School has begun for dozens of central Iowa school districts, now that the state fair has ended. Marshalltown schools open tomorrow, Des Moines and Ankeny schools will be back in session on Wednesday, and Boone will return to class on Thursday. Iowa’s public schools may soon get a new computerized testing program. The state’s board…… MORE
The state utilities board has approved a plan from MidAmerican Energy to build a 900-million dollar wind energy project. The deal spells out how much the utility can charge customers for the Wind X plan, to reduce risk for consumers.… MORE
The four companies picked to run Iowa’s Medicaid program are promising to create hundreds of jobs to help do it. United Healthcare is projecting the addition of 250 workers, Amerihealth Caritas plans to open three community wellness centers, Wellcare pledged to open several offices, and Amerigroup has found space in West Des Moines for a…… MORE
Iowa is getting its first female speaker of the House. Linda Upmeyer was voted in to the position, one that her dad held a few decades back. Upmeyer has served as House Majority Leader for the past five years. She’ll replace Kraig Paulsen in January, when he steps down.… MORE
Des Moines’ tax abatement program expires at the end of the year, and city officials wanted to get residents’ and developers’ take on extending it. The city is recommending using a declining scale system in some cases, and eliminating it altogether for multi-family units outside the target area. Developers at a public meeting last night…… MORE
Poultry producers in Iowa are pushing for vaccine protection for their birds this fall. Both the state and the feds have held back on recommending anti-bird-flu shots, because of potential repercussions from importers. But farmers are afraid that without the vaccine, any money they spend restocking their flocks could be wasted.… MORE
More than 12-thousand ISU students are moving in to campus today before the start of the new fall semester. Ames police are warning drivers around Ames there could be a shortage of parking spaces, as parents and students unload. A landlord company near another major Iowa university is appealing a state Supreme Court decision that…… MORE
A group of Iowa landowners are suing the state board of utilities, saying it has no authority to grant Dakota Access permission to go on private property for its proposed oil pipeline. The suit says the oil company is not an Iowa utility, so it cannot use such options.… MORE
The keys to the 4-billion dollar Medicaid program in Iowa are being turned over by the governor to four private companies, starting the first of the year. The decision marks a key point in Governor Branstad’s transformation of the healthcare program for the poor and disabled that serves more than half-a-million Iowans. Iowa workers would…… MORE
The bird flu epidemic in Iowa cost the state’s economy one-point-2 billion dollars, according to the latest tally from the Iowa Farm Bureau. The bureau says recovery will not be swift, since half of Iowa’s poultry population was lost to the virus. … MORE
