Government & Politics

A majority of the Winneshiek County Board of Supervisors voted earlier this month to freeze funding for the roadside vegetation management program, started in 2016, because they say that money would be better spent updating snow plows and other Secondary Roads equipment.

A proposed bill would prevent earned or good time credit from being applied to mandatory mininums for habitual, repeat and violent offenders.

The House bill would require pipeline companies to obtain 90 percent of the miles along their proposed route through voluntary easements before being granted eminent domain authority.

Proponents of the legislation said it’s needed to help contain insurance costs for hospitals, and to help recruit and retain doctors, especially in rural areas of the state.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources will create a new grant program for combating emerging contaminants in drinking water in small or disadvantaged communities. The program will be funded with $18.9 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The Fact Checker checked a claim U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, made about fentanyl overdose deaths in the country.

Republican former Vice President Mike Pence railed against “radical gender ideology” in public schools during a rally in Cedar Rapids.

A proposal to fix a state error in how property taxes are calculated -- which cities, counties and other local governments say will leave them in a lurch -- is headed to Gov. Kim Reynolds’ desk after House lawmakers passed the bill Wednesday.