Nikoel Hytrek is Iowa Starting Line’s longest-serving reporter. She covers LGBTQ issues, abortion rights and all topics of interest to Iowans. Her biggest goal is to help connect the dots between policy and people’s real lives. If you have story ideas or tips, send them over to nikoel@new.iowastartingline.com.
Nikoel Hytrek
Latest from Nikoel Hytrek
-
Caucus voters wanted extremism, but they didn’t want Ron DeSantis
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came in a distant second place at the Iowa Caucuses, failing to beat former president Donald Trump while running on a similarly extreme platform. Both advocate extreme anti-immigration actions at the US Southern border, are anti-abortion, and love to use government power to go after people who oppose them. On Monday,…
-
Original, heels or boots: Pritzker says leading Republicans are all MAGA
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said all three leading candidates in the Iowa GOP caucus—Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, and Ron DeSantis—represent the same extreme ideas and policy priorities but in different formats. “Tonight’s contest is simply a question of whether you like your MAGA Trump agenda wrapped in the original packaging, or with high heels or…
-
Nikki Haley says another Trump presidency would bring chaos
In her last event before the Iowa Caucuses, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said the United States can’t afford to elect former President Donald Trump a second time. “President Trump was the right president at the right time,” Haley said on Sunday. “I agree with a lot of his policies, but—rightly or wrongly—chaos follows…
-
Vivek Ramaswamy delivers closing message in Northwest Iowa
Despite windchills almost 50 below zero and a blizzard warning, Vivek Ramaswamy continued his pre-caucus tour through Northwest Iowa on Saturday with confidence and a dark message about America’s present. The Ohio businessman is running to be the Republican nominee for president. Multiple times Saturday, Ramaswamy said on social media that the turnouts at his…
-
Climate change protesters disrupt Ron DeSantis event
Climate protesters disrupted a Gov. Ron DeSantis campaign event in Ames on Thursday night. Three protesters were escorted out of the room at Jethro’s BBQ after asking the presidential candidate about the money he takes from the oil industry. Paul, one of the protestors, confirmed to Starting Line that all three are members of the…
-
Students rally at Iowa Capitol to demand change on guns
Monday marked the start of the 2024 Iowa Legislative session and Iowans kicked it off by demanding lawmakers listen to what they want and put the people of Iowa first this year. Two events ran together, one hosted by the Iowa chapter of March For Our Lives (MFOL) and the other hosted by multiple Iowa…
-
Perry students share thoughts on school shooting during vigil
Some students were there for band practice, others for a breakfast program, and some never got into the building before shots rang out at Perry High School around 7:30 a.m. on Thursday. At a vigil held Thursday evening, following a morning school shooting that ended with two dead and five injured, students who were there—or…
-
Lawyers argue Iowa’s book ban law too ‘vague, harmful’ in court
SF 496, Iowa’s new education law, is too vague, too broad, and too restrictive of speech and individual rights. That’s according to lawyers arguing, in separate cases, for the US District Court Southern District of Iowa to place a preliminary injunction on the law. One suit was brought led by the American Civil Liberties Union…
-
What to expect from Iowa House Dems in 2024 legislative session
House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst (D-Windsor Heights) and her Democratic colleagues know Iowans are exhausted and disappointed by the Iowa Legislature. “We hear from people all the time: ‘This is not the state I grew up in,’ and they’re concerned and they’re depressed and they’re upset about it,” she said. This year, the Iowa Legislature…
-
Iowa doctors explain dangers of anti-abortion centers
Amy Bingaman knows first-hand how anti-abortion clinics push disinformation and fear in order to prevent people from getting abortions. Now an OB-GYN at Broadlawns Medical Center in Des Moines, Bingaman went to an anti-abortion clinic when she was 16 years old to get a pregnancy test, and she wants people to know about the dangers…
