Good morning from Iowa Capital Dispatch.
“For us, Juneteenth is about heritage and the true celebration of equality. It’s just as significant to us as Independence Day. Everybody should respect each person’s quest for freedom and our overall push for equality.” — Murphy Washington of Fort Dodge on his family’s longtime emphasis on Black history and the meaning of Juneteenth.
Members of the Pleasant Valley Awareness Committee unveil the newly renovated basketball court during Juneteenth celebration at H.C. Meriwether Park, Fort Dodge, June 21, 2025. (Photo courtesy of Sherry Washington)
For Charlene Washington’s family in Fort Dodge, Juneteenth is an opportunity to celebrate the end of slavery while recognizing and honoring Black history and culture, something the family has done their whole lives.
The annual Juneteenth celebration in the city’s Pleasant Valley neighborhood symbolizes the family’s history of activism and community organizing, roots that are deeply embedded into the community.
ICYMI: Juneteenth 2026: How Iowans can celebrate — Here are some of the events going on across Iowa for Juneteenth.
Polling found that Midwestern homeowners want elected officials to do more to help lower home insurance premiums. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
Three-quarters of Midwestern homeowners are concerned about rising home insurance premiums and 86% of homeowners surveyed in a poll released Thursday by Climate Power and the Insurance Fairness Project say elected officials should do more to reduce the cost.
The poll surveyed Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas homeowners and found they largely supported policy solutions that would hold utilities, polluters and insurance companies accountable for factors that have contributed to rising insurance premiums.
A City of Harlan employee who purchased a television for his office with city money was fired after refusing the city’s request that he resign, according to state records.
A Polk County man is taking state regulators to court over his placement on the state’s registry of dependent-adult abusers.
Final peace negotiations between the United States and Iran officially began Thursday, Vice President JD Vance said at a late morning press conference in Washington, starting a 60-day countdown for the Islamic Republic to safely open the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. to lift a blockade on Iranian oil, and for the two nations to hammer out a nuclear deal.
The U.S. Department of Education will temporarily reduce interest rates for federal student loan borrowers enrolled in auto pay starting July 1, the agency announced Thursday.
U.S. Senate Democrats introduced legislation on Thursday to require Congress to sign off on any deployment of federal troops to the polls, as President Donald Trump and his administration refuse to rule out the idea.
Families are facing rising grocery prices at the same time that many of the most vulnerable are losing access to the nation’s largest food assistance program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, Stateline reports.
COMMENTARY
“Today, Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S. But the story for formerly enslaved people continued to unfold in complex ways well after Juneteenth, including when it came to their educational journeys,” guest columnist Rodney Coates writes via The Conversation US.
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