Isabella Murray

Freshman State Rep. Jeff Shipley returned to the Iowa Legislature in early June after its months-long pause due to COVID-19, making his presence known by immediately questioning on the Statehouse steps the virus’ death toll while satirizing Iowans who wear masks. “It doesn’t matter that this vaccine doesn’t exist. It’s probably impossible to develop a…

Voting rights advocates say they’re concerned with Republican priorities during ongoing calls for racial and health justice as election legislation that they call “voter suppression” and “poll tax” bills pass in the Statehouse. After a spirited, two hour debate in the Senate on Wednesday, a bill that would bar the Secretary of State from mailing…

Ahead of November’s elections and the Iowa Legislature’s potential vote on a ‘Protect Life’ constitutional amendment, Planned Parenthood Advocates last week launched a six-figure campaign to hold state legislators accountable to “bad health care votes.” Iowans should now expect to see digital ads that target Republican legislators like Reps. Jeff Shipley and Sandy Salmon, urging…

As sustained protests have swept Iowa and the nation in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, one major idea that activists have pushed is that of defunding the police. The notion has many possible iterations, but the goal is generally to reimagine policing itself and shift local budget allocations away from police departments to other…

Waterloo’s first-ever African American police chief had a busy first day on the job. Joel Fitzgerald was sworn in this past Monday, as protests of George Floyd’s death unfurled throughout the state and nation. Shortly after, Fitzgerald attended one of the city’s several large and nonviolent protests, one without police in riot gear standing nearby.…

George Floyd’s name was mentioned frequently around Iowa’s capitol building Wednesday night, along with cries for racial equity across the state.  Hundreds have taken to the streets of Des Moines throughout the past week — sometimes in front of the Statehouse — protesting the murder of Floyd by police in Minneapolis. They’ve called for a…

Waterloo’s Rep. Ras Smith got into politics around the time that Trayvon Martin’s killing in 2012 reverberated throughout the nation, igniting cries of racial inequity and police brutality. Smith stayed involved while riots erupted in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 after police shot and killed Michael Brown, even as little real political progress was made. But…

Waterloo’s Rep. Ras Smith got into politics around the time that Trayvon Martin’s killing in 2012 reverberated throughout the nation, igniting cries of racial inequity and police brutality. Smith stayed involved while riots erupted in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 after police shot and killed Michael Brown, even as little real political progress was made. But…