by Clark Kauffman, Iowa Capital Dispatch
July 3, 2025

Amid allegations of “gamesmanship” and forum shopping, a federal judge has blocked, at least for now, President Donald Trump’s attempt to move his lawsuit against the Des Moines Register and its pollster out of federal court and into state court.

Noting that Trump recently filed an appeal on one specific issue within the federal lawsuit, U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger found that because the president’s appeal had conferred jurisdiction of the case to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, he must first dismiss that appeal before voluntarily dismissing the underlying lawsuit.

For now, that means the president and his lawyers are pursuing the same legal case against the newspaper and pollster Ann Selzer in both state court and federal court.

by Jared Strong, Iowa Capital Dispatch
June 25, 2025

A long-awaited scientific report commissioned by Polk County says farm pollution threatens the ability to drink clean water and to safely interact with central Iowa streams, Iowa Capital Dispatch has learned.

The county announced its Central Iowa Source Water Research Assessment in 2023 and heralded it as a first-of-its-kind, unbiased and comprehensive examination of the watersheds that feed the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers, which converge near downtown Des Moines.

The topic is acutely important: Central Iowa Water Works recently banned lawn watering — for the first time ever — to prevent nitrate concentrations in its treated drinking water from exceeding a federal health limit.

by Tom Foley, Iowa Capital Dispatch
June 16, 2025

Gov. Kim Reynolds’ “healthier and cheaper” alternative to federal summer food assistance programs is again facing criticism that it is less convenient and covers fewer food-insecure Iowans than the national program and offers families fewer choices than initially promised.

Reynolds’ Healthy Kids Iowa was announced in May after the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved the pilot program as an alternative to the federal Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer program. The federal program would have added $40 per month to a family’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program card for each school-age child during schools’ summer break that can be used at retailers across the state.

The Healthy Kids Iowa program was billed in the initial release as having “more than 500 access points statewide.” Currently, there are 254 access points for the governor’s program, where families can pick up pre-made boxes of food, valued at $40, to be prepared at home.  A spokesperson for the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services said the remaining access points are summer meal sites overseen by the Department of Education, where kids can eat a meal on site.

Meanwhile, there are over 2,900 retailers across Iowa that accept SNAP benefits, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Advocates for food assistance say the state’s program falls far short of Summer EBT as a way to get help to families in need.

by Clark Kauffman, Iowa Capital Dispatch
May 16, 2025

A federal judge has again temporarily blocked portions of an Iowa law aimed at restricting schools’ recognition of LGBTQ+ people and banning books with sexual or LGBTQ+ content.

The law, which was signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds in May 2023, was immediately challenged by Lambda Legal and ACLU of Iowa on behalf of students, teachers and the organization Iowa Safe Schools.

As originally written, the law prohibits school districts and educators from providing “any program, curriculum, test, survey, questionnaire, promotion, or instruction relating to gender identity or sexual orientation to students in kindergarten through grade six.”

Lee Enterprises, Inc. – owner of the Quad City Times and Daily Dispatch-Argus newspapers – lost $12.6 million in its second quarter and reported it obtained waivers to avoid having to make payments in April and March on its $453-million loan.

The Davenport-based company operates some 70 newspapers and online news sites including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Buffalo News and Omaha World-Herald.

For the quarter ended March 30, Lee reported a loss of $12.6 million, or $2.07 per share, compared to a loss of $12.3 million, $2.06 per share, for the same period a year ago.

by Robin Opsahl, Iowa Capital Dispatch
April 17, 2025

The Iowa Senate amended an open meetings and records bill Thursday to list security camera footage from the Iowa Capitol building as “confidential records.”

House File 706 is this year’s attempt to implement higher penalties and training requirements for Iowa’s open meetings and records laws. Fines for violating open meetings laws would increase to between $500 and $2,500 from the current range of between $100 and $500.

by Ariana Figueroa, Iowa Capital Dispatch
April 14, 2025

WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department is paying El Salvador $6 million to house hundreds of immigrants deported from the United States in an immense and brutal prison there, Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, or CECOT.

But a U.S. law bars State’s financial support of “units of foreign security forces” — which can include military and law enforcement staff in prisons —  facing credible allegations of gross human rights violations. That has led those who wrote what’s known as the Leahy Law and enforced it for years to question the legality of the $6 million payment made as President Donald Trump carries out his campaign of mass deportation.

The Trump administration on March 15 sent 261 men to CECOT, after invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to apply to Venezuelan nationals 14 and older who are suspected members of the gang Tren de Aragua.

On March 30, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said another 17 nationals from El Salvador were sent to CECOT, again alleging gang ties. On Sunday, Rubio said 10 more men were sent to the prison in El Salvador, and noted how “the alliance between” the U.S. and El Salvador “has become an example for security and prosperity in our hemisphere.”

Tim Rieser, the main author of the Leahy Law while a longtime foreign policy aide to former U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the $6 million payment for those migrants’ incarceration for up to a year is likely a violation of the law.

by Robin Opsahl, Iowa Capital Dispatch
April 8, 2025

The Iowa Senate passed a bill clarifying some parts of the process for the state’s review of “immediate jeopardy” violations at Iowa nursing homes, but did not approve changes suggested by Democratic senators to increase oversight and regulation over care facilities in the state.

House File 309, passed 39-9 Tuesday, was described by the bill’s floor manager Sen. Kara Warme, R-Ames, as a small, technical correction to a law passed in 2024 on Iowa nursing home oversight. In 2024, the Legislature approved a measure requiring the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing, the state entity charged with nursing home oversight, to allow nursing homes to review potential citations for substandard care and placing residents in immediate jeopardy of serious injury or death.