Stories

Iowa Sen. Joe Bolkcom wrote a guest editorial for the Cedar Rapids Gazette today focusing on the differences between Iowa and national health care reform, and took his own shots at the misinformation spread by U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley.

The Iowa Board of Pharmacy will once again discuss the medical use of marijuana at its July meeting.
The board has allocated 30 minutes to discuss the issue and others related to the state law that classifies marijuana as a schedule I controlled substance in Iowa.

When federal officials announced the establishment of “State Legislators for Health Reform” Wednesday and provided names of the initial 22 members, it wasn’t necessarily a surprise to find the names of two of Iowa’s state senators on the list.

Democrats in the legislature today rolled out a tax plan that alters Iowa’s tax code and ends federal deductibility, which allows state residents to write off their federal taxes on state returns. But while supporters and opponents of the plan dispute its virtues, one of the state’s most respected economists says both sides’ arguments are lacking. The deduction should end, he says, because it serves very little purpose.

Health care coverage would be extended to 30,000 currently uninsured Iowa children under a bill passed by the state Senate Human Services Committee Wednesday.

Publicly, Iowa’s union leaders and their supporters believe the four measures currently listed at the top of organized labor’s priority list – choice of doctor, prevailing wage, open-scope bargaining and Fair Share – are still very much alive.

But privately, several state legislators concede that recent difficulties trying to pass prevailing wage legislation have hurt the chances of any other labor bills this session.

Only two steps remain in the legislative quest to require insurance companies to provide coverage of vaccinations for the human papillomavirus, the major cause of cervical cancer.

Following a very active session of the Iowa Legislature, school districts across the state are working to implement new mandates and take advantage of new opportunities — all the while not missing a beat in welcoming students to another year of school.
The Iowa Department of Education tracked 231 items of interest during the 2007 legislative [...]