IPR News Stories

Several hundred people gathered at Drake University Monday morning for the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day prayer breakfast.  The annual event honors the life and message of the slain civil rights leader. 

Farmers and landowners enrolling acres in the U.S Department of Agriculture’s Conservation Reserve Program have a new practice available to them.

Areas of native grasses and flowers, called prairie strips, have proven helpful in keeping soil in place, preventing nutrients from washing away and increasing the presence of birds and bees.

President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign sent in some surrogates this week to motivate women voters ahead of the Iowa caucuses. An arm of Trump’s 2020 campaign called Women for Trump brought its bus tour and message to Sioux City on Thursday.

Iowa Democrats have until Friday to preregister to caucus this February as part of the state party's new early check-in process.

December in Iowa can feel like a magical wonderland of lights. January and February in Iowa can feel like a cold, dark wasteland. There are lots of wonderful arts events happening across the state this winter. Here’s a list of a few we think are worth leaving your house for, some of which are indoors and some that celebrate the winter weather. 

Republican senators renewed their effort Thursday to amend the Iowa Constitution to say it does not protect a right to abortion.

Originally proposed around this time last year, the amendment is an attempt to undo a 2018 Iowa Supreme Court ruling that protects a fundamental right to abortion in the state.

The acting chief justice of the Iowa Supreme Court highlighted the importance of respecting government institutions in his Condition of the Judiciary speech before the Iowa Legislature Wednesday.

Acting Chief Justice David Wiggins said he drew on the ideas of the late Chief Justice Mark Cady to talk about the respect the courts have for elected officials. He said both are set up to speak for the people of Iowa in different ways.

The first phase of a new trade agreement between the United States and China is scheduled for a White House signing ceremony Wednesday, and many in the agriculture community are hoping the deal will bring some relief to the farm economy.

The Phase One agreement will begin to resolve the nearly two year exchange of tariffs the two countries have levied on each other’s goods—the United States in an attempt, the Trump administration says, to pressure China to reform some of its trade policies and China in retaliation.

This post was updated Monday, Jan. 13 at 4:52 p.m. 

The Iowa House of Representatives officially elected Rep. Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, as the new Speaker of the House when the 2020 legislative session began Monday morning.

“Over the next 100 days…let’s make sure that we show Iowans that we are not like Washington, D.C.,” Grassley said in his first speech as speaker. 

A respected poll out this weekend in Iowa shows 45 percent of likely Democratic caucusgoers say they could still be persuaded to support someone else. The state's caucuses, which are first in the presidential nominating process, are now about three weeks away. 

The Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll also says 13 percent of those likely to caucus on February 3 have not picked a favorite.

Former Massachusetts governor and Republican presidential candidate Bill Weld returned to Iowa this week for the first time since the Iowa State Fair and said he offers an alternative to President Donald Trump on a variety of issues from economic conservatism to climate change.

Department of Human Services Director Kelly Garcia said despite recent payment issues, she is confident that Iowa Total Care is committed to the state's Medicaid program.

The State Auditor’s office says it cannot determine whether home health care claims are being paid properly under Iowa’s privatized Medicaid system because data provided by the Department of Human Services is inaccurate and inconsistent.

Plans to build a $49 million new jail in western Iowa’s Woodbury County could go to a referendum vote as soon as March 3. County officials said Tuesday that ongoing problems with the current jail are becoming more frequent.

As of the New Year, Iowans can go just over the Mississippi River into neighboring Illinois to buy recreational marijuana. Now that sales are legal in the Prairie State, some officials in Iowa are warning residents to be mindful of state law.

Gov. Kim Reynolds said Tuesday all pending voting rights restoration applications from people with felony records will be reviewed before the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 3.

Iowa is the only state that still bans all people with felony convictions from voting, forever, unless they appeal directly to the governor.

A much-anticipated update to the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement is one step closer to implementation.

On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, voted 25-3 to approve the United States Mexico Canada Agreement. Two Republicans and one Democrat cast the "no" votes.

A Democrat who's been running for president longer than anyone else in this cycle is pulling out all the stops to gain traction ahead of the Iowa caucuses next month. Former Maryland Congressman John Delaney has set out to visit at least 40 towns in Iowa ahead of the caucuses. 

Democratic presidential candidates are criticizing the Trump administration’s decision-making process in killing a top Iranian military commander. With less than a month until the first in the nation Iowa caucuses, some potential caucusgoers say the tensions in the Middle East could impact how they make their decisions.

Nearly a dozen people sat in a small room painted black and lit only by two theatre lamps, drawing attention to a DJ booth with its chrome and silver equipment glimmering.

DJ Patrick Blin stepped up to the booth, and the silence was broken by the sounds of record scratches as those watching pulled out their phones to begin filming. Smiles broke out across their faces.