Iowa leads the nation in overall high-school graduation rates, lags behind in minority graduation rates
Katie Ann McCarver, News Editor
May 29, 2020
PolitiFact Iowa is a project of The Daily Iowan’s Ethics & Politics Initiative and PolitiFact to help you find the truth in politics. Edited by Lyle Muller and Sarah Watson If your time is short: Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds says Iowa has the highest high-school graduation rate in t...
Young people are less at risk of dying from COVID-19, but not immune
Rylee Wilson, Politics Reporter
May 12, 2020
PolitiFact Iowa is a project of The Daily Iowan’s Ethics & Politics Initiative and PolitiFact to help you find the truth in politics. Edited by Lyle Muller and Marissa Payne If your time is short: State Rep. Jeff Shipley wrote that young people have a higher risk of dying fro...
Governor shifting coronavirus strategy to “managing and containing” virus
Caleb McCullough, Assistant Politics Editor
May 7, 2020
Gov. Kim Reynolds said she is shifting her coronavirus response strategy from mitigation to managing and containing the virus as she moves to partially reopen several retail businesses statewide Friday. “Originally it really was about protecting Iowans, there were so many unknowns, and it w...
Governor’s push for reopening creates rift with health experts
Caleb McCullough, Assistant Politics Editor
May 4, 2020
Though public health experts are warning against reopening the state too early, Gov. Kim Reynolds is pushing for a quick return to business across the state, backed by a swath of Republican legislators. Though she said her decisions aren’t political, response to Reynolds’ actions has fallen fairly evenly along party lines. On April 24, nine Rep...
Gov Kim Reynolds on Iowa’s response plan to COVID-19: ‘This isn’t political’
Lauren White, News Reporter
May 4, 2020
Gov. Kim Reynolds rejected the notion that the state’s COVID-19 response has been based on political decisions, despite many Iowa Democrats disagreeing with Reynolds’ decision to not issue a shelter-in-place and to reopen parts of the state. Reynolds said during her daily press conference on...
Iowans strongly encouraged to vote by mail in June primary, in-person voting still an option
Rylee Wilson, Politics Reporter
April 28, 2020
Iowa’s primary elections — where voters will choose candidates for the U.S. Senate, House, and Statehouse races — will proceed as scheduled June 2 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, though voters are highly encouraged to cast their ballots through the mail to prevent the spread of the novel coron...
Researchers at the UI concluded that a second wave of COVID-19 is likely if the state slows mitigation efforts
Julia Shanahan, Politics Editor
April 28, 2020
A week before Gov. Kim Reynolds announced she would be allowing businesses to reopen in parts of the state, researchers at the University of Iowa sent the Iowa Department of Public Health a report detailing the risks of opening the state up too early. The report concluded that prevention measures and mitigation eff...
Iowa officials call for immediate assistance for pork producers
Caleb McCullough, Assistant Politics Editor
April 27, 2020
Gov. Kim Reynolds, along with other state officials, asked for immediate federal assistance for Iowa’s pork producers in a letter addressed to Vice President Mike Pence and the White House Coronavirus Task Force on Monday. The letter requests that the task force use all available authorities, incl...
Reynolds restricts gatherings to immediate household members in northeast Iowa region
Caleb McCullough, Assistant Politics Editor
April 16, 2020
Gov. Kim Reynolds announced tighter restrictions on northeast Iowa during a press conference Thursday, which would limit gatherings to only household members. The measure affects residents in Iowa's 15-county RMCC region six, including Linn County, which has the most confirmed COVID-19 cases in t...
Iowa had a strong job market and low unemployment before coronavirus
Caleb McCullough, Assistant Politics Editor
April 15, 2020
PolitiFact Iowa is a project of The Daily Iowan’s Ethics & Politics Initiative and PolitiFact to help you find the truth in politics. Edited by Lyle Muller and Marissa Payne In case you missed it: Unemployment in Iowa has seen historical lows since 2017, and in February Iowa r...
Iowa director of human services says domestic violence reports are decreasing, but the violence is not
Julia Shanahan, Politics Editor
April 15, 2020
The director of the Iowa Department of Human Services said during Gov. Kim Reynolds’ Wednesday press conference that reports of domestic violence have dropped now that children and families are not interacting with mandatory reporters. “We don’t believe the abuse has gone away, but the reports h...
County conventions move to absentee format
Rylee Wilson, Politics Reporter
April 14, 2020
As rules around social distancing make hosting crowded conventions impossible, Iowa’s Democrats are choosing who will represent the party at the Democratic National Convention through an absentee voting process. The Democratic County Conventions, originally scheduled for March 21, were first...