Iowa’s revenue dropped by $780M last year, and more cuts are coming: State projections show another $437.5M loss in 2026 from Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” and a slowing farm economy.

Twenty years ago, Sarah Hedlund and Diana Mondragon were students groomed and sexually abused by the same high school teacher. When they found each other decades later, they discovered their paths to accountability looked completely different simply because of which state they lived in.🧵⬇️

Iowa has the second-highest cancer rate in the nation, and it's getting worse. A million-dollar study confirmed what many suspected: ag pollution is poisoning our water and making Iowans sick. However, after scientists completed their research, the $400,000 to promote it disappeared. 🧵⬇️

The Iowa job market is abysmal right now, which is particularly hard on new graduates and those just trying to get started in their field. 🧵⬇️

ICE violently abducts Jorge Elieser Gonzalez Ochoa of Iowa City today; video from Escucha Mi Voz: drive.google.com/file/d/1-fDV...

Reacting to the failing grade, companies say Sierra Club’s mark oversimplifies utility planning. Read more at Iowa Capital Dispatch and follow @iowastartingline.com for more.

On this week's episode of Cornhole Champions, Starting Line alum Ty Rushing returns to talk about teaching the next generation of journalists, dramatic career moves, and becoming a professional rookie again. Check it out and subscribe here:

Oskaloosa art teacher Matthew Kargol was fired this week for a post he made in the aftermath of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk's assassination. 🧵⬇️

Accompanied by family and colleagues, newly elected Iowa Sen. Catelin Drey was sworn in Monday, breaking the longstanding GOP supermajority in the state legislature. 📷: Avery Staker/Iowa Starting Line

After three years in court, Iowa will pay $85,000 to several trans students and leaders of Iowa Safe Schools for banning them from the State Capitol in 2020. 🧵⬇️

We've been digging into Iowa's cancer rate. And if there's good news, its that there are things you can do today to reduce your chance of getting cancer.

Iowa has the highest radon levels in the nation, and doctors say the gas is causing hundreds of lung cancer deaths every year. 🧵⬇️

Reporting from @dailyyonder.bsky.social explores the decline of obstetric health care access in Iowa and beyond—a crisis hitting rural communities especially hard.

There may be hope for us yet. Commemorate Sen. Joni Ernst's retirement with some new merch, courtesy Iowa Starting Line: store.couriernewsroom.com/products/we-...

Sen. Joni Ernst has officially announced her retirement.

CBS News reports Sen. Joni Ernst will not be seeking reelection in 2026. Sources told CBS News that an official announcement is scheduled for Thursday.

Catch up on Zach's conversation with Senator-elect Catelin Drey. She just won a special election in Sioux City and managed to take away the Republican Party's supermajority in the Iowa Senate.

157 Iowa school districts now depend on budget guarantees as public school enrollment drops 0.63% while nearly 28,000 kids use taxpayer-funded vouchers for private schools. 🧵⬇️

Following the removal of gender identity as a protected class under the Iowa Civil Rights Act, the Iowa Association of School Boards proposed to cut it from statewide policies. Urbandale voted no. Read more here:

Catelin Drey, a first-time Democratic candidate, decisively won a special election in Sioux City that will have a significant impact on the Iowa Senate and the process of appointing state department heads. Read more here:

The next stop on Bernie Sanders' Fighting Oligarchy tour is Davenport.

Politics doesn't feel healthy right now. But engaging it helps change what's acceptable and what's not.

Iowa has the 2nd highest cancer rate in America. After 40 years treating cancer patients, Dr. Richard Deming explains why. He says we could cut cancer cases by 45% with what we already know. Watch the newest episode of Cornhole Champions here:

In need of a feed cleanse? Here's some good news from Iowa. 🧵⬇️

Can Democrats win in deep-red western Iowa? As Republicans dominate rural districts, candidate for Iowa Senate Catelin Drey is betting that grassroots organizing and door-to-door conversations can flip a seat that hasn't seen Democratic representation in years.🧵⬇️

Iowa state legislator Lindsay James is the third Democrat to challenge the northeast Iowa congresswoman in a race pitting kitchen-table economics against Republican messaging. Read more here:

The Democratic primary to take on US Sen. Joni Ernst in 2026 has narrowed. State Rep. J.D. Scholten says fellow Rep. Josh Turek is the right “prairie populist athlete from Western Iowa” to take on Ernst. Read more here:

Despite promising to "protect and defend" IPERS in 2018, Gov. Kim Reynolds's handpicked DOGE task force now wants to eliminate pensions for new state employees.🧵⬇️

Paralympic gold medalist Josh Turek launches run against US Sen. Joni Ernst. Read more here:

Democrat Jackie Norris Norris launched her campaign against Republican US Sen. Joni Ernst Tuesday. Norris is positioning herself as a problem-solver focused on “invisible burdens” like the mental health and childcare crises facing Iowa families. Read more here:

Arizona Sen. Gallego is in Iowa this week talking about Medicaid cuts. Read more here:

53 million pounds. That's how much pesticide gets sprayed across Iowa every year—more than any other state in the country. And research is connecting some dots.🧵⬇️

yes, we'll take it @iowastartingline.com

Way ahead of you 🫡

After a 74% drop in abortion services, Iowans increasingly cross state lines for care, while Illinois and other neighbors shoulder a regional burden.

As Whirlpool workers in Amana face mass layoffs, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) union is urging state lawmakers to intervene. State Rep J.D. Scholten and congressional candidate Christina Bohannan backed the union's call to throw support behind workers.

An upcoming Sioux City special election could provide a huge opportunity for Senate Democrats to end Republicans’ supermajority in the chamber, and the district’s Democratic Party has selected longtime community advocate and Moms for Iowa founder Catelin Drey as their candidate.

Christopher Prosch, the Republican nominee for Iowa Senate District 1, compared abortion to the Holocaust in a 2022 YouTube video with Veterans for Trump.

A special election in Sioux City has big implications for power in the Iowa Senate. And the GOP picked a candidate that believes victims of inc*st and r*pe should carry pregnancies to term.

Pascual Leonardo Pedro-Pedro, 20, of West Liberty, went to an annual immigration check-in on July 1. He did not come home, because ICE detained him.

As Iowa takes civil rights protections from trans people, it's another tough week for a lot of Iowans. Join us on Cornhole Champions to make sense of it:

A new Iowa law removing the civil rights of transgender Iowans goes into effect today. Hear from some of the people who are impacted:

What happens when a 940-page law tries to reshape America? Let’s see how it would play out in the Hawkeye State:

The Supreme Court just ruled 6-3 that states can block Medicaid funds from going to Planned Parenthood — and patients cannot file lawsuits to protect their right to choose their provider. Read more here:

Despite its success, Ottumwa Job Corps is among the 99 programs the Trump Administration is shutting down. The closure eliminates over 100 jobs in small town Iowa, displacing the 240 at-risk youths served by the program. Read more here: iowastartingline.com/2025/06/25/o...

🚨 NEW: The Trump administration is shutting down 99 Job Corps sites despite Ottumwa's 94% job placement rate. 240 at-risk Iowa youth will be affected. On the latest episode of Cornhole Champions, the team takes a look at why the GOP is going after a successful program. Watch and subscribe here:

The state warns a June test revealed high levels of e. coli at these 9 Iowa beaches:

The Iowa State Legislature's diversity, equity, and inclusion ban covered programs at the state's public universities, but the Board of Regents wants to take it a step further.

Iowa Starting Line summer intern Victor Robbins is looking to tell the stories of why LGBTQ+ Iowans have left the state. Email him at [email protected].

Remember the 2023 story of mobile home residents in Johnson County whose parks were bought by investment company Havenpark Communities, then had their services taken away while their lot rents were jacked up? Here's an update: