Conservative state lawmakers threatened Thursday to withhold state funding for an Iowa community college if the school spends tax dollars on a conference for gay youths. The Des Moines Register reported that 16 Republican lawmakers released a statement threatening to vote down funding for Des Moines Area Community College, which sponsors the Iowa Governor’s Conference [...]

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller and Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald are endorsing Democrat Bruce Braley for U.S. Senate. Miller and Fitzgerald are both Democrats. They announced their support for Braley in a press release Thursday. In the statement Miller says “Braley fights for Iowa, plain and simple.” Braley announced last month that he’d seek the Senate [...]

An eastern Iowa tax preparer has been released from custody while he awaits trial on charges that he helped taxpayers falsely claim business income. Keith Rath, of Shellsburg, was arrested last week by IRS agents after a grand jury indicted him on eight counts of aiding in the preparation and presentation of a false tax [...]

CASHTON, Wis. (AP) – An Illinois man accused of stealing 21 tons of Wisconsin cheese has been arrested in New Jersey. New Jersey authorities say the 34-year-old man from Plainfield, Ill., was arrested Tuesday afternoon. New Jersey State Police Lt. Stephen Jones said Wednesday the man was driving a refrigerated truck carrying 42,000 pounds of [...]

The Iowa House approved a measure Wednesday to expand crossbow hunting of deer by allowing residents to use crossbows during the late hunting season, from Dec. 17 to Jan. 10. They would not be required to purchase a separate crossbow hunting license. Under current law, only muzzleloader and archery hunters can hunt deer during that [...]

A new rule backed by Secretary of State Matt Schultz is taking effect that allows election officials to remove people from voter registration lists if their citizenship is questioned. Schultz, a Republican, says the change is needed to reduce voter fraud, which he’s made his key issue since taking office in 2011. The rule effective [...]

Cities in Iowa have won a legal victory in a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency over wastewater treatment rules. In a ruling that documents say could save cities across the U.S. $150 billion, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down two EPA rules. The decision filed Monday affects the way cities mix [...]

Iowa’s governor has called a rare public hearing Wednesday to gather input on whether he should free an inmate widely credited with turning his life around while serving 38 years in prison for a 1974 murder. Rasberry Williams, 66, is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder after shooting a neighbor over a $30 gambling [...]

UPDATE: As Iowa’s Medicaid expansion battle heats up this week, Gov. Terry Branstad hinted at changes to his plan that may help ease some criticisms of his proposed alternative. Among those changes would be increasing the number of facilities where Iowans could seek treatment under the state alternative Medicaid program. Branstad is one of many [...]

Protesters in front of Des Moines’ main post office said the U.S. Postal Service shouldn’t end Saturday delivery. The Des Moines Register reports that the demonstrators lined Second Avenue on Sunday. Among the protesters were letter carriers, family members and other residents from around Iowa. Similar demonstrations were held across the nation. The Postal Service [...]

BRUSSELS (AP) — Feel like having chocolate at Easter in Belgium? Well, send a letter and really lick that chocolate-flavored postal stamp. The Belgian post office released 538,000 stamps on Monday that have pictures of chocolate on the front but the essence of cacao oil in the glue at the back for taste and in the ink for smell. Belgian [...]

Charges of election misconduct filed against three Council Bluffs residents have been dismissed. Albert Harte-Maxwell and his wife, Linda, were charged in September after prosecutors alleged they registered to vote even though they aren’t U.S. citizens. They hold Canadian citizenship. Their attorney, David Richter, says prosecutors moved to dismiss the charges last week. Court records [...]

  DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A single ticket sold in New Jersey matched all six numbers in Saturday night’s drawing for the $338.3 million Powerball jackpot, lottery officials said. It was the 13th drawing held in the days since a Virginia man won a $217 million jackpot Feb. 6. Thirteen other tickets worth $1 [...]

Gov. Terry Branstad is ordering flags to fly at half-staff next week to honor an Iowa soldier killed in Afghanistan. Branstad has ordered all flags in the state to be flown at half-staff from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to honor U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Steven Blass. The 27-year-old from Estherville in northwest Iowa [...]

TEXARKANA, Texas (AP) – Authorities say a northeast Texas woman recently learned a hard lesson: Don’t try to kill a snake by setting it on fire. The woman was cleaning the yard outside a home near Texarkana Wednesday night when she spotted a snake. Bowie County Sheriff’s Capt. David Grable says she poured gasoline on the [...]

No Powerball winner? It just means a bigger jackpot for the rest of us. Lottery officials say no ticket matched all the numbers in Wednesday night’s Powerball drawing, meaning the current $320 million jackpot could swell before the next drawing on Saturday. Iowa Lottery spokeswoman Mary Neubauer says the current jackpot is the sixth highest [...]

An Iowa Senate panel wants to give farmers a tax break for donating produce to food banks. A Senate Ways and Means subcommittee approved the measure Thursday. It now moves to the full committee for review. The bill would give an incentive for small farmers to donate produce by providing a 15 percent state income [...]