organizations are concerned about how it could affect their funding.

The federal agency awards grants to museums and libraries across the United States. It allotted the State Library of Iowa over $10 million over the last five years for various projects, including funding technology and resources.

In 2024, the Dubuque Museum of Art was awarded nearly $75,000 to hire and train staff and facilitate school visits. But because the money is paid on a reimbursement basis, Executive Director Gary Stoppelman says the museum may end up footing the bill on its own.

“We've made the hire, we were about to begin the training and we will not be able to submit those invoices because there's no one to process them.”

Last month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to dismantle seven federal agencies, including the IMLS.

The home appliances manufacturer Whirlpool announced mass layoffs Tuesday morning at its facility in Amana. The company said 650 people will be laid off June 1 — that’s roughly a third of the plant's employees.

A spokesperson from Whirlpool says the layoffs are a necessary measure to meet a drop in demand for some of the appliances made in Amana, particularly refrigerators.

Iowa Federation of Labor President Charlie Wishman says recently announced tariffs and state legislation cutting unemployment benefits will hurt people impacted by the layoffs.

“In a town like Amana, this is truly going to devastate that community. And when a company like Whirlpool is making $17 billion in sales last year, that’s nothing compared to what the residents in that area are going to be facing.”

Wishman says rural manufacturing is “dying all over the place,” and says policies at both state and federal levels are not helping.

Iowa Department of Transportation

The deadline to vote for Iowa’s new education license plate designed by students is now two weeks away.

Iowa Department of Education Director McKenzie Snow says the current plate has been used since 1997.

“That’s why the Iowa Department of Education launched this first-of-its-kind design challenge to help us celebrate education across Iowa, while recognizing and engaging the incredible artistic talent of our students.”

There are 16 finalists from four age groups that Iowans can vote on.

“We ask that you select your top three favorite designs in grade bands, three through five, six through eight, nine through 10, and 11 through 12. There are four semifinalists in each of those grade bands, and then we invite you to select your top three overall favorite designs.”

Snow says the winning design will be announced at the end of the school year. The new design could replace the current plate as soon as this summer.

Snow says all semifinalists will have their designs permanently displayed at the Department of Education. The fees collected from the sale of the education license plates will go to school districts with the highest per-pupil transportation costs.

Rachel Cramer

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Iowa Public Radio

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins made her first official visit to Iowa Monday, just days before President Donald Trump promised to roll out more tariffs.

At the Iowa Ag Leaders Dinner in Ankeny, Rollins said the Biden administration “sat on the sidelines in trade negotiations,” which gave other countries an advantage. She said Trump’s plan includes balanced trade deals and increased market access for U.S. exports.

“As you remember from President Trump’s first term, he will not forget our farmers when he’s negotiating with our foreign leaders. He is the ultimate deal maker, and he is going to ensure that our farmers are being treated fairly by our trading partners.”

However, many ag groups worry that escalating trade wars could harm export markets for American farmers. The trade war in Trump’s first term resulted in an estimated loss in ag exports of more than $27 billion. To offset losses, the USDA distributed $23 billion to farmers.

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