Iowa’s highest court has ruled that telemed abortions can continue in the state. The court threw out the ban imposed by the Iowa Board of Medicine that required a doctor to be there when a woman took drugs to induce an abortion. Planned Parenthood had taken the board to court, saying the rule made it difficult for rural women to get an abortion.
Not as many school districts in Iowa are offering summer reading programs. A study by researchers from Iowa’s three universities finds that 40 percent of schools don’t provide summer reading programs because of the lack of funding, as well as not enough transportation or teachers. Community groups and local organizations, then, take the place of the district with summer reading programs.
Iowa is getting some relief in the continued fight against the bird flu. The US Department of Labor says it’s giving the state $5.25 million to help workers who’ve lost their jobs because of the disease. Iowa Workforce Development and Iowa Central Community College are teaming up to expand job training programs and re-employment strategies for laid-off workers.
Gassing up your car for a visit to see Dad for Father’s Day will cost you more this week than it would have last week. State figures show a six cent increase in a gallon of gas.
ISU rates among the top 100 universities in the world granted U-S patents in the past year. The National Academy of Inventors and Intellectual Property Owners Association ranked it 70th, with patents that included wind turbine tower systems, bio-asphalt and new methods for treating Parkinson’s Disease.
Iowa’s unemployment rate stayed at 3.8 percent last month, but was down compared to last May’s numbers. The national unemployment rate didn’t fair too well, on the other hand…rising to 5.5 percent.
More companies are moving downtown because employees like the walkability aspect…according to a new report from Smart Growth America. The report gives Kum and Go in Des Moines as an example…as it plans to moves its headquarters from West Des Moines to downtown.
Donald Trump is the latest Republican presidential candidate to join the Family Leadership Summit in Ames next month. Trump confirmed today he’s in the lineup with seven other contenders…including Mike Huckabee, Dr. Ben Carson, Scott Walker, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rick Perry, and Rick Santorum.
In more caucus news…Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker says he’s launching an “exploratory” committee to test the waters before announcing his intentions to run for the White House. Walker put out a statement earlier today that this will be his final step in determining whether to run for president…but no announcement date has been set.
Iowa’s entire Congressional delegation is working to repeal the USDA’s mandatory country of origin meat labeling rule. The bill starts in the Senate Ag Committee, though Senator Chuck Grassley says he hasn’t heard much about its status from the chairman. Grassley says he hopes to pass the bill this summer.
