Here First

COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to increase in Iowa. Gov. Reynolds is joining other Republican governors in calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn previous rulings on abortion. And Republican state Rep. John Landon of Ankeny has died at the age of 71.

Tuition’s going up this fall at Iowa’s public universities. Gov. Reynolds says Iowa state troopers deployed along the U.S.-Mexico border are back in Iowa. She says it was the “right thing to do.” And the very longtime mayor of Manchester, Iowa, says this will be his last term.

Gov. Kim Reynolds is rejecting new face mask recommendations from the CDC – even though nearly half of Iowa’s counties have substantial or high transmission of COVID-19. The man convicted of killing Mollie Tibbetts in 2018 was back in court yesterday, asking for a new trial. And lawmakers in Washington hold a hearing today on a lack of competition in the cattle market.

Many Iowa school districts are spending at least part of the summer revising policies around diversity and inclusion to comply with a new state law. House Democrats want Gov. Kim Reynolds to fill vacancies on the state board of health. And, Des Moines is joining a national effort to track the spread of COVID-19 by testing wastewater.

Wednesday is the deadline to apply for grants to support broadband expansion in Iowa. Community members in Montezuma say they won’t give up looking for Xavior Harrelson, two months after the 11-year-old disappeared. And roughly 70 percent of Iowa is still in some form of drought, with no significant rain in the forecast.

Iowa could get up to $170 million from a nationwide opioid lawsuit settlement. Former 1st District Democratic U.S. Rep. Abby Finkenauer will try to unseat longtime Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley. And thousands of cyclists are headed to LeMars for the start of RAGBRAI. The annual bike ride across Iowa gets underway Sunday.

Seventeen Iowa Republican lawmakers want a health care company to explain why it’s requiring workers at seven Iowa hospitals to get a COVID-19 vaccine. In Washington, U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks delivered remarks urging Iowans to get vaccinated. And an organization that works against human trafficking says cases in the U.S. increased during the pandemic.

The University of Iowa’s new president says she believes academic freedom is critical to the institution’s success. Many Iowa Latinos’ future status is in limbo after a judge in Texas last week ruled the DACA program unconstitutional. And Sen. Chuck Grassley is among lawmakers calling on the Biden administration to create a national strategy to address the country’s overdose crisis.

At least three people were arrested at last night’s Des Moines City Council meeting, after the council voted not to take public comment on requests to separate police funding from the rest of the council agenda. And, the EPA is tearing down buildings at a long-vacant Superfund site near downtown Des Moines. A development company hopes to build a professional soccer stadium on the site.

Thirty-thousand Iowans say they fear evictions when a federal moratorium expires at the end of the month. Former Vice President Mike Pence in Des Moines late last week said Republicans have a “winning message.” And a Cedar Rapids organization that helps homeless people will be on the receiving end of a big volunteer effort this week.