Good morning from Iowa Capital Dispatch.
“Family farmers contending with numerous challenges to their viability cannot afford another Farm Bill delay. Producers and rural communities are counting on us to deliver the predictability, certainty and support that a modernized Farm Bill provides.” — Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, R-Ark., on one of the priorities for the lame-duck session of Congress that begins Monday.
The U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 13, 2026. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
Voters may have given Democrats control of Congress in the midterm elections, but Republicans will remain in charge of both chambers during the lame-duck session that spans November and December.
The relatively brief five-week schedule, which begins Monday, gives GOP leaders a chance to wrap up unfinished work before handing over power when the new session begins in early January.
The Oskaloosa Care Center in Mahaska County. (Photo via Google Earth)
State licensing officials have issued a warning to an Iowa nurse for her role in the death of a nursing home resident.
The board alleges that Elaine Allison, aka Elaine McCoy, of Beacon was working as a licensed practical nurse at the Oskaloosa Care Center on Sept. 6, 2025, when there was a serious medical emergency and a resident of the home became unresponsive.
The overseeing committees for the Center for Intellectual Freedom at the University of Iowa moved ahead two candidates for the center’s top role Friday after a finalist’s rejection of a job offer caused a national search to continue.
State and local offices have launched an audit into more than 2,000 midterm election ballots left uncounted in Johnson County, though race outcomes are not expected to change.
Chemicals from farming are hurting the soil and destroying its microbiome, contributing to health issues such as increased cancer rates from nitrates linked to runoff from fertilizers and chemical pesticides, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said during a visit to a Bismarck, N.D., ranch, North Dakota Monitor reports.
President Donald Trump announced Friday he will elevate Stephen Miller to White House chief of staff, the first shake-up of his administration officials since Democrats trounced Republicans in the midterms.
The chair of the campaign arm for U.S. House Democrats said during a Friday press conference that this week’s midterm elections resulted in an overwhelming blue wave because of Latinos.
Millions of voters in 11 states approved tougher criminal penalties and more bail restrictions in Tuesday’s midterm elections, while rejecting efforts to roll back marijuana, Stateline reports.
Voters in four states — Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska and Washington — are on track to pass or have passed measures to restrict transgender athletes’ participation in sports, a key policy focus of the Trump administration, Stateline reports.
A new federal report found that Americans experienced declines in several categories of violent and property crime victimization in 2025, including aggravated assaults, burglaries and motor vehicle thefts, Stateline reports.
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