Good morning from Iowa Capital Dispatch.

“There are likely going to be rural hospitals that close their obstetric units or have to close the entire hospital, and so people will have greater distances to travel to safely deliver a baby.” — Brittni Frederiksen, an associate director at KFF who specializes in women’s health policy, on the effect of additional Medicaid cuts on rural hospitals.

Ravenwood Specialty Care, a 176-bed care facility in Waterloo. (Photo via Google Earth)

For the third time in three months, an Iowa nursing home has been fined for resident injuries that include broken bones and gangrene.

Between June 16, 2026, and Aug. 6, 2026, the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing investigated 14 complaints at Ravenwood Specialty Care, a 176-bed care facility in Waterloo, and imposed $53,750 in fines.

Summit Carbon Solutions representatives pictured at an event in Sioux Falls in January, 2025. (Photo by Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

Summit Carbon Solutions is abandoning two-thirds of its planned project to store carbon dioxide underground in North Dakota, North Dakota Monitor reports. 

The company, which had been granted permits to store CO2 in three designated areas in central North Dakota, has requested permits for two of the areas to be canceled. 

 U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks spoke Monday with cancer survivors and researchers and signed the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network’s promise to support the network’s priorities to end cancer. 

A physician accused of failing to report past sanctions imposed in other states is taking the Iowa Board of Medicine to court over its refusal to issue him a license.

A northern Iowa dentist is facing disciplinary charges of negligence. The Iowa Dental Board has charged Dr. Bingqi Luo of Fort Dodge with negligence in the practice of the profession.

Less than 10% of Iowa corn acres have reached the mature stage in Iowa as of the latest crop progress and condition report, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture anticipates some reports of  harvested acres to appear in the next weekly report. 

A Massachusetts federal judge on Monday declined the Trump administration’s request to overturn the temporary restraining order she signed last week that blocks the U.S. Postal Service from carrying out a rule placing new restrictions on mail-in voting.

President Donald Trump does not have to follow a lower court order to stop aboveground construction on his $400 million East Wing ballroom, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday in a 5-4 decision, all but guaranteeing work on the new complex will continue to accelerate.

In 14 states, the closure of the closest rural hospital or its obstetric unit would force many Medicaid patients to drive an hour or more to get to another hospital that provides inpatient maternity care, according to an analysis released recently, Stateline reports.

A federal judge has allowed the Trump administration to force-feed the man charged with shooting two National Guard members, killing one and injuring another, in the District of Columbia in November.

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