Here First

Iowa state officials say a third managed care organization will join the state’s Medicaid program. Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern railroads are pursuing a continental merge that runs right through the Quad-Cities. Plus, a Midwest Newsroom investigation into seed companies favoring a different labor pool for corn detasseling.

The state officially launched a new department on Tuesday with the massive Department of Health and Human Services. Republican U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley and his Democratic opponent Mike Franken have completed tours with stops in each of Iowa's 99 counties. Plus, a case of Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease has been found in a domestic rabbit in central Iowa

The number of Iowa prison inmates who're caught commuting another crime after they've been released from prison has been dropping. The last of the four white people charged in relation to the murder of Michael Williams two years ago was sentenced. Plus, former congressional candidate J.D. Scholten has a clear path to his first term in the Iowa Legislature.

Tuesday is the first day Iowans can submit a request for an absentee ballot for this fall’s election. The U.S. Agriculture Department is investing millions of dollars in helping what it calls “underserved producers.” Plus, we spend a day on the campaign trail with Democrat Mike Franken who is running against Republican U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley.

September 1st marks the end of Iowa’s rent and utility assistance program. As college classes resume, universities across the state are ensuring students have access to information about the monkeypox virus and how it spreads. Plus, an update on the skyrocketing cost of farmland in Iowa and the Midwest.

President Biden's move to provide student loan debt relief for Americans with an annual income below $125,000 is getting some strong reactions from Iowa politicians. The Democrat running for Iowa governor has released an education plan proposing bigger increases to public school funding and higher pay for teachers and school staff. Plus, schools across the country are putting together bonus packages to attract the educators they need.

The Woodbury County Board of Supervisors has voted to make it tougher to build wind turbines in that western Iowa county. Ten school districts in Iowa have new grants to help establish therapeutic classrooms. And the CDC says most kids in Iowa have contracted to virus that causes COVID-19.

Linn County officials are rescheduling votes on zoning changes that would allow construction of a large-scale solar farm around the decommissioned nuclear power plant near Palo. Union representatives and managers of the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant in southeast Iowa have reached agreements, avoiding a strike at the facility. Plus, an annual survey shows U-S commercial beekeepers have lost 39 percent of their honeybee colonies this year.

The Iowa State Fair wrapped up Sunday after an 11-day run topping the 1 million mark again. The Democratic candidate for Iowa’s second congressional district and Republican running for state auditor spoke at the state fair over the weekend. Plus, chronic illness patients hope the money being poured into studying long COVID will have a wider benefit.

Experts say the health policy changes passed as part of the Inflation Reduction Act could have a significant impact on older Iowans. The state’s unemployment rate dropped again in July. Plus, we go to Missouri to learn the truth behind the mythology surrounding Doctor Annie Smith.