Newsletter for Thursday,February 4, 2016Week 4 of the session is complete. It has been a short week, as we did not convene on Monday so that legislators could participate in their Caucuses, and Tuesday most committee meetings were cancelled due to the snow that morning which prevented many ...
Major General Timothy Orr addressed lawmakers on January 27 in his annual Condition of the Guard.Thousands of Iowa National Guard soldiers and airmen have served in combat and support roles in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past 14 years. Today, 40 percent of the Guard's force is combat ...
The state of Iowa is moving quickly to privatize Medicaid. I am deeply concerned for the more than 560,000 Iowans on Medicaid, including 120,000 coping with life-altering disabilities, whose quality of life and future depend upon accessible health care.You can see the numbers: businesses ...
Human trafficking is the trade of humans, most commonly for sexual slavery, forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation. It's a crime that's going on here in the heartland, and the fight is under way to combat it.owa law enforcement officers, including Commissioner of Public Safety Roxann ...
Iowans do have the unique opportunity to be first to voice their opinion on whom they believe should be the next President of the United States.We get a chance to see many of the candidates up-close so far, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley for the Democrats and Lindsey Graham ...
Newsletter for January 21, 2016We are finishing our second week of the session and the pomp and circumstance of the first week is behind us and the real work of the Legislature is underway.The BudgetOver the next few weeks and months there will be lots of discussion on the budget, and no doubt ...
At year's end, most Americans take stock of the previous 12 months and consider if they met their goals for the year. A review of one's bank account, pay stub or job status and even a peek at the bathroom scale give folks a pretty good idea if they stayed true to their New Year's ...
As a result of funding provided by the Teacher Leadership and Compensation (TLC) grant, many Iowa schools are placing teachers into newly created leadership positions. All school districts served by Area Education Agency 267 (AEA 267) have applied for this voluntary grant. While 10 of those ...
The 2016 legislative session is underway. Monday morning we began with the swearing in of Rep. Linda Upmeyer as our new Speaker of the House. This was an historic moment not only because she is the first woman Speaker in Iowa, but she may be the first daughter of a former Speaker to attain the ...
Iowa's courts are committed to:Protecting Iowa's childrenOperating an efficient, full-service court systemProviding faster and less costly resolution of legal disputesOperating in an open and transparent wayProviding fair and impartial justice for allIn his annual Condition of the Judiciary ...