DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa Capitol Bureau/KCRG) – The 2025 Iowa legislative session is now over. Lawmakers worked into the night Wednesday and into the morning Thursday to wrap up and head home for the year two weeks after their scheduled end date. Eminent domain dominated the final week of the legislative session. 12 senators gave their leadership an ultimatum that they wouldn’t vote for any budgets until the bill was debated on the floor. That led to heated arguments among Republican legislators on the senate floor. The eminent domain bill passed with the help of Democrats. The final day of the session saw various budgets and last minute policy proposals voted on. Wednesday, the Iowa House and Senate passed a bill cutting unemployment insurance taxes. Republicans argue that the state was over collecting from employers. They say the move will save businesses more than $1 billion dollars.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Iowa’s Workforce Development jobs report shows unemployment is rising slightly as more people are looking for a job. The state’s workforce grew by 5,000 people in March. Unemployment grew by 0.1 percent to 3.5 percent in April. That’s 2,000 more Iowans looking for work compared to March. Meanwhile, the U.S. unemployment rate stayed at 4.2 percent in April. Iowa added 5,200 jobs in March, but that total number is down by 3,100 compared to a year ago. That mostly comes from a drop in 7,400 manufacturing jobs.
DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) – A bill requiring public schools to let private school students participate in their sports teams has passed the Iowa House and Senate. The bill states that if a student at a private school lives within the district or a neighboring district, and the private school has not offered that sport in the previous two years, then the student will be allowed to compete on the public school’s sports team. Iowa lawmakers passed the bill Wednesday. It now heads to the Governor’s desk.
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (KCRG) – One year after University of Northern Iowa (UNI) started its nursing program, it’s ready to expand. The program purposefully welcomed only 25 students for each semester this school year to make sure everything went smoothly in its first year. Officials expect to welcome 70 students this upcoming fall semester. Back in August, UNI unveiled its program along with its new state-of-the-art facility in the remodeled women’s gymnasium, as part of Phase I of its construction plans for the program. Now Phase II of construction is complete. Teachers are able to create life-like injuries, adjust breathing and circulation patterns and trigger bodily responses like a seizure that require the students to quickly react. Construction has started on Phase III, and UNI said its set to be completed in December.
