IPR News Stories

The threat of a deadly hog disease is prompting state officials to tighten security at swine events during the Iowa State Fair.

For nearly a year, U.S. pork producers have watched African swine fever decimate China’s pig herd and they fear it could arrive here. It doesn’t hurt people or contaminate food, but it could wipe out many farms and send pork prices soaring.

Local, state and federal officials have formed a working group to address Iowa’s PFAS contamination and any impacts to drinking water. Iowa is one of a number of states to grapple with the chemicals used at military bases and manufacturing sites.

The mayor of a small western Iowa town that flooded last spring pitched his idea for a future flood control measure during a town hall meeting Thursday.

A Polk County judge has dismissed a lawsuit seeking to overturn a law that would allow organizations using public insurance dollars – like Medicaid – to opt out of covering gender-affirming surgery.

Gov. Kim Reynolds’s office said former Department of Human Services Director Jerry Foxhoven’s emails to staff about the late rapper Tupac Shakur were not a factor in Reynolds asking for Foxhoven’s resignation last month.

Thirty years ago today, a United Airlines plane crashed-landed in Sioux City and killed 112 people; 184 survived.

Eastern Iowa residents will have a chance to weigh in on flooding, drought and navigation on the Mississippi River at public meetings this month. Events are slated for this Saturday in Muscatine and July 27th in Dubuque.

Construction crews are still a regular presence on the north side of Marshalltown, where one year ago an EF-3 tornado carved a path through residential streets and the community’s downtown.

Most of Iowa is under an excessive heat warning, where temperatures will reach in the 90s and heat index values could be as high as 110 degrees.

Organizers in the southeast Iowa community of Burlington don’t anticipate any flooding issues to impact the city’s RAGBRAI plans. That’s after the Mississippi swamped parts of the town's downtown earlier this year. 

A new analysis released by the Iowa Environmental Council on Tuesday says the state's approach to reducing nutrient runoff into waterways has been slow to meet its goals, six years into having a strategy in place. The analysis projects that at the state's current pace, it could take hundreds to tens of thousands of years for the state to reach some of the goals laid out to improve water quality.

A Polk County jury decided Monday former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad discriminated against a gay state official and awarded the former employee $1.5 million.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden unveiled a health care plan Monday that would add a public option to the Affordable Care Act.  The former vice president talked about the plan at a Des Moines forum hosted by AARP Iowa and the Des Moines Register. Biden has differed from many of his opponents in not calling for a “Medicare for All” plan.

About a thousand left-leaning Iowans weathered 90 degree temperatures in Cedar Rapids Sunday to hear from ten Democratic presidential candidates at Progress Iowa’s annual Corn Feed event. Each of the presidential hopefuls had about ten minutes to make their case.

Republican leaders in the Iowa Legislature Thursday denied Democrats’ request to form a special committee to make recommendations for the state’s medical marijuana program.

This story was originally published May 29, 2019. 

Democratic lawmakers are calling on the Republican-controlled Iowa Legislature to return to the Statehouse to overturn the governor’s veto of a bill that would have expanded the state’s medical marijuana program.

State regulators will vote later this month on rules allowing sports betting in Iowa, fulfilling a law passed this year by the legislature. If the guidelines are adopted by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, the first wagers could be made as soon as mid-August.

The city of Davenport is taking a deeper look at this year’s historic floods and the city’s handling of them. A task force of residents, business leaders, local officials and scientists met for the first time this week, kick-starting a formal review process.

State and federal attorneys want the Iowa Supreme Court to reverse a Tama County magistrate judge’s decision to dismiss a set of criminal charges because they occurred on tribal land. In oral arguments Wednesday, they argued a law passed by Congress last year does not entirely eliminate the state’s jurisdiction on the Meskwaki Settlement in eastern Iowa as the judge ruled.

The state of Iowa has agreed to pay an additional $386 million in state and federal dollars to the two private insurance companies that manage the state’s Medicaid program for low-income and disabled residents.

Five registered nurses at state-owned facilities have filed a class-action lawsuit against the state of Iowa challenging what they allege is the state’s failure to pay them proper overtime wages.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has wrapped up this year’s efforts to treat an invasive plant in the Iowa Great Lakes region. Efforts mostly worked against the plant that grew a little differently than past years, said a biologist.

Last year, opioid-related deaths in Iowa decreased by 33 percent, marking a five year low for the state, according to statistics released this month from the state's Department of Health Statistics.

Starting Monday there's a new director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. After serving as Gov. Kim Reynolds legislative liaison, Kayla Lyon will become the agency's first female leader, after the department has gone over a year without a permanent leader in place.