Stories

State Rep. Kent Sorenson (R-Indianola) has announced his candidacy for the Iowa Senate seat currently held by state Sen. Staci Appel (D-Ackworth).

Perhaps still reeling from his own Web site gaffe earlier this week, Senate Minority Leader Paul McKinley (R-Chariton) posted a message to his Twitter account earlier today making fun of his Democratic colleagues for not having a page on their site dedicated to their government reorganization effort. The link he posted was, in fact, broken; [...]

A bill that authorizes the state to borrow $105 million was approved late Friday night by the Iowa Senate.
On a vote of 30-19, lawmakers gave approval to Senate File 477, which would allow the state to issue bonds totaling $100 million for vertical infrastructure improvements and $5 million for alternative energy projects.
The bill is expected [...]

Iowa’s only openly gay legislator, State Sen. Matt McCoy, has recorded and released a YouTube video reacting to today’s Iowa Supreme Court decision granting marriage rights to same-sex couples.  In the video, he explains why he does not expect the court’s decision to be overturned by a constitutional amendment.  He expresses pride in the Hawkeye [...]

The shrunken Republican caucus in the Iowa Senate has elected State Sen. Paul McKinley of Chariton as its new Minority Leader, ousting State Sen. Ron Wieck.
McKinley ran for the post last year, but Wieck defeated him.  Shortly after his victory last year, Wieck told the Iowa Independent that he planned to contrast Republican and Democratic [...]

If cash on hand is any indicator, the Democrats are likely to expand their majority in the Iowa Senate this year.

Roughly a week before the final primary filing period ended, the state legislative races were number-crunched in relation to gender. At that snapshot in time, it seemed that Iowa might, at best, maintain its mediocre record in terms of percentage of women serving in Des Moines. What a difference a week can make.
While it’s difficult [...]

Senate Democrats and Republicans ended a 24-hour stalemate at mid-day Friday and will delay a vote on sweeping legislation that could drastically alter Iowa’s collective bargaining laws. The agreement means the Senate will adjourn for the weekend holiday.

UPDATE: Friday, March 21, 9:02 a.m. Republican senators remained in caucus this morning with no immediate plans to return to the floor as part of their efforts to stall a vote on changes to state collective bargain laws until Monday. Republicans shared a delivery from Pizza Hut last night and then spent the evening watching [...]

Although a few days remain before Iowans will know all the 2008 candidates for the state Legislature, retirements and switches already appear to have taken a toll on the number of women who will be seated in Des Moines when the next legislative session begins.