Free Republic

The United States is making an unprecedented attempt to revive three shuttered nuclear plants to meet rising energy demand, including from large-scale data centers. No commercial nuclear reactor is known to have resumed generating electricity after beginning the decommissioning process that takes one out of service, though some reactors have restarted after long outages. The Department of Energy is lending as much as $4.4 billion to restart the Palisades Power Plant in Michigan, the Crane Clean Energy Center on Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island and the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Iowa to restore a combined 2.25 gigawatts of electricity, which...

A city council meeting in Iowa took a dark turn earlier this week when a former member opened the meeting by praising Satan in his invocation. Onetime Ottumwa City Council member Matt Dalbey began the meeting by praying to the “dark father” to “embrace the Luciferian impulse to eat from the tree of knowledge” before concluding his prayer with “Hail Satan.” But New Life Center Pastor Rick Bick did not go along to get along. As soon as the council concluded their recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance following the demonic prayer, Bick interrupted the meeting by demanding that Dalbey’s...

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday announced a new steel plant in southeast Iowa that he says will be the largest in the United States. The president hosted steel executives and several Iowa leaders Monday afternoon for the announcement at the White House. …. The mill is being built by Mesabi Metallics, a Minnesota company owned by India-based Essar Group. It's expected to create roughly 6,000 construction jobs and 1,750 permanent jobs in Iowa, with its first steel production in 2030. … The White House says it "will be fully vertically integrated in the U.S. (from iron mining through...

Omaha, NE — More than a decade after Sarah Root was killed in a drunk-driving crash, her family says they finally have the justice they fought for. Root was 21 when she was killed in Omaha in January 2016. She had recently graduated from Bellevue University with a 4.0 GPA and planned to pursue a master’s degree in criminal investigations. Eswin Mejia was driving drunk and at a high rate of speed when he hit Root’s vehicle. He was released on a $5,000 bond and later fled to Honduras. After nearly a decade, Mejia was tracked down, brought back to...

IOWA CITY — Republican gubernatorial nominee Zach Lahn pledged Friday to buck lobbyists and special interests and reject the trappings of a political career if elected governor, casting his campaign as a grassroots fight to preserve Iowa’s culture and give voters a greater voice in state government.Lahn addressed supporters during an “Iowa First Tailgate Event” at the Field House Bar & Grill in Iowa City alongside conservative political commentator and podcaster Benny Johnson, a native of Cedar Rapids. The event came one day after the first anniversary of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.Lahn said Kirk, a longtime friend,...

Democrats on Saturday adopted a 2028 presidential primary schedule that moves states with sought-after diverse populations to the front of a calendar that will shape their party’s fight to win the White House. Democratic National Committee members gave final approval to six early voting states, with South Carolina, which has a substantial Black population, continuing to kick off the party’s nominating contests on January 22, 2028. Nevada, a western presidential battleground, will follow on February 1. The four other early voting states are New Hampshire on February 8, New Mexico on February 15, Michigan on February 22 and Virginia on...

Democrat Chris Jones, who is running for Iowa secretary of agriculture, was rebuked by Iowa Republicans after saying farmers are “wealthy,” grain farming is “not that hard,” and farmers are “only working a few weeks out of the year.” The remarks were highlighted Tuesday by Iowa Field Report, which posted video from a 2021 interview Jones gave at the Iowa Ideas Conference, hosted by the Cedar Rapids Gazette. “And a lot of this grain farming now, it’s not that hard. They’re only working a few weeks out of the year,” Jones said.

As Congress considers the pork lobby’s number one priority in this upcoming Farm Bill, the so-called “Save Our Bacon Act” (SOB Act), lawmakers should ask one question: who does that lobby actually represent?You know Smithfield Foods, the seemingly all-American brand behind Nathan’s Famous hot dogs? Recent filings show the company is actually 86.9 percent Chinese-owned.Smithfield’s majority owner is WH Group, a conglomerate linked to the Chinese Communist Party that is the world’s largest pork producer and that controls over a quarter of America’s pork industry. On WH Group’s behalf, Smithfield helps govern and bankroll the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC),...

Democratic Senate contenders are dramatically out-raising their Republican peers, according to Federal Election Commission data — with Georgia’s Jon Ossoff and James Talarico in Texas leading the pack. Eight of the top 10 Senate candidate fundraiser this year are Democrats, whose top contestants have raked in $574 million, compared to the Republicans’ $336 million, per the FEC. Incumbent Sen. Ossoff (D-Ga.) is the biggest fundraiser on both sides, having raked in a jaw-dropping $77 million as of June 30, and has a staggering $42.5 million in cash on hand. He’s raised nearly $98 million as a Senate candidate, including the...

With Lindsey Graham's death, and John Cornyn's defeat, Mike Lee is second in seniority, next to 92 year old Chuck Grassley (elected in 1980). Grassley has been maintaining the old blue slip tradition, preventing the confirmation of US Attorneys that Democrats don't like. If Grassley dies, or chooses to be chair of another committee come January, Mike Lee will be chair (assuming the Republicans hold the Senate). Thom Tillis (who also blocked nominees) will also be gone, and Ken Paxton will likely be added. On the Democrat side, Dick Durbin is retiring (moving Whitehouse to ranking member) and Amy Klobuchar...

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. contacted Libertarian candidates in Iowa, including one congressional candidate whom he encouraged to leave a competitive U.S. House race to help Republicans retain control of Congress, according to a recent report. In an exclusive published June 25, The Washington Post reported that Kennedy spoke by phone on June 11 with Rick Stewart, the Libertarian candidate in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, during which he said he was acting as a “liaison” with the White House. During the call, Kennedy reportedly argued that Democratic control of the U.S. House would weaken President Donald...

Several demonstrators gathered outside a small Iowa church Sunday to protest a sign declaring, “Ditch Pride. Embrace Humility!” But the church’s pastor says the message was not intended to target anyone or spread hatred. The demonstration took place outside Fort Des Moines Church of Christ in Des Moines... Despite the tensions, Demastus said several members of the congregation brought doughnuts to the protesters, who accepted them. He also said the church prayed for the demonstrators during its worship service.

Iowans will need to see a doctor in person to receive abortion medication under a new law Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed. The Tuesday, May 19, signing came as Republican-led states across the country aim to restrict access to abortion pills, usage of which has increased since the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade. A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling temporarily preserved access to mail-order prescriptions after Louisiana challenged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's expanded access. But the medication's future remains uncertain as the legal battle plays out. The bill, House File 2788, will require Iowans seeking abortion medication,...

Democratic House candidate Sarah Trone Garriott's campaign is on the defensive after a resurfaced video showed her recounting her role in the marriage of a pair of satanists while serving as a minister-in-training. Trone Garriott, a Lutheran minister running in a battleground House district in November’s midterm election, participated in the wedding of a satanist couple in 2006 while serving as an intern pastor in a West Virginia parish. Trone Garriott is vying to unseat Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, for a "toss-up" congressional seat in the southwestern part of the state. Throughout the campaign, she has been criticized for expressing...

Multiple people have been reported injured in a possible mass shooting near the University of Iowa’s campus following a wild brawl early Sunday. Police were responding to a large fight at the Pedestrian Mall in Iowa City at approximately 1:45 a.m. when arriving officers heard gunshots ring out, the Iowa City Police Department said. Dramatic video shared on social media captured dozens of people crowded around a brawl — as a group of men threw haymakers at each other. Separate clips caught people frantically running away from the gunshots. “At this time, multiple victims have been taken to area hospitals...

President Trump live in Clive, Iowa

Registration is now open for tickets to President Donald Trump's speech next week in central Iowa. Trump will deliver remarks about energy and the economy on Tuesday, Jan. 27, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles told pool reporters Wednesday during Trump's visit to Switzerland. They didn't initially announce a time or location, but the Iowa GOP shared a registration link late Thursday night, saying the event will be at Horizon Events Center in Clive. Doors open at noon on Tuesday, and the speech is expected to start at 3 p.m.

After a delayed vote because of the government shutdown, hundreds of nurses at four UnityPoint hospitals in the Des Moines area are voting this weekend on whether to unionize with Teamsters Local 90—an election being closely watched by non-union nurses across Iowa who are also struggling with understaffing and patient violence. The postponed UnityPoint vote among 1,776 health care professionals at Blank Children's Hospital, Iowa Lutheran Hospital, Iowa Methodist Medical Center, and Methodist West Hospital has been rescheduled for Sunday, Dec. 7, through Tuesday, Dec. 9. It's the state's largest private-sector union election ever, according to Teamsters. "I'm excited. I'm...

She did more than just pass the Bar! A powerful Iowa judge was busted driving intoxicated after allegedly zonking out behind the wheel and drifting into oncoming traffic on a major highway, according to police and witnesses. State judge Adria Kester, 55, landed on the wrong side of the law after another motorist reported she “looked unconscious” and was “slumped over the steering wheel” on US Highway 30 in Boone Tuesday night, the Des Moines Register reported. As her new pickup truck veered across the highway’s median, a witness climbed into it through the back window and put it in...

The Schumer Shutdown is rolling on with no signs of any imminent deals, and some government benefit programs are starting to run out of funds. One such is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the food stamp program. It's about to run out of money, but Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) has introduced a bill to fund the program through the shutdown.The Keep SNAP Funded Act of 2025 would keep the food aid program funded during the government lapse until the Department of Agriculture is funded through regular appropriations or stopgap measures.The bill is the companion to a...