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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Restricting Abortion By Constitutional Amendment – Iowa GOP’s Next Plan
Early this year, Iowa’s ban on abortions after a “heartbeat” is detected was struck down. This brought the state’s second attempt to ban abortion in two years to an end, but Republican lawmakers in the state Senate haven’t given up. In January this year, 29 Republican senators introduced a resolution that would add a section…
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Trump’s ‘Assembly Line’ Of Right-Wing Judges Rolls On In Senate
The Senate adjourned for the August recess last week on the heels of another prolific week for judicial nominations. The Republican-controlled chamber confirmed 12 new judges in a two-day period to lifetime appointments on district courts, including Illinois, Texas and Oregon. The previous week, two other judges were confirmed for district court seats. According to…
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Delaney To Red County Democrats: You’re Not Alone
With his week-long trek across Iowa during State Fair week, John Delaney is making efforts to reach out to rural voters in conservative areas. Today, Delaney and his Iowa team was in Pella, Iowa for an ambitious task: knock the door of every Democrat in town in one day. Even in a heavily-conservative town like…
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While Few Pay Attention, Senate Approves Raft Of Trump Judges
As voters focus on the latest Democratic debates and multi-candidate primary, President Donald Trump continues to reshape the federal courts. Over the past two days, the Republican-controlled Senate has confirmed 12 judges to the United States District Court, the lowest part of the federal court system. Several more nominees remain on the docket. On Tuesday,…
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Are Divisive Debates Helpful To Iowans?
Last night, the CNN-hosted Democratic debates featured a lengthy, sometimes-heated discussion about health care policy. The heat was purposeful. The moderators paid special attention to having candidates respond to each other’s answers. To mixed results. In Ames, Iowa, gathered caucus-goers reacted positively to some of the incendiary moments like Bernie saying he “wrote the damn…
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Meet The Judges Who Will Decide ACA’s Fate
Judges in photo from left to right: Carolyn Dineen King, Kurt Engelhardt, Jennifer Walker Elrod. In December of last year, headlines screamed about the end of the Affordable Care Act. A district court judge in Texas had ruled that the whole health care law is unconstitutional in the most recent Texas v. United States case. He…
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Sex Ed, Contraception Key, Castro Says At Reproductive Rights Forum
At a town hall hosted by NARAL Pro-Choice America on Saturday, Julián Castro emphasized the importance of sex education and access to reproductive health care, which he said includes contraceptives. When asked by Starting Line, Castro said, “What I believe is that we need to make sure that we have sex education in our public…
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2020 is not 1937. A History Lesson On FDR And The Courts
By 1935, the New Deal was helping the American people and economy bounce back from the disaster of the stock market crash of 1929. National programs were putting people to work, building infrastructure like bridges, hospitals and schools and expanding access to electricity. The New Deal was popular and well-loved. In May 1935, it suffered…
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Who Wants To Serve Forever? How Supreme Court Term Limits Would Work
Supreme Court reform is a now-widespread idea among Democrats with a variety of proposed options. Expansion has been a popular proposal with a few 2020 candidates, but limiting the amount of time justices can serve on the Supreme Court is another route that’s often touted. As of early April, 11 of the candidates running for…
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Maternal Mortality Issue Draws More Attention In 2020 Race
Maternal mortality is an issue that isn’t often widely acknowledged, but that’s changing with the 2020 race for president. Several candidates have staked out positions on how to address the issue, and many of the senators have already sponsored or co-sponsored bills in the Senate. According to the CDC, about 700 women die every year…
