Here First Iowa Public Radio

Iowa’s public universities say they believe they’re complying with new state directives on diversity, equity and inclusion. Authorities in western Iowa say they don’t believe foul play was involved in the death of a trucker who’d been missing for five months before his body was found Wednesday. And, Waterloo plans to create a task force to help address the city’s homelessness problem.

Planting is underway in Iowa, except for the northeast. The wife of a missing western Iowa trucker says his body has been found. A northwest Iowa community college reaches a $3 million settlement with students. And, public university students and staff say they feel free to express their opinions.

The governor's "Thrive Iowa" Program receives $8 million to help link people in need to faith-based and nonprofit groups. A Sioux City Council member and advocate says the legislature failed to improve the lives of the disabled. A senior housing project helps fill a need in Waterloo. And ISU researchers lead a project to help secure the nation's renewable energy grid from cyberattacks.

Kossuth County libraries are facing deep budget cuts beginning this summer, possibly forcing three branches to close. The ACLU in Iowa has filed a “friend of the court” brief in a case that challenges an ordinance in Oregon that bars people from sleeping outdoors in public. And spring planting is underway – corn growers already have 13 percent of their crop in the ground.

The Iowa Legislature’s 2024 session is in the books. Before adjourning early Saturday morning, lawmakers passed a flat-rate tax bill, and did not extend a casino moratorium for five more years. Some Iowans are concerned the sale of a Lee County fertilizer plant could mean unfair pricing for farmers. And the bridge over the Mississippi River between Lansing and Wisconsin is open again.

Republicans in the Iowa legislature have a plan to speed up planned income tax cuts. Lawmakers face a deadline to pass a law that would allow Iowa men who were sexually abused as Boy Scouts to receive their full payment from a national settlement. And rural newspapers are experimenting with ways to keep local news alive.