Maya Marchel Hoff, Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau

The water quality concerns in were highlighted during a roundtable held by Democratic Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand’s gubernatorial campaign Tuesday at the Exira Public Library, where he spoke to local residents and officials.

Iowa U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst was being criticized Friday after a comment she made earlier in the day during a town hall meeting in Parkersburg. While answering a question about proposed cuts to Medicaid, a member of the audience yelled “people will die.” Ernst responded, “Well, we all are going to die.”

Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who was in Davenport for a campaign fundraiser Thursday, said of Medicaid recipients who would lose coverage because they don’t meet proposed work requirements and don’t qualify for an exception, “that's their choice to lose coverage.”

As the country grapples with a health care workforce shortage, health care facilities across Iowa, especially in rural areas, will see some assistance under legislation signed Wednesday by Gov. Kim Reynolds.

Under the current system at Iowa Workforce Development, Iowans must use multiple sites and accounts to file unemployment insurance claims and find job postings. The new system will consolidate all employment services on one website.

Signed in 1965, the Iowa Civil Rights Act provides legal protection from discrimination against protected classes regarding housing, employment, education, public services and accommodations, banking and more. As the act turns 60, some who were involved in its formation and continuation reflect on where it is today and worry about where it will stand in the future.

Under the waiver approved by the USDA, starting Jan. 1, 2026, Iowans who receive SNAP won’t be able to use their benefits to purchase items including garden seeds and food-producing plants, candy, gum, soft drinks, lemonade, fruit snacks, certain granola bars and caramel corn.

Lawmakers use surplus to cover expected $917M shortfall

To resolve 2023 lawsuit, new services will be offered to children in the state with serious emotional and behavioral conditions.

Unemployment taxes and benefits, opioid addiction treatment funds and a new, state family paid leave program marked a long final legislative day as Iowa lawmakers concluded their work for 2025 early Thursday morning.

Iowa legislators on Wednesday evening were on their way to finishing their work and adjourning the 2025 session of the Iowa Legislature

A slate of Iowa tax credits would be repealed, created or adjusted under legislation making its way through the state legislature as the end of the session nears.

“Healthy Kids Iowa” -- a new program announced Wednesday by Gov. Kim Reynolds -- will provide qualifying families with $40 worth of food per child per month in June, July and August. It replaces a summer food program that Reynolds opted out of. It would have provided $29 million in federal food assistance funding for an estimated 240,000 children in the state.

Democratic Iowa Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, a Lutheran minister from West Des Moines, is looking to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District in 2026. Political forecasters have the district as one of the most competitive in the country.

The impacts of the Trump administration’s DOGE-driven cuts at federal institutions that support arts and humanities are trickling down to museums across Iowa. The grant cancellations could impact direct funding for specific programs alongside indirect funding for things like research on making museums more accessible or on traveling exhibits.