Good morning from Iowa Capital Dispatch.
“When Duane Arnold comes online, it is going to be another sign that the nuclear renaissance is underway.” - U.S. Department of Energy Deputy Secretary James Danly, speaking in Cedar Rapids Tuesday at an event focused on the Duane Arnold Energy Center restart.
A sign at a grocery store shows certain items cannot be purchased using the federal nutrition assistance program. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
Gov. Kim Reynolds on Tuesday called a federal judge’s decision to stop Iowa from restricting the purchase of soda and candy through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program “short-sighted” and said it “does nothing to improve the health of our country.”
The decision issued Monday by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson overturns a federal waiver from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that allowed Iowa to exclude certain food and drinks from being purchased using SNAP. The waiver was granted to the state in May 2025 and took effect at the start of the year, Jan. 1.
U.S. Department of Energy Deputy Secretary James Danly, right, spoke at an energy symposium hosted by Corridor Business Journal June 23, 2026. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
U.S. Department of Energy Deputy Secretary James Danly spoke Tuesday about the importance of data centers and a “nuclear renaissance” in relation to the nation’s growing electricity demands.
Danly spoke at a Cedar Rapids energy symposium hosted by Corridor Business Journal and focused on the Duane Arnold Energy Center restart. Duane Arnold Energy Center, Iowa’s only nuclear energy facility, began decommissioning in 2020, but is slated to become operational again by the end of 2028. The 615-megawatt plant will provide power to a Google data center developing in the Cedar Rapids area.
The owners of a Fort Madison pharmacy are suing the state over an alleged failure to pay for millions of dollars’ worth of pharmaceuticals.
The Iowa Board of Regents and the Center for Intellectual Freedom at the University of Iowa have launched the search for its executive director with a job posting and salary range that could put the selected applicant on the same pay level as some university administrators.
An Allamakee County woman is suing the State of Iowa over $34,700 she says she’s owed from the state’s Crime Victim Compensation Program.
Seventeen Republican attorneys general – including Iowa’s -- have sued California over a state law that requires plastic packaging producers to move away from single-use plastics, alleging that the law will raise costs for consumers across the country, Stateline reports.
States – including Iowa -- and cities are loosening building code requirements in an effort to lower construction costs and boost affordable housing. Critics have raised safety concerns, Stateline reports.
The Republican-led U.S. Senate served up a rare public check on President Donald Trump’s agenda Tuesday when it voted to approve a House-passed War Powers Resolution to end hostilities in Iran.
An appeals court Tuesday cleared the way for the Trump administration to use fast-track deportations within the interior of the country and not just at the Southern border, a key pillar in the president’s mass deportation campaign.
Haitian immigrants are increasingly fearful of being detained and deported as the U.S. Supreme Court weighs whether the Trump administration can end Temporary Protected Status for Haitians, as well as Syrians, Medill News Service reports.
The U.S. House cleared a bipartisan housing policy overhaul Tuesday, aiming to lower the cost of homeownership as members of both parties attempt to focus on affordability issues ahead of November’s midterm elections.
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