A Polk County judge has dismissed a case seeking to overturn a law denying transgender Iowans Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming surgery.
The ACLU of Iowa filed the lawsuit on behalf of two transgender plaintiffs. It targets a provision passed by the Iowa legislature in April that would allow organizations using public insurance dollars to opt-out of covering the surgery.
In his ruling released this week, District Judge David Porter stated that the case cannot move forward because the plaintiffs have not yet gone through the full Department of Human Services appeals process for assistance. The department oversees Medicaid.
In response, the ACLU has filed an emergency injunction and has appealed the ruling.
Iowa's unemployment rate remained 2.4% in June, making it among the lowest in the nation.
The rate released Friday by the Workforce Development agency ranked third in the nation, behind only Vermont and North Dakota.
Iowa's unemployment rate has been stuck at 2.4% for nearly a year.
Both the number of people working and those who are unemployed increased slightly in June from May figures.
30 years ago today, a United Airlines plane crashed-landed in Sioux City and killed 112. More than 180 survived.
Flight 232 was headed from Denver to Chicago on July 19th, 1989 when it had a hydraulic failure. This is Captain Al Haynes talking with an air traffic controller.
So we have almost no controllability. Very little elevator and almost no … we’re controlling the turns by power, we can only turn right, we can’t turn left. (0:10)
The plane crashed while trying to land at Sioux Gateway Airport, tumbled down the runway on fire and ended up in a cornfield. (sound)
Many still honor lives lost and the quick response of disaster services. Larry Finley is with the Mid America Museum of Aviation and Transportation.
They heard about the problems with the aircraft, well it started 80 miles northeast of here and we had rescue units that followed that airplane all the way back to Sioux City. (0:12)
Sioux City marks the anniversary at the museum today.
