Free speech

A western Iowa teacher who was fired after publicly commenting that she wouldn’t miss activist Charlie Kirk after his death last year has been awarded jobless benefits.

University of Iowa surgeon Dr. Ramy El-Diwany performed the first robotic living donor nephrectomy, which will lead to more precise surgeries and quicker recovery for kidney donors. UIHC hopes this will mean more living kidney donations. On this News Buzz edition, Ben Kieffer speaks with Dr. El-Diwany, but first, we get a legislative update from Statehouse reporter Katarina Sostaric, Clark Kauffman shares a recent First Amendment case in Newton, and we meet one of the Coralville residents who organized against the city's recently rescinded AI-camera contract.

These Iowa siblings were suspended for protesting the Vietnam War at school. They took their case to the Supreme Court — and won — in Tinker v. Des Moines.

In 1965, John and Mary Beth Tinker protested the Vietnam War by wearing black arm bands to school. The incident led to a landmark Supreme Court decision that guaranteed free speech rights for public school students. The Tinkers reflect on this history and present day threats to the First Amendment. Later, a new play from playwright Megan Gogerty works through her complicated feelings about her father and family's history as a sixth generation Iowan.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is the latest battleground in the ongoing debate over an Iowa law that bans books with sexual content from school libraries and restricts lessons that relate to gender identity and sexual orientation.

Two weeks after the arrest of former Des Moines Public Schools superintendent Ian Roberts, the district is finding its footing again.

The ISU employee said on a personal social media account that Charlie Kirk “got what was coming.” The university said the comments are harmful to the institution.

The Oskaloosa school board voted unanimously Wednesday to fire Matthew Kargol over a social media post about Kirk's death. Now the teacher has filed a federal lawsuit claiming the district violated his First Amendment rights.

After launching an investigation last week, the Oskaloosa School Board has voted unanimously to fire a teacher who allegedly made a post praising Charlie Kirk's death.

Charlie Kirk’s assassination sparks new debates over free speech in Iowa and across the country.