IPR News Stories

The prospect of an all-white Democratic presidential debate later this month is concerning for some candidates and party activists. Following California Sen. Kamala Harris’ exit from the race, still other critics have larger issues with the overall nomination process.

A top Iowa lawmaker says Senate Republicans are developing a tax package that may include a sales tax increase to fund water quality efforts and outdoor recreation.

Iowans voted in 2010 to approve a three-eighths of one cent sales tax increase for what is now called Iowa’s Water and Land Legacy, or IWILL, but lawmakers haven’t enacted the tax increase to fund the initiative.

At an event Thursday hosted by the Greater Des Moines Partnership, which announced funding IWILL as a top policy priority, legislative leaders were asked about its prospects in 2020.

An Iowa State University study has found more Americans are now struggling to fall - and stay - asleep.

California Sen. Kamala Harris’ exit from the presidential contest Tuesday is a loss for some Iowa Democrats who hope to see more diversity in the field. And for some, her departure from the race is also renewing larger debates about the nomination process.

In a run-off election for an Ames City Council seat Tuesday, 20-year-old Iowa State University student Rachel Junck not only defeated incumbent Chris Nelson, but also made history.

Junck is the second-youngest woman ever elected to a government office in Iowa.

Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie has narrowly won reelection after defeating former state Sen. Jack Hatch in Tuesday’s runoff election. Unofficial results show Cownie received 51 percent of the vote and won by only 289 votes over Hatch.

By winning a fifth term, Cownie extends his tenure as the longest-serving mayor of Iowa’s largest city.

Massachusetts senator and Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren is continuing to defend her phased-in Medicare For All plan on the campaign trail. After surging to the front of the crowded presidential field earlier this fall, Warren has been slipping in national and early state polls in recent weeks, as she’s faced increased scrutiny for her healthcare plan and her status as a frontrunner.

At least one home in southwest Iowa’s Fremont County is still sitting in high water nearly nine months after floodwaters from the Missouri River inundated parts of the county.  

Across the country, nearly 95,000 people are waiting for a kidney transplant, including more than 500 in Iowa, and that list has been growing for years. This has pushed some to try unusual ways to find donors.

Inmates at the state prison in Newton are expected to finish building the first two houses in a new construction program by the end of the year, while a new website has launched to display their work.

The Homes For Iowa program that started earlier this year is aimed at filling Iowa’s workforce and affordable housing shortages, while giving inmates skills that may help them get a job when they leave prison.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has proposed three changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) this year. They affect the employment requirements for adults without dependents who are able to work, whether participation in certain other programs automatically qualifies a person for SNAP and, most recently, how the standard utility deduction is taken in calculating a household’s income.

There’s a new type of National Weather Service winter weather alert.  Meteorologist Kurt Kotenberg of the Des Moines bureau said they’re adding snow squall warnings to the list.

Some southwest Iowa communities are still recovering from last year’s devastating spring flooding from the Missouri River, and they’re watching for warnings of possible flooding in 2020. 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is emptying out flood control storage in the Upper Missouri River Basin reservoirs to lower the chances of flooding next spring. Nick Johnson with Mills County say residents are usually concerned about the possibility of flooding because the county borders the Missouri River, but even more so this year.

Consumers may encounter higher prices for clothes and home goods this holiday shopping season, as the trade dispute with China is expected to increase costs and slow economic growth in the Midwest.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has paid out a record $4.24 billion in claims for acres farmers couldn’t plant this year.

The “prevented planting” provision allows farmers to file a crop insurance claim when weather conditions leave fields unfit for a crop. Heavy spring rains and flooding left some Midwest farm ground too wet for seeds and equipment during the planting window, meaning farmers couldn’t put in the corn or soybeans they’d intended for those acres. 

This Thanksgiving holiday comes in the midst of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Iowans may find themselves spending time with friends and family with very different political views, but there are some ways to keep conversations civil.

After starting out on WQED in Pittsburgh in 1966, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood made its national public television debut on February 19, 1968.  The final new episode was taped December 1st 2000, but the show lived on through re-runs even after Fred Rogers passed away in 2003.

Three generations have now grown up watching Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood or watching children’s programming heavily influenced by his philosophy.

Members of the Native American community will march Wednesday in Sioux City to honor Native children who have died in foster care or are lost to the system. But after a prominent local activist died earlier this year, the community is looking to fill the void he left behind.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren says former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is trying to buy the Democratic presidential nomination.

Bloomberg announced on Sunday he was entering the crowded 2020 Democratic presidential primary field and buying more than $30 million in TV ads. Bloomberg has said Sen. Warren’s wealth tax of 2 percent on fortunes over $50 million could ruin the economy.

The Sioux City Council decided Monday to toss an 11-year ban on pit bulls and pit bull mixes in the city limits.

Iowans will now have a new online tool to find the nearest clinic that offers abortions.

Gov. Kim Reynolds has decided to appeal a $1.5 million discrimination verdict against the state and former Gov. Terry Branstad amid mounting legal costs.

Seven years ago, a former state official who is gay sued Branstad and the state for discrimination and retaliation. In July, a jury awarded Chris Godfrey $1.5 million, finding Branstad and a staffer discriminated against him in 2011 and then retaliated by slashing his salary.

Two-term Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for president on Saturday. Vilsack, who served as President Obama’s Secretary of Agriculture, has been very active in advising other presidential campaigns this cycle.

More than two dozen experts, parents and lawmakers gathered in West Des Moines on Friday to discuss issues surrounding childcare in the state.

Environmental advocates are calling attention to the state of the Upper Mississippi River levee system, which was under pressure this past spring as communities saw record flooding.

Songwriter Frank Loesser wrote "Baby, It's Cold Outside" in 1944, essentially for the amusement of himself and his party guests.

Decades later, there's been fierce debate about what's implied in the back and forth conversation that comprises the lyrics. Ironically, the song was originally written as an invitation for someone to leave, not to stay. 

Western Iowa’s Denison Community School District has determined a high school teacher who used a racial slur last week had “no malicious intent.”