Iowa Legislature

A special session cleared the way for the state to negotiate tax credits to finalize Mesabi Metallics' proposed $15 billion facility, but some lawmakers are concerned about the impact on the state budget.

Cities are gearing up for their first budget year with new restrictions under Iowa's recently passed property tax law. While officials say residents could see marginal changes to their bills, the law could affect the level of services cities offer.

In 2023, the Iowa Legislature overhauled our property tax system with overwhelming bipartisan support. Part of that overhaul changed the way that many Iowa libraries and museums are funded, and the consequences of that change are making themselves known. On this episode, we talk with Billie Bailey, the retired executive director of the Grout Museum District in Waterloo, and Cindy Wells, president of the Board of Trustees for the Waterloo Public Library. Over 90% of the affected libraries and museums are at risk of budget cuts before the end of the 5-year sunset period, according to a report compiled by Bailey and Wells. Then, when tractors replaced horse-drawn implements, it revolutionized agriculture, and competition among tractor makers was fierce. We talk with Peter Tubbs, producer of Tractor Wars and Tractor Wars II from Iowa PBS, which tells that story. (Iowa PBS is an underwriter of IPR.)

At 96, Jean Lloyd-Jones has published ‘A Woman’s Place: My Life as a Public Servant.’ The book tracks her path from the League of Women Voters to the Iowa Legislature, as well as her work founding the Iowa Institute for Peace.

Iowa’s new 60 mph speed limit on some roads becomes law on July 1. But changing thousands of signs will take days, and in some cases, months.

In the final hours of Gov. Kim Reynolds' final legislative session, Republican lawmakers came together around a plan they say will save property taxpayers around $4 billion over six years.