Good morning from Iowa Capital Dispatch.

“Are we not voting on it because the American people are sick and tired of this illegal war that’s costing tens of billions of dollars? Gas prices are through the roof. People can’t afford their groceries.” — U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., shouting on the House floor after leaders dropped plans to vote on a war powers resolution before the holiday break.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn spoke with supporters who came to celebrate the opening of his West Des Moines campaign headquarters April 2, 2026. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

As the June 2 primary approaches, new fundraising reports show Zach Lahn, a businessman and farmer, raised the most among Republican gubernatorial candidates in the most recent period, outpacing U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, the previous top earner.

But all five of the GOP candidates still fell short of Iowa Auditor Rob Sand’s campaign fundraising totals, who is running unopposed to be the Democratic nominee for governor in 2026.

(Photo by (Photo by simpson33 via iStock / Getty Images Plus)

A University of Iowa Health Care researcher is suing the U.S. State Department over visa delays that he says have left him “stranded” in Germany, separated from his family and his employer.

The lawsuit, filed by University of Iowa Health Care researcher Mykola Volkogon, names as defendants Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. Consul General in Germany Brian Heath, and the U.S. State Department.

A West Des Moines man is being sued for establishing a hospice program that allegedly competes with his former employer for increasingly scarce healthcare workers.

Drake University had an economic impact on the state of Iowa of nearly $425 million in fiscal year 2025, according to a report released by the private university Thursday.

A multibillion-dollar package to fund immigration enforcement for the rest of President Donald Trump’s term faced new delays Thursday as Senate Republicans showed a rare split with the president over his new “anti-weaponization” fund.

Two police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, sued the Trump administration Wednesday to block the creation of a nearly $1.8 billion fund to pay people said to be victims of judicial weaponization, saying the fund would aid and encourage the pro-Trump rioters who attacked that Capitol that day and still harbor desire to harm the officers.

President Donald Trump is again demanding Congress pass a sweeping set of voting restrictions and refuses to rule out sending troops to the polls, as Democrats and voting rights groups assemble a sprawling effort to guard against federal election interference.

U.S. House Republicans on Thursday denounced expanding the Supreme Court, an idea some Democrats support to dilute the court’s conservative majority after years of decisions that have angered liberals.

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