Less than two weeks after the head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture said the agency was stepping up enforcement of the federal Animal Welfare Act, the USDA’s lawyers are arguing in court that it’s not required to enforce that law.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals filed a lawsuit against the USDA in September 2024, challenging its past decisions to license three Iowa dog breeders — Steve Kruse, Brian Lichirie and Wuanita Swedlund.
Iowa is expected to spend over $1 billion more than it raises in revenues in the current fiscal year, the Revenue Estimating Conference found Friday — but Iowa Department of Management Director Kraig Paulsen said this prediction remains in line with Republicans’ expectations about the initial impacts of income tax cuts.
The Revenue Estimating Conference, a three-member panel, met Friday to discuss the state’s expected economic outlook. When the conference last met in March, the members projected state revenues would decline by 9.3% in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2026, but that the state would see a 4.4% increase in revenue growth in fiscal year 2027.
With the books closed for FY 2026, Iowa saw a 7.1% decrease in revenue compared to the previous year — a drop of just under $635 million. Jennifer Acton, the director of the Fiscal Services division of the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency, said this figure means revenues for the year were $205 million higher than the REC projected. But, she said, the year was still significant for being “the third year in a row with a net revenue decrease after 90 straight years of net revenue increases.”
Iowa's most vocal anti-tax group – Iowans for Tax Relief – lives off a charitable endowment worth $48 million that pays zero state or federal tax on its annual investment income of just over $2 million.
The non-profit organization – Tax Education Support Organization – was set up by former legislator and U.S. Senate candidate David M. Stanley, who died in 2015.
The initial endowment of $33 million has swelled to $48 million as of year-end 2025 and the number of employees on the payroll has grown to 14.
Its largesse funds staffing and programs not only of the Tax Education Support Organization, but Iowans for Tax Relief and the Iowans for Tax Relief Foundation, each set up as charitable non-profits and shielded from paying any state or federal income tax.
President Donald Trump is tapping $20 million in Homeland Security funding to pay for TV ads that heavily feature him ahead of the midterm elections, Democrats said Tuesday as the promos critics call propaganda come under bipartisan attack.
The Trump administration recently moved the funds into a U.S. Customs and Border Protection budget line intended for “commemorative events” related to border security, according to federal records. Congressional Democrats said the dollars appear to be funding the ad campaign.
An Iowa district court judge on Wednesday dismissed the lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump against the Des Moines Register and pollster J. Ann Selzer for the 2024 Iowa Poll published shortly before the election.
Trump filed the lawsuit against the Iowa newspaper; its parent company, Gannett Co., now renamed USA Today Co.; Selzer and her polling company in 2024 after winning the U.S. presidential race against former Vice President Kamala Harris. An Iowa Poll published three days before the 2024 election showed Harris leading Trump among likely Iowa voters 47% to 44%. Trump won Iowa in the 2024 presidential election by 13 percentage points.
The lawsuit alleges the poll was an attempt to “create a false narrative of inevitability for Harris in the final week of the 2024 Presidential Election.”
When dealing with the Iowa Public Information Board, being a mind-reader helps.
That is one takeaway from the board’s dismissal last week of a public-records complaint against Attorney General Brenna Bird’s office.
The request was made on December 4, 2024 by Chad Brewbaker, who asked the attorney general for the fees her office paid to private attorneys. His complaint to the Iowa Public Information Board alleged he never received an acknowledgement of his request or the data showing how taxpayer money was spent.
Beginning in January 2025 and continuing until he filed the IPIB complaint on August 11, Brewbaker said he emailed the attorney general each month to remind her of his request and ask, “Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.”
WASHINGTON — FBI Director Kash Patel sidestepped questions about FBI agents at polling places in the midterm elections at a U.S. Senate hearing Tuesday that also featured a tense exchange between GOP Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey.
With the November midterm elections fast approaching and the parties jockeying for control of Congress, several Democratic senators wanted assurance from Patel, under oath, that the FBI would not send agents into polling places.
“Do you pledge that you will not, in any way, interfere in the will of the American people when they go to the polls in November?” Sen. Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, asked.
“I pledge unequivocally that I will not participate in your charade of lies,” Patel told Welch.
Patel in addition faced questions during the five-hour hearing from members of the Judiciary Committee about recent changes to the agency’s hiring requirements, an ongoing probe into 2020 election ballots seized in Georgia, and how the FBI plans to handle crimes committed by AI agents.
‘We have a lackey here’
A boiling point came when Booker spoke beyond his allotted time and name-called Patel a “thug” who “wouldn’t qualify” to be an FBI special agent.
Booker accused Patel of not answering questions about whether the agency was improperly targeting journalists. The FBI subpoenaed multiple New York Times reporters in July after the outlet published accounts of security deficiencies on President Donald Trump’s new Qatari-donated jet now used as Air Force One. The DOJ dropped the subpoenas later that month after a federal judge pressured the agency.
“My concluding remark is we don’t have an FBI director. We have a lackey here who is using government, and frankly, he’s not even a good lackey. He’s an incompetent lackey. He’s like an 18-year-old kid who wants to join a fraternity that he could never be a member of, doing keg stands and chugging with friends,” Booker said, before continuing the exchange for roughly four minutes more.
“Are you ready to shut up?” Grassley, of Iowa, asked Booker with a raised voice.
Patel brushed off Grassley’s offer during the exchange to respond to Booker.
Democratic candidate for Iowa attorney general Nate Willems said Wednesday that “bullying does not work” on him and he won’t be pulling ads targeting current Attorney General Brenna Bird in relation to an Iowa pollution case.
Willems’ campaign has been threatened with a lawsuit from biofuel producer POET, after the campaign released an ad criticizing Bird for not pursuing further damages after it was discovered in 2024 that the plant had been releasing excessive amounts of pollutants that can cause cancer and other health issues.
The newly hired Bettendorf superintendent continues to operate his side consulting business, while the district refuses to say if school board president Paul Castro has authorized the activity.
John Elkin was hired as interim superintendent by the Bettendorf school board last month at a salary of more than $218,000, after the board paid the outgoing superintendent $720,000 to resign.
Even as deputy to the director of the Iowa State School Board, Elkin operated his consulting firm, Premier ED Leader Resources LLC , which provides internal investigative training to school districts in Iowa and other neighboring states. The firm charges school districts $300 per person to attend its training seminars.
Summit Carbon Solutions is abandoning two-thirds of its planned project to store carbon dioxide underground in North Dakota.
The company, which had been granted permits to store CO2 in three designated areas in central North Dakota, has requested permits for two of the areas to be canceled.
“Summit #1 and Summit #2 have determined as a matter of business judgment that they will not proceed with development, construction, operation, or implementation of either proposed storage facility,” Summit said in a filing with the North Dakota Supreme Court.
Less than two weeks after the head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture said the agency was stepping up enforcement of the federal Animal Welfare Act, the USDA’s lawyers are arguing in court that... more
Iowa is expected to spend over $1 billion more than it raises in revenues in the current fiscal year, the Revenue Estimating Conference found Friday — but Iowa Department of... more
Iowa's most vocal anti-tax group – Iowans for Tax Relief – lives off a charitable endowment worth $48 million that pays zero state or federal tax on its annual investment income of just over $2 million.
The non-profit organization – Tax Education Support Organization – was set up by... more
President Donald Trump is tapping $20 million in Homeland Security funding to pay for TV ads that heavily feature him ahead of the midterm elections, Democrats said Tuesday as... more
To help distinguish legitimate news from the tsunami of disinformation and propaganda from Russian bots, partisan zealots and talking heads at disreputable media companies, here are useful questions to ask yourself courtesy the International Federation of Library Associations:
Consider the source. Click away from the story to investigate the site, its mission and its contact information.
Check the author. Do a quick search on the author. Are they credible? Are they even real?
Check the date. Re-posting old news stories doesn't mean they're relevant to current events.
Read beyond. Headlines can be outrageous in an effort to get clicks. What's the whole story?
Supporting sources. Click on those links. Determine if the information given actually supports the story.
Is it a joke? If it is too outlandish, it might be satire. Research the site and author to be sure.
Ask the experts. Ask a librarian, or consult a fact-checking site.
That is one takeaway from the board’s dismissal last week of a public-records complaint against Attorney General Brenna Bird’s office.
