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1 month ago | 
bleedingheartland.com | Clark Kauffman |Laura Belin |Rick Morain |Jeff Fuhrman
Clark Kauffman is deputy editor at Iowa Capital Dispatch, where this article first appeared. Fourteen bills related to nursing home oversight were introduced in the Iowa Senate this week, although none are expected to win approval. At the beginning of the 2025 session, Senate President Amy Sinclair told Iowa Public Radio she didn’t anticipate any action on nursing home regulation, saying the state was already doing a good job overseeing the industry.
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1 month ago | 
bleedingheartland.com | Laura Belin |Rick Morain |Jeff Fuhrman |Linda Schreiber
Third in a series on the new Iowa law that removed legal protection against discrimination for transgender and nonbinary Iowans, as well as any path for the state to officially recognize their gender identity. Given the choice, most legislators will not cast a potentially career-ending vote—especially when they know the outcome isn’t riding on their decision.
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1 month ago | 
bleedingheartland.com | Rick Morain |Jeff Fuhrman |Laura Belin |Linda Schreiber
Rick Morain is the former publisher and owner of the Jefferson Herald, for which he writes a regular column. Like many words, “peace” carries a number of meanings. U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy use “peace” to describe two different scenarios. When Trump says peace, he means the absence of physical fighting. He says the goal in Ukraine is to stop the war, which he emphasizes has killed thousands upon thousands of Ukrainians and Russians. That’s a laudable goal.
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2 months ago | 
bleedingheartland.com | Clark Kauffman |Bruce Lear |Laura Belin |Rick Morain
Clark Kauffman is deputy editor at Iowa Capital Dispatch, where this article first appeared. A new state report on staffing in Iowa nursing homes indicates employee turnover rates are continuing to climb 15 years after state lawmakers approved, but failed to fund, a program to address the issue.
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2 months ago | 
bleedingheartland.com | Bruce Lear |Laura Belin |Rick Morain |Randy Evans
Bruce Lear lives in Sioux City and has been connected to Iowa’s public schools for 38 years. He taught for eleven years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association regional director for 27 years until retiring. He can be reached at [email protected] Americans love expressing their opinions. After all, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees free speech. You’ll find those loud opinions at any sporting event.
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2 months ago | 
bleedingheartland.com | Laura Belin |Rick Morain |Randy Evans |Dean Lerner
Rest in peace, Martin Graber Friday, Jan 31 2025 0 Comments Iowa House members were shocked and saddened on January 31 as news spread that their colleague, Republican State Representative Martin Graber, had died of a heart attack. Graber had been at the capitol the previous day, voting for the first three bills debated on the House floor during the 2025 legislative session.
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2 months ago | 
bleedingheartland.com | Laura Belin |Rick Morain |Randy Evans |Dean Lerner
They say anything can happen in a low-turnout special election. And on January 28, voters in Iowa Senate district 35 elected Democrat Mike Zimmer to represent them through the end of 2026. Zimmer defeated Republican nominee Katie Whittington by 4,812 votes to 4,473 (51.7 percent to 48.1 percent), according to unofficial results. Most Iowa political observers expected Republicans to hold the seat easily.
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2 months ago | 
bleedingheartland.com | Rick Morain |Laura Belin |Randy Evans |Dean Lerner
This year marks the centennial of the notorious Scopes trial, held in 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee, over the question of whether a state could ban the teaching of e – – – – – – – – (rhymes with “revolution”) in its public schools. This month the people of Iowa caught a whiff of that episode as a result of a proposed revision to state standards on science education in Iowa schools.
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Jan 23, 2025 | 
bleedingheartland.com | Rick Morain |Randy Richardson |Randy Evans |Laura Belin
Rick Morain is the former publisher and owner of the Jefferson Herald, for which he writes a regular column. A recent Iowa Court of Appeals decision could substantially change how Iowa’s local government bodies—including county supervisors, city councils, and school boards—conduct meetings. The decision centers on the legitimacy of closed sessions by those public bodies. The law at issue is Iowa Code Section 21.5(1)(i), part of the state’s open meetings law.
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Dec 18, 2024 | 
bleedingheartland.com | Rick Morain
Rick Morain is the former publisher and owner of the Jefferson Herald, for which he writes a regular column. A share of Iowa’s Republican electorate appears ready to abandon Senator Joni Ernst in favor of a more Trumpian replacement in the 2026 Iowa Republican primary election. It’s yet another sign of what today’s Republican Party has become: Donald Trump’s captive. Independent judgment within the GOP is now almost extinct.
