Here First

Sen. Joni Ernst was choking on food during a luncheon when fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky performed the Heimlich maneuver on her. A second lawsuit has been filed against Iowa’s law banning books with sexual content from school libraries. Plus, we hear about a federal program that’s working to connect farms with food pantries to prevent wasting food.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley are increasingly outsourcing central parts of their campaigns. Home sales in the state were down nearly 12% in October compared to last year. Plus, why talking about climate change can be a tough job in Middle America.

The ACLU of Iowa and Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit challenging Iowa’s law that restricts discussions of LGBTQ topics in schools and bans books that describe sex acts. The husband of a Sioux City woman convicted of voter fraud isn’t stepping down from the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors. Plus, Iowa author Nancy Jane Price has died.

Planned Parenthood workers in Des Moines will picket as part of a multi-state union demonstration over labor concerns. The Iowa Environmental Council has an eye-popping report out on the costs Iowans will pay for the removal of nitrates from drinking water supplies over the next five years. Plus, most of the state is going into its 178th consecutive week of drought.

The Iowa Democratic Party has hired the National Vote at Home Institute to handle its first-ever mail-in system to determine which presidential candidate Democrats in Iowa prefer. An Iowa man now holds the Guinness World Record for the largest pencil collection. Plus, Millions of people with mental illness across the country go untreated and that comes at a cost.

The wife of a Woodbury County supervisor has been found guilty of voter fraud. Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis now has the public support of a well-known voice in Iowa's evangelical community. Plus, the tangled web of funding that keeps the water tap on.

The forecast has cleared up in Iowa ahead of Thanksgiving travel. Governor Kim Reynolds says she’s working on another tax cut plan that she’ll reveal to Iowans at her Condition of the State address in January. Plus, jury deliberations are underway in the voter fraud case involving the wife of a Woodbury County supervisor.

Former President Donald Trump says a decisive win for him in Iowa’s January 15 caucuses could put an early end to the Republican presidential nomination process. The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics has received a new grant to help address child mental health issues through school resources. Plus, the history between families’ preference for pumpkin or sweet potato pie.

The Board of Regents is directing Iowa’s public universities to cut diversity, equity and inclusion programs that aren’t necessary for research contracts or accreditation. Some protest participants in the Iowa City area learned this week that one month later, police put out a warrant for their arrest. Plus, researchers say that insects are declining at alarming rates.

Jeremy Goodale, one of the two Fairfield teenagers who pleaded guilty for the murder of Spanish teacher Nohema Graber, has been sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. The State Department of Education is advancing a set of rules that give schools and teachers some clarification on a law that includes a ban on books with sexually graphic content. Plus, Senators from Iowa and Nebraska are supporting Federal legislation that would return land in northwest Iowa to the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska.