From a study of public employee salaries and benefits, to teacher bonuses for student achievement and incentives for shared government services, the Iowa DOGE Task Force report includes a number of recommendations for making Iowa government more efficient.
Also in Notebook: Eight more land reclamation projects near former coal mines in southeast Iowa are underway.
Nonpartisan panel revises its estimate from March, but chairman maintains state is ‘in a good spot’
Iowa Rep. Carter Nordman, new chairman of House committee on tax policy, joined Gov. Kim Reynolds and local government leaders for a roundtable discussion about residential property taxes Thursday.
Iowa GOP Chair Jeff Kaufmann has been chosen by President Trump and RNC Chair Joe Gruters to lead the committee that will decide whether the state party keeps its first-in-the-nation caucus status in 2028. Meanwhile, Gov. Kim Reynolds unveiled $5 million in new state grants to expand collaborations between child care providers and preschool programs, part of an effort to help working families access full-day of care that meets their need.
After the arrest of former Des Moines schools superintendent Ian Roberts over questions about his immigration and work authorization status, Gov. Kim Reynolds ordered all state agencies to use federal verification systems to confirm employment and licensing eligibility. The move has reignited debate over whether Iowa should mandate E-Verify statewide — and how reliable the system really is.
42 people took the Oath of Allegiance and officially gained their U.S. citizenship at a naturalization ceremony at the Living History Farms in Urbandale late Friday morning.
Soft drinks, candy, gum and many other foods — most of which are generally deemed to be unhealthy — will be ineligible for purchase with SNAP benefits starting Jan. 1.
Gov. Kim Reynolds on Wednesday ordered all state agencies to use E-Verify and SAVE to confirm employment and immigration eligibility for new hires and professional licenses. The move follows the arrest of former Des Moines schools superintendent Ian Roberts, which exposed verification gaps and reignited debate over whether Iowa should mandate E-Verify statewide.
Democrat Mark Campbell has chaired the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission since 2021
Days before Iowa’s Board of Regents met in closed session to discuss comments some university employees made on social media about conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s death, Gov. Kim Reynolds wrote a letter urging the regents to terminate “public employees who make public comments condoning the murder of a person expressing political views.”
In her first extended statement since Friday’s arrest of Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Ian Roberts, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on Saturday called the incident “shocking“ and said, ”We must enforce the law every time to protect our families and our future.“
Iowa students have rebounded to pre-COVID performance across multiple subjects, including math, reading and writing, and saw an improvement in rates of chronic absenteeism last year, Gov. Kim Reynolds said Wednesday.
Reynolds and the Iowa Department of Education announced that Iowa was one of six states selected for a 2025 federal Charter Schools Program Grant to State Entities issued by the U.S. Department of Education.
Iowa Sen. Mike Klimesh, of Spillville, is the new legislative agenda-setting leader of the Iowa Senate, as selected by his Republican colleagues Wednesday
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