James Q. Lynch

If lawmakers go along with legislation approved by the House, this weekend will be the last time Iowans have to go through the twice-a-year ritual of changing their clocks — if Congress also agrees.

Democratic gubernatorial challenger Deidre DeJear called for the state to fully fund education from preschool to college and to make at least 30 hours a week of child care available to families. She would support a moratorium on “factory farms” and more funding for Department of Natural Resources water quality efforts.

As she has done in the run-up to formally starting to campaign, Gov. Reynolds contrasted her leadership to that of the Biden administrations and the Democratic Congress.

In 2021, Iowa companies exported $3.1 billion in goods to Mexico, which is the state’s third-largest export destination overall and the second-leading export market for corn, pork and soybeans.

The fiscal 2023 budget proposed by House Republicans represents a less than a 1 percent increase from the current $8.1 billion budget. Gov. Kim Reynolds and Senate Republicans have proposed spending just more than $8.2 billion, a 3.5 percent increase.

U.S. Sens. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley of Iowa are introducing legislation to replace banned Russian oil with American renewable fuels, saying biofuels are less expensive then straight-up petroleum products.

Proposal to provide scholarships of as much as $5,500 a year to eligible private school students cheered as providing choice to more families, panned as attack on public education during Iowa House hearing.

The investigation could be seen as politicians trying to “push their own agenda and inappropriately interfere with a separate but equal branch of government,” House Democrats said in a letter to the speaker and Judiciary Committee chairman.

Iowa’s high school graduation rate slipped from 91.8 percent for the Class of 2020 to 90.2 percent for the Class of 2021.

Wolfe, who has been clerking for her sister, Rep. Mary Wolfe, D-Clinton, is running for an open seat in House 90 in Iowa City. Most of the district is represented by Rep. Christina Bohannan, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to the U.S. House in the new southeast Iowa district.

Solar energy installations proved so popular that the $5 million Iowa lawmakers appropriated for the tax credits ran out. So rather than get their tax credit, nearly 3,000 homeowners were put on a waitlist. They’re still waiting.

The Judiciary Committee voted to to withdraw the subpoenas issued in its investigation of a district court judge who allegedly committed an impeachable offense during the selection of candidates for the governor to choose from in making a judicial appointment.

With fewer than 100 days until the primary, Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Mike Franken has shaken up his campaign leadership, bringing in veteran Democratic operative Julie Stauch as his campaign manager.

First District Rep. Ashely Hinson selected Linn County Sheriff's Deputy Will Halverson to be her virtual guest for the president’s annual report to Congress. Halverson was shot in the line of duty while responding to a robbery in Coggon last year.

Democrats opposed Gov. Kim Reynolds’ appointments of former House member Erik Helland and Jane Dufoe to the Public Employment Relations Board.