
Good morning from Iowa Capital Dispatch.
Join us July 12!
Just a reminder that Iowa Capital Dispatch is hosting a benefit concert July 12, featuring blues-rock band HomeBrewed. We’ll be at Uptown Garage Brewing Co. in Ankeny from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Ticket information is here. Bring some friends and enjoy a great show while contributing to our important work to cover Iowa news.
Meanwhile, our summer fundraiser is still underway. Donate here to help us cover the midterm elections, higher education, healthcare, agriculture and the environment and much more.

A farmer plants corn into a cover crop, which is one of several regenerative agriculture practices that a new federal rule holds can reduce the overall greenhouse gas emissions of producing ethanol. (Photo by Jacob Tosch/USDA)
Farmers growing corn and soybeans for biofuels can now quantify the carbon intensity of crops grown with certain regenerative agriculture practices, due to a recently finalized federal rule.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Regenerative Feedstock Rule will allow farmers to “capture new value” from agricultural practices like cover crops and reduced tillage, according to a news release from the department.

The Newton Correctional Facility in Iowa’s Jasper County. (Photo courtesy of the Iowa Department of Corrections)
Iowa regulators have suspended the license of a state-employed nurse accused of providing inadequate care for a prison inmate who died hours later.
In October 2025, the board charged Penny Lynn Daniels of Newton, a registered nurse who worked for the Iowa Department of Corrections, with committing an act that might adversely affect a patient’s welfare, failing to assess or accurately document a patient’s status, and committing an act that causes physical, emotional or financial injury to a patient.
Iowa law enforcement and county attorneys met with Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel to speak about how local entities can work with federal partners to tackle scams, drug trafficking and other crimes with international ties, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird told reporters Monday.
The Iowa Board of Medicine has fined a Des Moines surgeon previously accused of posing an immediate danger to the public.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is investigating a spill of pesticide rinsate that caused a fish kill in an unnamed creek near Houghton.
Iowa corn and soybean crops are behind last year’s pace by several percentage points, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Crop Progress and Condition Report.
Central College will begin offering a new degree program this fall aimed at preparing students for data-focused professions across a number of industries.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that law enforcement searches for the location history of cellphones near crime scenes are covered by the Fourth Amendment, requiring warrants to obtain the data.
The U.S. Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump both a win and a loss Monday in allowing his firing of Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, but ruling that he cannot remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that states can count mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day, a blow to the Trump administration and some Republican states that had urged the justices to require all ballots to arrive by the close of polls.
President Donald Trump has nominated a former Oklahoma state trooper to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency tasked with carrying out the president’s mass deportation campaign.
The Federal Communications Commission has approved new rules designed to improve the reliability of Next Generation 911 systems as states continue replacing decades-old emergency call infrastructure with internet-based networks, Stateline reports.
The U.S. Senate Ethics Committee has dismissed a complaint against Sen. Ruben Gallego, writing in a letter it found no evidence the Arizona Democrat violated the chamber’s rules or federal law.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
COMMENTARY
Thanks for reading Daily Dispatch. Did you know our weekend digest is also free? Sign up here. And if you enjoyed today’s edition, please forward to a friend. Increasing our readership helps us cover more news.