Week in Iowa, Aug. 5, 2024: Recap of news from across the state

FEMA has given $61 million: The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Wednesday it has now approved more than $61 million for Iowans who have been rocked by historic flooding, severe storms and tornadoes this year. More than 5,000 households have been approved for assistance, and the deadline to apply is Aug. 23.

Summer EBT: More than 3,500 Iowans from across the state signed a petition urging Gov. Kim Reynolds to direct state agencies to submit paperwork required for the state to participate next year in a federal program that provides $40 per month per child to low-income families for food during the summer. There is an Aug. 15 deadline to submit a state plan to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Iowa State Fair: The Iowa State Fair kicked off Thursday in Des Moines. New food options this year include lobster corn dogs, bacon cheeseburger eggrolls and the cinnamon crunch apple taco. The fair runs through Aug. 18.

Scholten’s hat: The baseball cap worn by state Rep. J.D. Scholten, D-Sioux City, who also is a pitcher with the Sioux City Explorers baseball team, was found in a ditch between Interstate 80 and Earlham, Iowa, after the team’s bus caught fire last weekend. The hat is going to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Walz pick: At a Tuesday night event at the Cedar Rapids Country Club, Republican Party of Iowa chair Jeff Kaufmann said “Democratic activists” pushed back on having a Jewish American vice presidential nominee. Kaufmann said Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who also was under consideration to be Kamala Harris’ running mate, would have been a better choice than Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The choice of Walz, Kaufmann said, was “blatantly antisemitic.”

Garland in Iowa: U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland visited Cedar Rapids on Tuesday to talk with local, state and federal law enforcement about their work to combat violent crime as part of a nationwide outreach this past week to U.S. attorneys’ offices. He later went to Urbandale for National Night Out.

They said ...

“Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is a great candidate for Vice President because he understands Midwest principles, how hard Iowans work, and the value of a dollar.” -- Iowa Democratic Party chair Rita Hart, in a statement on Kamala Harris choosing Walz to be her running mate

“It kind of tells you something when, in order to keep on farming, farmers need a lawyer to stand up for them against regulations, and I’m very glad to be able to do that.” -- Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, on the unsettled regulatory status of glyphosate, the widely used herbicide sold under the Roundup brand.

Odds and ends

UIHC settlement: University of Iowa Health Care will pay $1.2 million to the parents of a 17-year-old Iowa City girl who died unexpectedly in July 2020 after several UIHC providers mistook her symptoms of a developing pulmonary embolism as COVID. Iowa Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Peterzalek called the settlement “very reasonable under these tragic circumstances.”

Disaster proclamations: Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on Monday issued a disaster proclamation for Cass, Mills, Plymouth, Pottawattamie, Wapello, Webster and Wood-bury counties in response to severe storms that occurred July 29. The proclamation allows residents in those counties to access state resources for recovery efforts.

Water cooler

Giant inflatable IUD: Local elected officials and reproductive rights advocates stood next to a 20-foot inflatable intrauterine device used to prevent pregnancy during a news conference Monday in downtown Cedar Rapids. The inflatable IUD, named “Freeda Womb” and fresh from an appearance at Lollapalooza in Chicago, has toured the country as part of a national campaign organized by Americans for Contraception to protect the right to contraception amid a growing partisan clash over reproductive rights in the wake of a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

Seeks acquittal: A Sioux City woman convicted of 52 counts of voter fraud is asking a federal appeals court to overturn her conviction and acquit her. Kim Taylor, the wife of Woodbury County Board of Supervisors member Jeremy Taylor, was found guilty in November in federal court of 26 counts of providing false information in registering and voting, three counts of fraudulent registration and 23 counts of fraudulent voting.