Here First

Iowa lawmakers pick up momentum toward wrapping up this legislative session. They’re not going to pass the governor’s proposal for private school scholarships, they are passing an overhaul of the bottle and can redemption law, and they’re putting the brakes on new casinos in the state for at least two years.

State lawmakers are headed back to the Iowa Statehouse to talk about the budget, and perhaps wrap up the legislative session. A farm study shows promising results for water quality when wetlands are restored at the edges of farm fields. Plus, Briar Cliff students ‘rewild’ an urban prairie in Sioux City.

The three Democrats running for the party’s U.S. Senate nomination see a larger role for the government in health care, but disagree on how far that should go. As government officials say they’re working to ramp up the production of baby formula, one expert warns it could still be weeks before Iowans see shelves fully restocked. Plus, park rangers would have to move out of government-owned housing in 23 Iowa state parks by the end of next year under a budget bill advancing in the legislature.

Iowa Republican lawmakers have revived a proposal that would give the governor more influence on commissions that help select district judges. Senators are scrapping a moratorium that would have prevented developers from seeking eminent domain authority to seize property for carbon pipelines before next February. Plus, Black farmers in the U.S. lost more than 300 billion dollars’ worth of land in the 20th century, according to a new study.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed a bill into law today (Tuesday) establishing a state mandate for gas stations to sell fuel with higher blends of ethanol. The Des Moines City Council is considering creating a police community advisory board. But council members disagree on how much authority the board should have to review disciplinary actions taken against officers accused of misconduct. Plus, the city of Council Bluffs is receiving money from the E-P-A to clean up a former factory site.

A federal appeals court has cleared the way for state officials to enforce Iowa’s ban on school mask mandates. Governor Kim Reynolds is expected to sign a bill into law that will establish a state mandate for many gas stations to sell fuel with higher blends of ethanol Plus, a jury has convicted a man of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of an Iowa State Patrol trooper last year.

A new study has found a program aimed at Hispanic families with Mexican roots is linked to an increase in healthy food consumption. The Sioux City Human Rights Commission is hosting a workshop on fair housing. Plus, a conversation with Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Glenn Hurst.

A new Congressional report says that at the height of the pandemic, the meat processing industry worked closely with political appointees in the Trump administration to stave off health restrictions. Native communities marched throughout Sioux City Thursday to bring awareness to missing and murdered Indigenous women. Plus, IPR’s Kassidy Arena reports on some of Iowa’s Latina entrepreneurs who started businesses during the pandemic.

Both of Iowa's U.S. Senators, as expected, joined with their Republican colleagues in defeating the bill Democrats sponsored to guarantee access to abortion nationwide. A 17-year-old Iowa boy accused of helping a classmate kill their high school Spanish teacher last year will be tried as an adult. Plus, Iowa’s COVID-19 hospitalizations are increasing.

Two weeks after contract negotiations began, union workers at Arconic have decided to vote on whether to authorize a strike. Iowa is launching a new ad campaign bringing awareness to children’s mental health. Plus, people in many Midwestern states could lose access to abortion if the Supreme Court rules to overturn Roe v. Wade.