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Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401

Erin Murphy
I am the Des Moines Bureau Chief for The Gazette. I am based in Des Moines, where I cover Iowa politics and government, including the Iowa Legislature, the governor and state agencies, and the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses. I am a Wisconsin native, so if you follow me on Twitter, sorry about all the Badgers tweets.
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Latest Articles by Erin Murphy
State Government Apr. 18, 2023 4:35 pm43d ago
Iowa Sen. Bill Dotzler told the tale of the critter who pooped in his hat during debate on a bill designed to control the state’s raccoon population
State Government Apr. 14, 2023 12:06 pm48d ago
Revenue shared for county quality-of-life improvements would be increased and distributed to all 99 counties.
State Government Apr. 16, 2023 12:07 pm46d ago
Legislation adding an asset test and eligibility verification for programs like Medicaid and SNAP has passed the Iowa Legislature and is on its way to Gov. Kim Reynolds.
State Government Apr. 11, 2023 7:34 pm50d ago
Legislation that would require Iowa caucus participants to vote in-person — which would effectively kill Iowa Democrats’ plan for mail-in caucusing in 2024 — was introduced this week in the Iowa House by Republican state lawmaker Bobby Kaufmann, the son of Republican Party of Iowa state chairman Jeff Kaufmann.
State Government Apr. 11, 2023 4:22 pm50d ago
Gov. Kim Reynolds has asked the court to allow a court-blocked 2018 law to go into effect; abortion rights groups argue the law should remain blocked.
Government & Politics Apr. 7, 2023 6:00 am55d ago
Aime Wichtendahl, who in 2015 became the first transgender Iowan elected to public office, has advocated against state legislation that would affect transgender youth.
State Government Apr. 4, 2023 5:10 pm57d ago
The new law reduces the number of cabinet-level state agencies from 37 to 16, and eliminates hundreds of vacant state government positions.
State Government Mar. 31, 2023 5:37 pm61d ago
Some bills won’t make it this year
State Government Mar. 31, 2023 5:32 pm61d ago
Education policy dealing with graphic materials and the teaching of gender identity passed, but a bill regulating carbon capture pipelines did not
State Government Mar. 29, 2023 7:11 pm63d ago
Proposed legislation would require the state to prioritize maintenance of current publicly-owned lands over the acquisition of new lands. Iowa ranks near the bottom of the list of U.S. states for its share of publicly-owned land. About 3 percent of the state is public land.
State Government Mar. 29, 2023 2:41 pm63d ago
With its death ahead of this week’s legislative funnel, the bill is ineligible for consideration for the remainder of the 2023 session, although leadership could resurrect it
Campaigns & Elections Mar. 28, 2023 4:12 am65d ago
Asa Hutchinson speaks to conservative Bull Moose Club in Des Moines
State Government Mar. 23, 2023 6:17 pm69d ago
The program helped elections officials discover 36 cases of alleged duplicate voting in 2018; Iowa Republicans say the program has exceeded its original intention
State Government Mar. 23, 2023 5:34 pm69d ago
Republicans say the proposal would advance parents’ input in students’ education, while Democrats say the proposals marginalize LGBTQ students
State Government Mar. 22, 2023 5:53 pm70d ago
Also, Senate passes bill to change SNAP and Medicaid eligibility