Much of the relationship between the people and their governments is built on trust. But that relationship is fragile -- especially when it appears government is going out of its way to keep the public in the dark.
My wife and I were driving down Interstate Highway 80 on Sunday, and we experienced one of the cardinal rules of law-making. You don’t read about this in
An IowaWatch-Iowa Public Radio report last week shows that Iowa lawmakers have repeatedly dropped the ball when it comes to providing funding equity for the state’s public schools.
Republicans, armed with firm control of the House, Senate and governor's office, came to the Statehouse in January with several bills that Democrats could block when they controlled the Senate in the last legislative session.
Enacting everything Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad wants will not be easy, even though his fellow Republicans listening to his Condition of the State address in Des Moines are predisposed to agree with it. And then there are the Democrats.
Iowa's largest stateagencies would bear most of the proposed $110 million in budget cuts for the current fiscal year that Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds sent to the Legislature for the 2017 legislative session.
IowaWatch Executive Director-Editor Lyle Muller was a guest on a recent Ethical Perspectives on the News program KCRG-TV-9 along with Tim Hagle, professor of political science at the University of Iowa; and Jesse Case of Teamsters Local 238. The host and moderator was Karl Cassell.
When the Iowa Legislature gavels into session in January, Republicans will make up the majority in both the House and Senate. We talk with the Senate Majority Leader and the Speaker of the House to learn their plans in this IowaWatch Connection report and visit with Democrats the following week.
owa voters have spoken, and loudly. Beyond the high-profile presidential election, though, they shifted the balance of power inside the state, too. What will the change in control of the Iowa Senate mean for public policy in Iowa?
An Iowa state senator said he wants the Iowa Legislature to define life as beginning at conception following a June 27 U.S. Supreme Court decision that limits how much states can restrict abortion access. But the constitutionality of any legislation along those lines would be contrary to previous Su
The future of another legislative attempt to allow medicinal marijuana manufacturers and dispensaries in the state is uncertain, with some legislators skeptical about whether or not the next steps to pass a bill will happen.
