Iowa

A sign displays the names of the state's three elected public utilities commissioners outside of their Pierre office in January 2023. (South Dakota Searchlight/Joshua Haiar)

South Dakota’s Navigator pipeline decision might jeopardize Summit proposal

BY: - September 7, 2023

Utility regulators in South Dakota declined this week to overrule county ordinances that restrict carbon dioxide pipelines when they denied Navigator CO2 a permit for its project. Summit Carbon Solutions has also asked that state’s Public Utilities Commission to give it a permit despite local restrictions, including in Minnehaha County, where the restrictions were upheld. […]

A map of Summit Carbon Solutions' originally proposed carbon-capture pipeline route. (Courtesy of Summit Carbon Solutions)

Iowa judge acquits South Dakota pipeline surveyor of trespassing charge

BY: - July 6, 2023

An Iowa district court judge dismissed a trespassing charge against a carbon dioxide pipeline company’s land surveyor because there was no evidence he was told to avoid the property, according to court records. Stephen James Larsen, 29, of Arlington, South Dakota, was part of a survey group that went onto private property in Dickinson County, […]

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an Iowa organization’s challenge to a law imposing restrictions on the sale of pork in California. (Photo by Keith Weller/USDA Agricultural Research Service)

U.S. Supreme Court rejects pork producers’ challenge of California law

BY: - May 11, 2023

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an Iowa organization’s challenge to a law imposing restrictions on the sale of pork in California. The decision marks a significant defeat for Iowa pork producers who have long argued that California’s law, backed by animal-welfare advocates, would disrupt the agricultural industry by allowing states to dictate the […]

Democratic National Committee chair Jamie Harrison speaks before introducing U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Committee winter meeting on Feb. 3, 2023, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

DNC delivers blow to New Hampshire, Iowa with overhaul of primary calendar

BY: - February 6, 2023

The Democratic National Committee approved a presidential primary calendar Saturday that placed South Carolina as the first nominating state in 2024, pushing back New Hampshire and Iowa from their traditional spots in a party-wide push to diversify the early calendar. In a voice vote at the DNC’s winter meeting in Philadelphia, party members voted to […]

District Associate Judge Shawna Ditsworth is considering a request to dismiss a trespassing charge against a carbon pipeline surveyor. (Photo by Seth Boyes/Dickinson County News)

Pipeline trespassing case against SD man goes to court in Iowa

BY: - December 16, 2022

A company that wants to build a sprawling carbon dioxide pipeline in northwest Iowa should have obtained a court order before attempting to survey private land from which it had been previously barred, a Dickinson County prosecutor argued Thursday. At issue is a trespassing charge against Stephen James Larsen, 28, of Arlington, South Dakota, who […]

The Mississippi River, a source of drinking water for thousands of eastern Iowans, has PFAS, according to Iowa DNR tests.

Iowa town in talks with 3M to fix ‘forever chemical’ contamination

BY: - November 17, 2022

CAMANCHE, IOWA — A major manufacturer of toxic chemicals that persist indefinitely in the environment will pay for a new drinking water source or a water treatment system for Camanche in eastern Iowa. The town of about 4,600 residents lies across the Mississippi River from a 3M Company facility near Cordova, Illinois. The facility has […]

A farmer harvests corn near Slater, Iowa. on Oct. 17, 2020.

Climate funding could suffer in the farm bill under GOP control of Congress

BY: - November 7, 2022

WASHINGTON — Republicans who may be taking control of Congress in this week’s midterm elections have not been very specific about many policy goals—but the farm bill is an exception. Members of the GOP in the U.S. House and Senate are sending strong signals they want to strip climate funding from the massive legislation in […]

Former President Donald Trump spoke to a crowd in Sioux City Nov. 3, 2022 ahead of the midterm elections in support of U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley and Gov. Kim Reynolds.

Trump tells Sioux City crowd he’s ‘very, very, very probably’ running in 2024

BY: - November 4, 2022

Sioux City, Ia. — Former President Donald Trump, during a rally here Thursday, hinted at another run for the White House in 2024. “I ran twice. I won twice,” Trump said. “… And now, in order to make our country successful, and safe and glorious, I will very, very, very probably do it again, OK.” […]