Iowa Capital Dispatch

Guests discuss stories and headlines from the week, including a college health assessment that showed a rise in vaping, the impacts of Iowa's severe drought and more.

In a 6-0 decision, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that an extensive delay in providing public documents can be considered the same as refusing to comply with open records laws.

Iowa is expected to spend more than $9 million to place 100 out-of-state nurses and respiratory therapists at the state’s larger health care facilities for six weeks of the latest spike of COVID-19 hospitalizations.

Several auditors said a 2021 voting law has not improved Iowa’s elections

Here’s a look at why Iowa has so much additional money this year, and what will happen with the funds next. This article was republished from the Iowa Capital Dispatch.

If implemented, students who show COVID-19 symptoms during the school day would go to a designated “caring room” to see the school nurse. There, the nurse or a certified nursing assistant would call the student’s parents and administer a rapid COVID-19 test.

The state of Iowa has agreed to temporarily waive training requirements for nurse aides who deliver much of the hands-on care in nursing homes.

The five Iowa nursing homes with current, active outbreaks are all based in counties with lower-than-average vaccine acceptance rates. Four of the five homes are in counties that backed President Trump in the 2020 election.

A long-simmering dispute over a proposed new regional airport in Iowa could help define the powers of locally elected officials

More than 50 Iowa nursing homes have experienced a COVID-19 outbreak since the vaccine roll-out in December, and the home with the highest number of outbreaks is run by the state itself.