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Biden pitches Senate rule change to safeguard voting rights
President Joe Biden called for an end to the Senate filibuster during a visit to Atlanta’s Morehouse College campus, arguing Senate Democrats can push past GOP opposition now blocking major voting rights legislation. With the likelihood of Republican lawmakers pursuing more restrictive voting rules, not implementing meaningful federal protections sooner rather than later is a […]
Infrastructure law fixes Amtrak funding woes, House panel hears
WASHINGTON — The leader of Amtrak told a U.S. House panel Thursday that the recently enacted infrastructure law made great strides to solving the passenger rail system’s financial woes and placed it on equal footing with other modes of transportation. Democrats on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s rail subcommittee and Amtrak Executive Director Stephen Gardner said […]
Republican lawmakers vote down first redistricting proposal
Republican lawmakers have voted down Iowa’s first redistricting proposal, sending the process back to a nonpartisan state agency to start from scratch. The first set of proposed maps failed in the Senate on Tuesday by a party line vote of 18-32. Republicans said several of the proposed legislative districts could be more compact and the […]
Judge awards jobless benefits to prison nurse involved in vaccine overdose
One of the Iowa nurses fired for mistakenly giving prison inmates six times the normal dose of the COVID-19 vaccine has been awarded jobless benefits. Amanda Dodson, who began working for the Iowa Department of Corrections in 2003, was fired in May after she alerted her superiors to a mistake that resulted in 77 inmates […]
Physician assistant arrested four months after license was reinstated
A physician assistant whose license was reinstated in March following allegations of domestic abuse and sex with a patient was convicted Friday of new domestic abuse charges. Anthony G. Peters of Primghar pleaded guilty Friday to a charge of second-offense domestic abuse. He was sentenced to one year in jail, with all but seven days […]
Keep your ear on the ball: Beep Ball engages sight-impaired athletes
AMES, Iowa — James Cheek stands in the batter’s box and awaits the pitch. As the beep-emitting ball approaches, he swings the bat and makes contact. From then on, it’s a race between the runner sprinting toward a base and fielders scrambling to grab the ball and lift it up in the air before he […]
U.S. Senate panel grapples with rights of student athletes
WASHINGTON — There was little disagreement among senators Wednesday over whether a national law is needed to standardize what soon will be a patchwork of conflicting state statutes allowing some student athletes to earn money from their personal brands. Wednesday’s Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing shed little light on what a potential federal law would […]
U.S. House infrastructure bill tops $5.7B in earmarks, with $35.8M for Iowa projects
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Democrats’ highway funding bill is poised to include roughly three out of five transportation projects submitted by members, as legislators vie for their share of federal dollars through the resurrected congressional earmarks process. The 1,473 projects that made the cut were out of 2,383 that Democratic and Republican legislators requested for inclusion in […]
Judge’s actions in Cricket Hollow Zoo case are the focus of appeal
The Iowa Court of Appeals will hear arguments next month as to the fairness of a judge who shut down eastern Iowa’s Cricket Hollow Zoo after citing “deplorable” conditions at the roadside attraction. The two owners of the now-shuttered zoo, Pamela and Thomas Sellner of Manchester, are appealing a 2019 court ruling declaring the zoo […]
Senators deadlock in committee vote on major U.S. elections bill
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats on Tuesday tackled a massive voting reforms bill in committee in a heated daylong debate. But the final vote on the bill by the Senate Rules Committee was a 9-9 tie, which means Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer likely would have to use a Senate procedure to bring the legislation to […]
States offer gift cards, clinics at baseball games, worksite shots in push to increase vaccinations
WASHINGTON — Maine officials are enticing residents to get a COVID-19 vaccine by offering free fishing or hunting licenses and L.L. Bean gift cards. Ohio has the National Guard taking shots to the lobbies of senior housing facilities, so those residents need only to come downstairs. And in Minnesota, Gov. Tim Walz says that if […]
Governor auctions off dinner at Terrace Hill to benefit Christian school
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is helping a faith-based school raise money by allowing it to auction off a dinner with her at the governor’s mansion. Reynolds is assisting with the Des Moines Christian School’s current fundraiser, the 2021 True Blue Gala, on April 10. As part of the fundraising effort, the school is soliciting online […]