Here First

Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak at a rally on the State Fairgrounds in Des Moines Saturday night. Iowa Democratic leaders say Republican leaders should promise they won’t draw their own political boundaries. Plus, tractor accidents are the leading cause of death and serious injuries on farms.

Iowa’s Legislative Services Agency announced Wednesday it will finish drawing a second set of redistricting maps by October 21. State health officials have announced they are making changes to the state’s COVID-19 testing program due to the increasing demand for testing across the state. Plus, a deal has been made for the purchase of Des Moines-based Meredith Corporation.

Iowa Senate Republicans have voted to reject the state’s first proposed redistricting plan. Immigrants in central Iowa have a new option to help them prepare for the U.S. citizenship test. Plus, students of a University of Northern Iowa professor who was sanctioned for mandating masks in his classroom are defending their teacher.

The vaccination rate for incarcerated Iowans is far higher than the Iowa Department of Corrections employees who oversee them. A biology professor who was disciplined for requiring masks in his classroom says his students were okay with his policy. And state lawmakers are headed back to the Iowa Statehouse for a special session on redistricting.

Iowa lawmakers will be in Des Moines tomorrow to vote on new legislative and congressional district maps. The price of farmland in Iowa and much of the Midwest skyrocketed last year. And supply chain experts recommend you start holiday shopping a little earlier than usual this year.

State investigators will try to determine if human remains found Thursday a few miles outside Montezuma are those of Xavior Harrelson. Iowa’s Congressional delegation voted on party lines on a funding bill aimed at avoiding a shutdown of the federal government. Plus, Polk County health officials are urging more residents to get vaccinated as the county continues to see a surge of new COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations.

Early voting for Iowa’s city and school elections begins in about two weeks, and some deadlines and procedures for voting by mail are different this year because of new voting laws. For the third week in a row, Iowa health officials are reporting the state’s new coronavirus infections have topped 10 thousand over the past week. Plus, soccer attracts kids of all backgrounds in Iowa, but IPR’s Kassidy Arena reports the sport isn’t equally accessible to all of them.

Iowa’s rate of new coronavirus infections remains on the rise as the infection rate nationwide is dropping. A leaked proposal for the federal biofuels mandate is getting criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Plus, an Iowa State University professor is joining the ranks of 25 people who're getting a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship this year.

Iowa school districts can still require students and teachers to wear masks after a federal court order was extended on Monday. New research shows the number of days Iowans are dealing with wildfire smoke has increased as more fires have raged across the western U.S. Plus, an Illinois man unexpectedly won the Quad Cities Marathon this weekend.

Health officials are urging Iowans to get their annual flu shot amid an increasing number of COVID-19 hospitalizations. House Speaker Pat Grassley suggests Plan 1 outlining new congressional and legislative district borders will be the sole focus of the October 5 special legislative session. Plus, we hear some of the sounds of the 2021 Iowa Latino Heritage Festival that returned to Des Moines this year after being cancelled last year because of the pandemic.