Good morning from Iowa Capital Dispatch.
“We have to pass the prices onto consumers, and they don’t like it when we have to do that. It seems like the government is trying to shut us down.” — Rashay Reasoner, the regional manager of ABC Smoke in Ames, on the increased tax on vapes and alternative nicotine products signed into law on Tuesday.
Gov. Kim Reynolds, shown here in a file photo from Feb. 26, 2026, signed legislation on May 26, 2026, raising the tax on vapes and alternative nicotine products. Up to $3 million of the revenue will go toward pediatric cancer research. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
Joined by pediatric cancer survivors and family members at the Stead Family Children’s Hospital in Iowa City, Gov. Kim Reynolds on Tuesday signed a measure into law imposing a 5-cent tax on vapes and alternative nicotine products that will be used to fund up to $3 million in pediatric cancer research.
Senate File 2480 establishes a tax on products like vapes and nicotine. Up to $3 million in revenue generated by the tax will go to conduct pediatric cancer research, clinical therapy trials and provide physician-scientist leadership at the University of Iowa children’s hospital.
Parkridge Specialty Care in Pleasant Hill, Iowa. (Photo via Google Earth)
New allegations of wrongdoing have emerged in the latest wrongful death lawsuit involving a Pleasant Hill nursing home.
Court records indicate Parkridge Specialty Care of Pleasant Hill has been sued three times in recent years for wrongful death. The most recent case, filed in August 2025 by the estate of Maris Bergis, 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.
As religious education reckons with low enrollment and increased scrutiny, one University of Northern Iowa professor is working to bring together scholars and educators of religion across state universities to assess the state of religious studies in higher education and plot its future path.
With the June 2 primary a week away, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said Tuesday that Iowa state officials are working with federal offices and the National Guard to ensure election integrity.
State regulators have reduced the fine imposed against a Des Moines care facility after mistakenly tripling the penalty due to a previous regulatory violation.
A handful of Democratic state attorneys general said Tuesday that expert officials from their offices were denied access to a major White House anti-fraud meeting convened by Vice President JD Vance and attended by Republican AGs, including Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche argued in a court filing that a shooting Saturday in the vicinity of the White House further proves the need for an East Wing ballroom with “a heavy steel, drone proof roof, missile resistant and drone proof columns, bullet, ballistic, and blast proof glass,” among other features.
Pregnant patients experiencing miscarriage who live in states with abortion bans have fewer options for healthcare management, according to a new study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, Stateline reports.
The Congressional Black Caucus on Tuesday urged American corporations to condemn efforts to dilute Black voting strength, as Southern states eliminate congressional districts where most residents are Black.
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