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
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Book publisher, Iowans suing state over book bans
A second lawsuit against portions of an education law passed by Iowa Republicans and signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds just dropped this week. Penguin Random House, a major US book publisher, filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging SF 496 for banning some of the publishers’ books from Iowa schools. Joining the lawsuit were the Iowa State…
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7 Iowa families file federal lawsuit to stop anti-LGBTQ+ law
Someone threatened to kill Percy Batista-Pedro when he was a freshman performing in the school play. Now a junior in high school in the Waterloo Community School District, Percy—a transgender student—said he feels like he has a target on his back because of an anti-LGBTQ+ law passed by Iowa Republicans this year and signed into…
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Nontraditional Thanksgiving dinner ideas from Iowans
Turkey, mashed potatoes, some kind of casserole, stuffing, rolls, pumpkin pie: That’s the equation for a “traditional” Thanksgiving meal. But is it? Does it have to be? We asked the Iowa Starting Line audience—on Facebook and in the newsletter—how they break the traditional equation and bring some creativity and newness to their Thanksgiving tables. Here…
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How to get help for—and support—transgender Iowans
Max Mowitz started the Iowa Trans Mutual Aid Fund in 2021 because they saw a need they knew they could fill. “I was connected with so many mutual aid organizations that were doing incredible work, especially after the protests of 2020,” they said. “And I really saw a profound need for this kind of care…
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Trans Day of Remembrance on Nov. 20 time to grieve, gather, hope
Transgender Day of Remembrance, founded in 1999 and falling on every Nov. 20, has a straightforward goal of remembering and mourning the trans, nonbinary, and gender-diverse people who have died because of anti-trans violence and hatred. Max Mowitz, program director for One Iowa, a statewide LGBTQ advocacy group, also sees it as an opportunity to…
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Iowa Board of Medicine discusses rules for state’s abortion ban
The Iowa Board of Medicine met Friday to discuss standard rules for abortion in Iowa under the six-week abortion ban passed by Iowa Republicans in a July special session. No rules were adopted at this meeting. On its face, the ban would require physicians to perform an abdominal ultrasound to confirm whether any electrical pulses…
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Group to give away banned books in Sergeant Bluff, Sioux City this weekend
Annie’s Foundation, a nonprofit group started by Iowans to spread the word about book banning and give those books away, is hitting the road—and coming to Western Iowa for the first time.
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Reproductive health care in Iowa ‘not going anywhere’
While the abortion landscape across the country has changed dramatically since the overturn of Roe v Wade, Francine Thompson is confident abortion care isn’t going anywhere. “I’ve been here for 36 years, and there’s been a number of challenges—and a number of potential threats—to not being able to provide abortion over those years,” Thompson said.…
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State asks Iowa Supreme Court to reinstate six-week abortion ban
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird filed a brief with the Iowa Supreme Court on Wednesday asking the justices to dissolve the injunction on the six-week abortion ban passed by Republicans in July. “The State respectfully asks this Court to adopt the rational basis test for laws protecting unborn life and to find that abortion providers…
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Johnston School Board gains progressive edge as Moms For Liberty candidates flop
In a room packed with supporters, candidates, Johnston residents and plants, cheers rose up as Jason Arnold and Lya Williams won two of the four open seats on the Johnston School Board while incumbents Soneeta Mangra-Dutcher and Jennifer Chamberland retained their seats. The foursome, who worked together on the campaign trail, held a watch party…
