Here First

Governor Kim Reynolds visited a Catholic school in Des Moines on Tuesday to promote her plan to create state-funded scholarships that could help pay private school tuition. An Iowa House panel has advanced a bill that would give election officials more time to mail absentee ballots to voters after passing a law last year to give them less time. Plus, Iowa Public Radio is working on an agreement to take ownership of its broadcast licenses from the state’s three public universities.

The Iowa Senate has passed a school funding plan from the House that increases state aid by 2.5% and it’s headed to Governor Kim Reynolds who is expected to sign it. A House panel has advanced a bipartisan bill to change Iowa’s process for considering commutation requests from Iowans serving life sentences without parole. Plus, a highly contagious pig disease has been found in the Caribbean and if African Swine Fever spreads to the Midwest it could have a devastating impact on pork producers.

Iowa's top court official says masks will no longer be required in Iowa courtrooms as a statewide policy beginning on Monday. A group of Latino volunteers in central Iowa spent a year gathering data and stories from their communities to offer a resource for the state. Plus, farmers are going into the growing season looking at fertilizer prices that have gone up as much as 200 percent over last year.

The Iowa House has passed a school funding proposal for next year, but House and Senate Republicans have not reached a compromise on a final plan. A bill that would prohibit Iowa schools from allowing transgender girls to participate in girls’ sports is advancing in the Iowa House. Plus, free money from the federal government turned into more of a headache than some towns could handle. Small communities in Iowa collectively turned down more than $1 million.

Iowa health officials report COVID-19 hospitalizations and test positivity rates continue to trend downwards. Lawmakers who have been working for years on legislation to protect mobile home residents say they’ve reached a compromise. Plus, a bill in the Iowa House that would have required live-streaming cameras in public school classrooms will not advance this year.

The Iowa House and Senate are advancing competing plans that would increase state funding for K-12 schools but public school advocates say neither package provides enough to keep up with inflation. House Republicans are getting ready to open an investigation into a north-central Iowa judge. Plus, IPR’s Kendall Crawford reports on mental health providers struggling to bring timely care to patients.

Iowa’s Democrats and Republicans caucused last night – without the crowds and fanfare of a presidential election year. Iowa has new laws aimed at improving mental health services to kids and adults, but delivering those services isn’t always easy. And a woman in Marshalltown discovered her home was being sold without her knowledge, because of a state law she knew nothing about.

The Iowa Republican Party chairman says a national panel he leads is unanimously backing a report that would secure First-In-The-Nation status for the Iowa Republican Party's caucuses in 2024. We check in with IPR State Government reporter Katarina Sostaric about the 2022 legislative session. Plus, a Sioux City refugee resettlement agency is hosting an event Monday night that will allow Afghan refugees to share their experiences with the community.

Governor Kim Reynolds says her public health disaster emergency proclamation will expire later this month and the state will scale back the reporting of COVID-19 data. A refugee support organization is collecting donations for new arrivals in central Iowa. Plus, how Iowa Democrats are responding to its national party signaling it may be ready to knock the Iowa caucuses out of its place at the front of the line for nominating presidents.

Governor Kim Reynolds is calling on Republican statehouse leaders to support her plan for corporate tax cuts. Under a bill advancing in the Iowa Senate, high-schoolers would have to pass a civics test to graduate and public schools would be required to list all of the books in their libraries online. Plus, vertical farming is gaining steam in some urban areas but IPR’s Katie Peikes explains that those farms contribute to climate change more than food grown outdoors.