Free Republic

On Tuesday Senator Chuck Grassley released new information from declassified documents that reveal the FBI blocked an investigation into the allegations that the Chinese Communist Party manufactured thousands of fake driver’s licenses and shipped them to the US in a scheme to help Joe Biden win the election by fraudulent mail-in votes. The FBI hid the investigation in order to protect dirty FBI Director Chris Wray who had lied to Congress about the election. Senator Chuck Grassley reported this earlier today.

The Satanic Temple (TST) in Iowa filed a complaint June 10 with the Iowa Office of Civil Rights, claiming that it is a religious group and that state officials discriminated against it by denying it permission to host a satanic event in the Iowa Capitol. TST applied to hold a winter celebration in the Capitol in December 2024 in an attempt to educate Iowans about satanism and its beliefs, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, which filed the complaint on behalf of TST. Mortimer Adramelech, a satanic minister of TST Iowa, claimed that he and his group...

Residents living across a huge area spanning three states have been warned of dangerous air pollution levels on Tuesday. Swathes of Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin are all affected by poor air quality, with an area around Minneapolis covered by one of the most severe warnings. Smoke from wildfires, combined with the current weather conditions, have contributed to the pollution. Why It Matters Health officials warn that vulnerable populations — such as children, older adults and individuals with existing respiratory issues — face heightened risks during periods of poor air quality. Even healthy members of the general public may experience health...

A quiet afternoon on a farm turned into a moment of prehistoric discovery. What this teen uncovered could rewrite part of ancient history. What began as a simple search for arrowheads on an Iowa farm turned into an extraordinary encounter with the past. A teenager’s unexpected discovery of a 34,000-year-old mastodon jaw is now capturing the attention of scientists and shedding new light on Ice Age life in North America. Chance Find Reveals Ancient Ice Age Resident The student was simply enjoying a day outdoors when he came across a large bone fragment partially embedded in the ground. Curious, he...

A settlement has been reached after a man in Scott County, Iowa, accused his former employer of firing him for wearing Christian-themed T-shirts to counter its alliance with the LGBTQ agenda. Cosby “Corey” Cunningham sued Eaton Corp. after it endorsed so-called “Pride Month,” which ramps up throughout the month of June, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported Thursday. He sued the global power management company in June 2024 and alleged it had violated his civil rights over the matter. Cunningham, who is a Christian, decided to take action when Eaton initiated a ceremony recognizing “Pride Month” in early June 2023, per...

Planned Parenthood North Central States announced it plans to close four clinics in Iowa amid financial challenges. The organization said it will close its clinics in Ames, Cedar Rapids, Sioux City and Urbandale in addition to four of its clinics in Minnesota in the coming year. It will also layoff 66 staff members and offer 37 others reassignments. Planned Parenthood said in a press release that the decision to restructure and close the clinics "comes as patient needs and preferences have changed, the broken aspects of our health care system have intensified, the organization’s Minnesota Title X funds have been...

Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa) filed paperwork Monday to run for Iowa governor in 2026, as multiple Republicans continue to weigh the opportunity to replace Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) when her term ends. The Hill’s attempts to reach Feenstra and his campaign team were unsuccessful. Feenstra, who was first elected to the House in 2020, has been openly mulling a gubernatorial bid since Reynolds announced on social media last month that she won’t seek a third full term. “I’ll tell you right now, I’m focused on fulfilling and making sure that we get Trump’s agenda completed,” Feenstra told reporters after an...

DOUGLAS — Faint wagon routes and stories of a battle with bulls at the San Pedro River may be the only traces left of the Mormon Battalion’s trek through Cochise County, but Kevin and Denny Henson are reliving that history as best as they can. In 1846 about 500 Mormon men from Iowa Territory joined what became known as the Mormon Battalion for the U.S. Army during the Mexican-American War. The battalion’s primary mission was to build a wagon road to San Diego. On Sunday at the Twin Buttes RV Park near Douglas, Kevin Henson gave a presentation about the...

his is the fascinating tale of a twentysomething suburban Chicago man who won $800,000 in sports bets, which he traveled as far as Iowa to place. When it came time to cash in, the casinos refused. Thomas McPeek, 24, shares a home with his parents. The basement is a shrine to their favorite teams, including the Cubs and the Bears. McPeek read a stack of books to make some educated sports wagers. He placed stacks and stacks of bets last year, complicated wagers on football called parlays, where several events all have to happen for the gambler to win. "It...

The Iowa House passed legislation Monday to legalize the use of psilocybin, the psychoactive compound found in “magic mushrooms,” for psychiatric treatment through a state program. House File 978, passed 84-6, would establish a Psilocybin Production Establishment Licensing Board within the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, operating in a similar fashion to the existing Medical Cannabidiol Advisory Board that oversees Iowa’s medical cannabis program. The board would grant licenses for the production and administration of products with psilocybin to people with certain mental health needs in the state. The bill also sets new requirements for who can access...

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) was pressed on the status of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was wrongly deported to El Salvador, during a heated exchange at a town hall he held Tuesday. Grassley discussed numerous topics during the Iowa event, including farmers, tariffs and congressional Republicans’ planned reconciliation bill that would seek to cut spending, extend President Trump’s tax cuts and provide money for border security, among other initiatives. But he participated in a particularly tense back-and-forth when discussing the case of Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national. “Are you going to bring that guy back from El Salvador?”...

Opioid overdose deaths in the U.S. rose dramatically after 1999, but also exhibited substantial geographic variation. Job loss due to international trade is positively associated with opioid overdose mortality at the county-level. This association is significantly stronger in areas in which fentanyl is present in the heroin supply. In general, the loss of 1,000 trade-related jobs was associated with a 2.7 percent increase in opioid-related deaths. When fentanyl was present, the same number of job losses was associated with a 11.3 percent increase in such deaths. The positive relationship between trade-related job loss and opioid-related overdose death is well illustrated...

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced a bill with far-left Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), which would almost certainly put Trump’s new tariffs entirely on ice. The legislation’s stated purpose is to ‘reassert’ the legislative branch’s power over tariff policy. “The Trade Review Act of 2025” requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of imposing new tariffs. The president must also present a detailed rationale and analysis of the potential consequences for American businesses and consumers. Moreover, the legislation will require ALL tariffs to be approved by Congress within 60 days, or they will automatically expire.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is suing to defund an entire county after its leading law enforcement authority vowed to "make every effort to block, interfere and interrupt" deportation operations based on ICE detainers, which he called unconstitutional. This comes amid the Trump administration's concerted whole-of-government approach to cracking down on illegal immigration and migrant crime in the United States. Bird, a Republican, argues that the sheriff’s self-proclaimed "longtime" stance of interrupting immigration enforcement operations based on detainers "impeded and discouraged cooperation with federal immigration authorities in violation of Iowa law." A detainer is a formal request by ICE to...

The Iowa Legislature has advanced House Study Bill 262 out of committee by a vote of 17-4. The bill repeals legislative bans on the possession, acquisition, or carrying of handguns or handgun ammunition by adults aged 18-20. Several appellate court decisions have made clear young adults, 18-20 years old, are members of the people who have a right to keep and bear arms protected by the Second Amendment. Iowa falls under the jurisdiction of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. On July 16, 2024, a three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit unanimously confirmed the rights protected...

Iowa became the first state to strike anti-discrimination protections for transgender people from its civil rights code on Friday after the state’s Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed hotly contested legislation into law. The bill, introduced last week, sped through the legislature despite widespread opposition from Democrats and LGBTQ rights advocates who flooded the statehouse in Des Moines to protest its passage.

Transgender activists stormed the Iowa Capitol on Thursday as lawmakers consider a bill that would eliminate “gender identity” as a protected class from state civil rights law. “Hundreds of Iowans again packed the Iowa Capitol rotunda to protest the bill, waving pride flags, holding signs and chanting ‘no hate in our state’ and ‘you represent us.’ A line of protesters led out the building’s door as more people waited to be let inside,” the Des Moines Register reported.

The story of a 1996 altercation in the parking lot of a Council Bluffs casino has seen new light after anonymous tips were made to news outlets in Seattle. Bruce Harrell, who was elected as the mayor of Seattle in 2021, allegedly confronted a person with a weapon and resisted arrest nearly three decades ago while outside the Ameristar Casino in Council Bluffs. The now-mayor said the incident was an example of racial profiling, and it inspired his position on police accountability. Harrell moved from Seattle to Omaha in the mid-1990s with his wife Joanne, who had accepted a job...

A Massachusetts Democrat slammed Iowa’s policies and leadership during a U.S. House Committee hearing with Iowa’s Governor. House Republicans called Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds to testify on Wednesday about her efforts to reduce the size of state government. It comes as Elon Musk is leading an effort he has called the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to dismantle government agencies in the name of slashing spending on what the Trump administration views as wasteful spending. During the hearing, Massachusetts Democrat Ayanna Pressley questioned Governor Reynolds and used the opportunity to slam her policies, particularly around minorities and marginalized populations....

A woman is claiming her late father was one of the most prolific serial killers in American history, responsible for the deaths of 50 to 70 women during a span of more than 30 years. Lucy Studey, who chose to have herself identified publicly, told Newsweek that her father, Donald Dean Studey, who died in 2013 at the age of 75, had her and her siblings help him move the bodies of the female murder victims buried near a well on his property outside Thurman, Iowa.