Good morning from Iowa Capital Dispatch.
“It’s strictly a bipartisan issue. It isn’t an issue that’s dominated by one blue state or one red state. It’s an issue that I think almost every state legislature is dealing with, and red or blue, it’s worth telling the federal government, ‘enough is enough.’” — New Hampshire House Speaker Sherman Packard, a Republican, on a growing, bipartisan interest in state’s rights to counter concerns about the size and scope of the federal government.
A Polk County judge has dismissed one of the central claims in a wrongful death lawsuit involving Parkridge Specialty Care of Pleasant Hill. (Photo via Google Earth)
A Polk County judge has dismissed one of the central claims in a wrongful death lawsuit involving a Pleasant Hill nursing home.
Parkridge Specialty Care of Pleasant Hill is being sued by the estate of Maris Bergis in Polk County District Court. The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages from the home’s corporate owner, Care Initiatives of West Des Moines, for alleged dependent adult abuse, recklessness, negligence and wrongful death.
Corn grows near southbound Interstate 35 in Iowa on July 3, 2026. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
Some areas of Iowa received more than two month’s worth of rain in a 36-hour period, leaving fields and basements flooded, according to the latest Iowa weather summary and crop progress and condition report.
Justin Glisan, the state climatologist, wrote in the weekly weather summary that storms formed in a “ring of fire” pattern around the heat dome that hit much of the country during the first week of July. The statewide average temperature for the week was 79 degrees Fahrenheit, which was 6 degrees above the climatological normal.
HomeBrewed, a blues-rock band from Iowa City performs at Uptown Garage Brewing Co. in Ankeny. (Photo by Kathie Obradovich/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
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Love live music? Want to support local news? Iowa Capital Dispatch is hosting a benefit concert July 12, featuring HomeBrewed, a bangin’ Iowa City-based blues-rock band, at Uptown Garage Brewing Co. in Ankeny. Ticket information is here. Bring some friends and enjoy a great show while contributing to our important work to cover Iowa news.
The Iowa Democratic and Republican parties both gained voters over the past month, while the number of voters with no party affiliation dropped significantly.
A western Iowa nursing home has been fined $6,750, in part for refusing to summon an ambulance for a resident, forcing the man’s family to take her to the hospital in their car.
State regulators have revoked the license of a former Iowa physician who surrendered his California medical license amid allegations of inappropriate conduct with juvenile female patients.
Two of Iowa’s private higher education institutions are partnering to provide students with greater opportunities to further their education in health sciences.
Many of the most high-profile conversations surrounding states rights’ have proven predictably partisan. Yet Democrats and Republicans behind the scenes have been quietly building momentum for a rebalancing of state-federal authority, Stateline reports.
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