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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The 39 Best Diners in Iowa, According to Iowans
Where are the best diners in Iowa? Here’s the list, as chosen by Iowans.
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How Des Moines Metro Schools Are Applying Anti-LGBTQ Law
New laws passed by Republicans in the Iowa Legislature this year restrict bathroom access for transgender students, forcibly out students to their parents if they express a different gender identity or ask to go by a different name from the one on their birth certificates—even nicknames—and Iowa school districts have to figure it all out.…
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Urbandale Schools Trying To Navigate Iowa’s Anti-LGBTQ Law
The Urbandale School District provided no further clarity on how it will enforce the new state-mandated teaching restrictions for LGBTQ topics at Monday’s school board meeting. Superintendent Dr. Rosalie Daca said, “If your major concern is the gender identity book piece, we aren’t going to make any decisions on how we’re going to tackle that.”…
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Doctors Say Iowa Abortion Ban Could Worsen OB-GYN Shortage
Iowa doesn’t have enough maternal health care specialists, and that long-standing problem could get worse if the recently passed six-week abortion ban goes into effect. The ban penalizes doctors for performing abortions if electrical impulses are detected in the fetus. There are limited, vague exceptions for rape, incest, fetal abnormalities that will result in death…
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Meet Iowa’s Newest Hall of Fame Inductees
The state’s first Black woman judge, a longtime mayor and a health-focused community organizer are this year’s three new honorees inducted into the Iowa’s Women’s Hall of Fame.
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Pelicans Are Migrating Through Iowa Now. Here’s How to See Them
Soon, Iowa will be hosting thousands of American white pelicans on their way from Canada and the northern Midwest to Mexico, the southern US and Central America.
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To Fight School Book Banning, Johnston Parent Starts Little Library
Another parent in Johnston is fighting efforts to restrict access to books in schools, and she’s doing it with a box in her front yard.
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Iowa Doctors: Exceptions In Abortion Ban Don’t Protect Mothers
Dr. Amy Bingaman knows there may come a time in the near future when she might have to choose between her Iowa medical license or the life of a pregnant person she is treating. “I could never imagine letting a woman die on my watch when I could intervene,” Bingaman said. “The problem is to…
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Urbandale Pauses Removal Of LGBTQ Books From Schools
The Urbandale School District released updated guidance on Thursday about books that are to be removed from school buildings and paused on removing those that mention LGBTQ content. After reviewing the list with 382 titles and instead narrowed it down to 65. “We have determined that there is ambiguity regarding the extent to which books…
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Urbandale ‘First Shoe To Drop’ In Iowa School Book Bans
Board member Daniel Gutmann didn’t learn about the Urbandale School District’s list of books to be removed from K-12 buildings until he heard about it from a reporter. “This was a complete shock to all of the board members,” he said. “This was done without any knowledge or the ability to provide any input.” Gutmann…
