Stories

The American Lung Association has given Iowa an “A” in providing a smoke-free environment for its citizens, but in other categories the Hawkeye State didn’t fair as well.
Iowa received an “F” for tobacco prevention spending, a “C” for the cigarette tax which ranks 20th highest in the nation and an “F” for cessation coverage.
Iowa is [...]

Patrick Dillon, Gov. Chet Culver’s chief of staff, has stepped down from his position.
Dillon,31, is moving to Washington, D.C., with his wife, Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, who was recently appointed executive director of the Democratic National Committee.
Culver announced that Charles Krogmeier, 59, the director of the Department of Management who served as Culver’s deputy when he [...]

It’s time for Iowa to declare a “war on potholes” and put people back to work, and the first step to that is an increase in the state’s gas tax, Senate President Jack Kibbie said this morning in his opening remarks to the legislature.

Matt Strawn, a former congressional aide and co-owner of the Iowa Barnstormers Arena Football team, has been elected chair of the Republican Party of Iowa.
Strawn, 35, also served for a time as director of John McCain’s Iowa presidential campaign. His selection as leader of Iowa’s GOP follows a long, and occasionally ugly, few weeks of [...]

After weeks of rumors, meetings and deal making, party insiders say the race to be chair of the Republican Party of Iowa has essentially come down to two men — Danny Carroll and Matt Strawn.

Veteran Iowa journalist Chuck Offenburger, formerly with The Des Moines Register and now managing his own Web site, has publicly endorsed Ames businessman Matt Randall in the race to lead the Republican Party of Iowa.
It’s a good field of candidates for the chairperson position, but I think there’s a clear choice here. I believe the [...]

The legislature will say no to any new spending that isn’t attached to the flood recovery effort, Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, said this morning.

“I’ve been in the legislature for 20 years, and I’ve never seen a bigger challenge,” Gronstal said of the state’s budget situation. “We will be saying no to just about everything this session.”

“We are waiting for others to fail so that we can succeed. That’s not the way it’s supposed to be, but that’s the way it’s working right now,” said Gopal Krishna, once thought to be a frontrunner for the job of state GOP chair. Krishna says he was never a candidate for the position.

There are 111,000 more registered Democrats in Iowa than Republicans, according to data released by Iowa Secretary of State’s office.

A ban on smoking in casinos, an expansion electronic campaign finance filings and subpoena power for the Iowa Civil Rights Commission are among prefiled bills approved by their sponsors for release to the public.
Rep. Mark Smith, D-Marshalltown, is proposing a bill that would expand the statewide smoking ban passed last session and end the law’s [...]