Here First

Federal and state officials say they’ve uncovered a multimillion dollar theft ring from meatpacking plants in Iowa and five other Midwestern states. The Black Student Union at Grinnell College is calling on the campus and community to help create a safer environment for Black students and faculty after incidents of racial harassment. And most public sector unions in Iowa up for recertification this year have voted to recertify.

Iowa hospitals see a surge in respiratory illnesses in children earlier than usual. Thousands of dollars in unemployment benefits were mistakenly paid to people who were dead or in prison in the early stages of the pandemic. Plus, a woman claims her father in western Iowa was a serial killer who murdered more than 50 people.

The Cedar Rapids school board pushed its meeting where members were to choose an interim superintendent to Wednesday. Alcohol-related deaths remain a growing issue in Iowa. Plus, many recently-arrived immigrants to Iowa with visas don’t have access to Medicaid for prenatal care, which leaves them with few options.

The superintendent of Cedar Rapids Community School District has died of cancer. A new Iowa poll shows an overwhelming majority of Iowans want abortion to be legal in the case of rape or incest or to save the pregnant person’s life. Plus, a new report predicts how climate change will affect Midwest crop yields in the next decade and beyond.

Iowa's unemployment rate of two-point-seven percent for September is slightly higher than the previous month. A NASA climate scientist was awarded the World Food Prize in Des Moines Thursday night. Plus, bird flu is back in Iowa.

Iowans across the state took advantage of the first day of early voting on Wednesday. Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds has declined an interview with IPR, so we hear about her re-election campaign from IPR State Government reporter Katarina Sostaric. Plus, Iowans in almost every county can now get instant messages about threatening weather, missing persons, and other emergency situations unfolding nearby.

Today is the first day Iowans can vote in the 2022 election. U.S. Representative Ashley Hinson has been released from a Cedar Rapids hospital after undergoing treatment for a kidney infection. Plus, more than a dozen Iowa environmental groups are calling on the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to more strongly regulate animal confinements and feedlots.

Republican Governor Kim Reynolds and her Democratic opponent Deidre DeJear met for their only debate Monday night. A new study suggests Iowa workers are underpaid by at least $900 million a year. Plus, a look at the race for Iowa’s new first congressional district.

The major party candidates for Governor will meet Monday night for their first and only televised debate and early voting begins on Wednesday in Iowa. The federal Clean Water Act turns 50 years old this week. Plus, a preview of the congressional race in Iowa’s reliably Republican fourth district.