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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Last-Minute Victory for Trans Iowans in the Iowa Legislature
From the start of session to a surprise, last-minute push, the 89th General Assembly has a been a minefield for LGBTQ Iowans. Particularly those who are transgender. The longest-lasting push to restrict the rights of trans youth in the state has been one to ban trans girls from participating in school-sponsored sports. The basic idea…
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Iowa GOP Lays Groundwork To Restrict Or Ban Abortion
Continuing a fight they’ve been waging since 2018, Republicans in the Iowa Legislature have fully passed language to deny the right to abortion exists in the Iowa Constitution. The proposed state constitutional amendment passed today in the Senate and last night in the House is mildly amended from the language it had earlier this year.…
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Infrastructure Plan Would Bring ‘Significant’ Help For Deficient Iowa Bridges
For years, Iowa has been the reigning champion in number of structurally deficient bridges in the state. The ranking comes from the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, which found 19% of Iowa’s 23,982 bridges are structurally deficient — 4,571 in total. According to the ARTBA, 1 in 3 bridges in the United States need…
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National Right-Wing Org Bragged About Quietly Influencing Iowa’s New Voting Law
In March, the Iowa state legislature passed a new election law that made it harder for Iowans to vote by shortening early voting, putting restrictions on absentee ballots and changing the way the voter list is maintained–despite widespread opposition and clear evidence that the 2020 election ran smoothly and accurately. Yesterday, Mother Jones broke a…
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What Iowans Can Get Out Of The New Child Tax Credit
The effort to help Americans (and Iowans) recover from the COVID-19 pandemic continues. In addition to an extended filing deadline for taxes and the waiving of unemployment taxes, Americans will also receive an increased tax credit for dependent children for 2021. The new value is $3,000 for every child ages 6-17 and $3,600 for every…
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Get Unemployment Benefits In 2020? Here’s Why You’ll Save Money On Taxes
If at any time last year you received unemployment benefits, a portion or all of those benefits will not be taxed. Iowa’s Democratic Rep. Cindy Axne worked with Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin (D) to add a provision to President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan, the COVID-19 relief bill, that would waive the first $10,200 of…
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A Tax Bill, And End To The Legislative Session, Maybe In Sight
As the Iowa legislative session enters its eighteenth week, a few funding issues stand in the way of the session adjourning. But after meetings between House and Senate Republicans and Gov. Kim Reynolds, the final piece may be ready. “This bill is the pathway forward,” said Sen. Dan Dawson, the chair of the Ways and…
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How To Reactivate Your Iowa Voter Registration
Hundreds of thousands of Iowans lost their active voter registration status last month due to a new sweeping elections law that state Republicans passed in 2021.
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Iowa To Increase COVID Vaccine Pop-Up Sites
As demand for vaccines wanes, Iowa is pushing to scoop up the wary and those who haven’t had an opportunity to get vaccinated before now. In a Wednesday press conference, Gov. Kim Reynolds said the state is working with local health departments to host pop-up clinics at events like baseball games and farmers’ markets to…
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Iowa Confirms Another Young Child Died From COVID
The Iowa Department of Public Health has confirmed another child death from COVID-19. “The child was under the age of five, and had significant underlying health conditions,” Sarah Ekstrand, the public information officer for IDPH, said in an email to Starting Line. According to the email, the child died in March. Only two child deaths…
