Good morning from Iowa Capital Dispatch.
“States are the ones that pick up the pieces.” — Iowa state Sen. Dan Dawson, R-Council Bluffs, on concerns about online prediction markets, including participation by minors who cannot by law engage in online sports wagering.
The Ottumwa Generating Station from Power Plant Road on July 22, 2025. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
A group of environmental organizations allege in a lawsuit that the Iowa Department of Natural Resources granted illegal discharge permits to a coal plant and its landfill in Ottumwa.
While the environmental groups allege the permits allow for the discharge of leachate – wastewater that has mixed with the byproducts of burning coal – into the Des Moines River, DNR and Alliant Energy hold that the wastewater streams do not contain leachate.
Online prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket are attracting scrutiny from state lawmakers, who argue the platforms are undermining state gambling regulations. (Photo by Alyssa Chen/Minnesota Reformer)
The escalating feud between states and online prediction markets was on full display at a summit of state lawmakers as legislators – including an Iowa state senator -- publicly scolded Kalshi and Polymarket, the two most prominent platforms, Stateline reports.
During a sometimes-heated panel discussion at the annual gathering of the National Conference of State Legislatures in Chicago, Iowa Republican state Sen. Dan Dawson told the audience that a group of students at his son’s high school recently enrolled in Kalshi to bet on World Cup matches. In Iowa, people must be at least 21 to participate in legal online sports betting.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn defended his Medicaid stance Saturday at the Hancock County Fair in Britt, expressing a need to continue Gov. Kim Reynolds’ healthcare policy.
A former Des Moines Public Schools employee who was fired for allegedly having and sharing photos of a school principal’s passport and employment-authorization records is entitled to jobless benefits, a judge has ruled.
Two former directors of the state agency that oversees Medicaid fraud investigations said Friday that Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird’s newly formed fraud task force is “political theater.”
Northeast Iowa Community College will use grant funding from a corporate foundation to expand its electrical training capabilities.
In 49 states, including Iowa, the number of people enrolled in Obamacare plans has declined since Congress made coverage more expensive by allowing federal subsidies to expire at the end of last year.
President Donald Trump defended his highly criticized, nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” settlement fund on social media and in a Cabinet meeting Friday, as two key Republican senators withheld support for the president’s nominee for attorney general over Trump’s refusal to formally end the pot of money.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro moved Friday to dismiss charges against a former Olympian canoeist alleged to have damaged part of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Less than two years into Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s tenure at the helm of the department responsible for the health of millions of Americans, a string of infectious disease outbreaks has repeatedly made headlines.
A bipartisan effort to rein in President Donald Trump’s efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education has cleared its first major legislative hurdle in a bipartisan U.S. Senate committee vote.
Advocates are raising concerns about the Trump administration’s decision not to renew a federal contract with nonprofits that provide legal aid services to more than 20,000 unaccompanied immigrant children.
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