Free Republic

Longtime nurse and union president, Cathy Glasson, is offering a clear vision of how bold, progressive policies can improve the lives of average Iowans. Glasson is exploring the run for governor in a swing state, which in 2016 voted in favor of Trump, but also Obama in 2008 and 2012. In the following Q&A, Glasson talks universal health care, raising the minimum wage, and how she can improve the life of the average Iowan. Q: Why are you considering a run for governor? I’m exploring a run for Governor because I’m tired of watching working people in this state get...

“Never underestimate the determination of a kid who is time-rich and cash-poor.” ― Cory DoctorowWhat a story!Lizzy Worthington isn’t a typical girl from Iowa, although she’s much like the ones I know. She is a Girl Scout and a member of her high school trap shooting team, the BGM Shotgunners.Practicing was difficult for Lizzy, whose closest range was about 45 minutes away, so she decided that for her Girl Scout Gold Award Project, she was going to build a trap shooting range closer to home.“Go big or go home,” Lizzy told a reporter with KWWL.The Bear Creek Range took two years and $50,000...

CRESCO, Iowa — It wasn’t long after Hillary Clinton clinched the Democratic presidential nomination that Laura Hubka realized how little excitement there was for Clinton among Howard County residents. “I went out and started knocking on doors for Hillary Clinton, and making phone calls,” Hubka, who leads Howard County’s Democratic Party, said when I met with her in late June. “I got hung up on, some guy chased me out of his yard with a rake, the unions complained a lot. There was a lot of yelling at doors.” Iowa and Howard County, with fewer than 10,000 people, had never...

DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa farmers received a major boost Thursday after a Chinese delegation in Des Moines signed commitments to purchase nearly all of Iowa’s soybeans. The $4.5 billion deal to buy 460 million bushels of soybeans comes a week before Gov. Kim Reynolds is expected to lead an agricultural trade mission to China and brings tremendous value to the Iowa economy. Advertisement “As an Iowa farmer, this is huge,” said April Hemmes, a farmer who owns a 1,000-acre farm near Hampton in rural Franklin County. “They basically bought the entire production that we have in the state of...

Gannett paper, link only: http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/joni-ernst-female-veteran-senate-profile

BOONE — One honeymoon is not yet over. Another is just beginning. These are heady times for Republicans in Iowa, with their party in complete lawmaking control at both the federal and state levels. Their GOP’s new president, Donald Trump, has delivered a conservative justice to the U.S. Supreme Court and rescinded some of the regulations implemented under the previous, Democratic administration. Their newly structured Iowa Statehouse delivered significant changes to state laws regarding abortion and public employee collective bargaining. And their new governor, Kim Reynolds, has taken the reins from her predecessor and gets a running start at next...

Iowa Chief Justice Mark Cady On 14 April, 2017, Governor Terry Branson signed HF 517, a comprehensive law to reform Iowa's antique weapons restrictions. Part of the law was to require uniform firearm laws across the state. Local restrictions on the carry of weapons were eliminated. On 19 June, 2017, the Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court banned all weapons in county courthouses. The ban did not include peace officers on duty. The claimed reason for the order was to institute a comprehensive and uniform statewide policy prohibiting weapons in court houses. Iowa had a mix of counties...

The new $300 million pork processing plant being built at Sioux City is set to open in September, giving hog farmers in northwest Iowa and bordering states a new market. Officials of Seaboard Triumph Foods outlined their plans at a press conference at the recent World Pork Expo in Des Moines. “We’re still on schedule and getting close to opening,” says Mark Porter, CEO of Seaboard Triumph. “We are planning to begin operations no later than the first week of September.” The Sioux City plant is an equal partnership between Seaboard Foods and Triumph Foods. Company officials say the Sioux...

When President Trump held a rally at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids last week, he was greeted by a sea of faithful followers and also by a crowd of critics. Inside the arena, Trump supporters gazed out the venue’s window at a group of protesters stretched alongside the street. Jim Lendherr, who voted for Trump, said protesters need to understand what is actually going on in the United States. “I guess it’s their right to protest,” he said. “But they ought to get themselves educated so they know what’s really going on.” Lendherr said he spoke to a...

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Authorities say a protester has been charged with assault after a fracas outside the rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for President Donald Trump. ---snip--- Police say an officer saw Seifert throw an egg at a man and then punch and kick him. He had been filming the protesters and got into an argument with Seifert.....

The Washington Post reports that James T. Hodgkinson, the suspect in the Alexandria shooting that wounded Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) and three others at a Republican baseball practice Wednesday morning campaigned for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential election. The Post and other outlets have identified the suspect as James T. Hodgkinson, a 66-year-old man from Belleville, IL who reportedly owns a home inspections business. The Post‘s Robert Costa interviewed a man who says that he and Hodgkinson campaigned for Sanders in Iowa: Charles Orear, 50, a restaurant manager from St. Louis, said in an interview Wednesday that he became...

Started streaming 3 hours ago Wednesday, June 21, 2017: RSBN will be live from the scene as President Donald J. Trump holds a rally in Cedar Rapids, IA at US Cellular Center. The event is set to begin at 7:00 PM Central, with our live coverage starting at 3:00 PM Central.

An Iowa newspaper ran a front-page editorial Wednesday telling President Trump that "now is not the time for a rally" ahead of his campaign event scheduled in the state later in the day. The editorial board of The Gazette in Cedar Rapids asked in an open letter to Trump for him to not hold his scheduled rally in the city but instead talk about his policies and how he will help Iowans. (TWEET-AT-LINK) “Mr. President, the campaign is over. You won. Now is not the time to rally. Now is the time to sell your policies, listen to Americans with...

Catch the POTUS, Trump Rally being held in Iowa this evening, I believe at 8:00 PM. Not sure if local time or Eastern. Will be on FNC & FBN!!!

President Donald Trump will commit on Wednesday to improving internet access in the country’s hardest-to-reach rural areas as a part of his forthcoming push to improve the nation’s infrastructure. Trump will outline his pledge during a speech in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, shortly after visiting Kirkwood Community College, which specializes in fields like precision agriculture. In the eyes of the White House, farmers can’t use emerging big data tools that track crops in real time without faster, more reliable broadband internet service — so the Trump administration intends to tackle that challenge as part of its campaign to upgrade the country’s...

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) -- A Connecticut company plans to add 180 positions after it moves to a new location in Dubuque....

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is warning that he will block a Department of Justice nominee until the department responds to his oversight requests. Grassley said during a Judiciary Committee business meeting on Thursday that the panel would not vote on Stephen Boyd's nomination to be assistant attorney general for legislative affairs because the Justice Department hasn't responded to more than a dozen letters. "The department needs to improve its communications with the committee members and staff. It needs to be more serious about answering the mail and questions from Congress," Grassley said, explaining why the committee wasn't going to vote...

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Cedar Rapids police have arrested a North Texas man they say attended church services and scammed members by claiming his family was killed in Syria. Cedar Rapids television station KCRG reported that Alan Michael Farha II, 41, of Carrolton, Texas, was arrested this week in the 1600 block of Fourth Avenue SE after the Cedar Rapids Police Department warned local churches of a man deceiving churchgoers and asking them for money. Police said Farha attended services at several area churches and told members his parents were killed in Syria in a roadside bombing and that he...

Report: James T. Hodgkinson, Shooting Suspect, Belonged to ‘Terminate the Republican Party’ Facebook Group James T. Hodgkinson, the suspect in the shooting attack on a Republican baseball practice on Wednesday morning, was reportedly a member of a group called “Terminate the Republican Party.” Hodgkinson wounded four, including House Majority Whip Steve Scales (R-LA), before succumbing to his injuries sustained in gunfire exchanges with police. The Belleville News-Democrat, a newspaper in Hodgkinson’s former hometown of Belleville, Illinois, reports: The shooter who was killed during gunfire at practice for a congressional baseball game Wednesday morning was from Belleville. The shooter was James...

The Iowa Supreme Court says immigrants living in Iowa without legal permission and who use a stolen identity to get a job cannot be prosecuted by the state for identity theft or forgery. The court, in ruling Friday on the case of 31-year-old Martha Martinez, says such immigration-related prosecutions are up to federal authorities not county prosecutors. Martinez, who lives in Muscatine, was charged after she obtained a driver's license and Social Security number under the Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals