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PM NEWS 2.23.23

Iowa State health officials say starting in April, they will no longer require positive COVID-19 tests processed in clinical labs to be reported to the state.

Officials say they feel this type of reporting is no longer accurate. That’s due to the increase in use of at-home rapid tests, which are not required to be reported.

Starting April 1, the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services’ COVID-19 reporting dashboard will be replaced with weekly respiratory virus surveillance reports.

The state will continue to offer free at-home testing kits from Test Iowa through the rest of the year.

The move comes as the federal government is set to end its national public health emergency on May 11.

A crash in Wayne County yesterday afternoon killed a teenager. Two cars collided on Hwy 35 four miles south of Winside. Investigators say weather conditions and the lack of seat belt use were factors in the fatality.

Snow-covered roads in north Iowa and icy pavement in central Iowa made for a busy 14 hours for the Iowa State Patrol.

KCCI Television in Des Moines reports between 10 a.m. Wednesday and midnight, troopers responded to 134 calls, including 48 crashes. Ten of those crashes involved injuries.

The National Weather Service says Sioux City received between one and 2.5 inches of snow. In contrast, Sioux Falls received more than a foot of snow and is currently tied for the third snowiest season on record, with more winter to go.

Gun rights advocates are backing a bill that would prevent state government agencies and pension funds from doing business with investment firms that boycott the gun industry. More information on a rally at the Iowa Statehouse can be found in a report by Radio Iowa.

Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley says House Republicans are considering legislation to restrict gender-affirming medical care for transgender kids and teens.

His comments to reporters today came shortly before the House Government Oversight Committee held a hearing to ask questions of doctors who provide gender-affirming care. Grassley says he wants to see the results of the hearing.

“We’ve wanted to make sure that we’re giving opportunity for people to come in and express…why they would be doing what they’re doing, give our opportunity for legislators to weigh in, ask questions. And then if we want to develop policy based on that, we’ve done our diligence to make sure we’re prepared.”

Advocates for LGBTQ Iowans point out that gender-affirming care is supported by all major American medical organizations. They say restricting such care would be dangerous because it would exacerbate the mental health crisis among Iowa’s transgender youth.

Republicans on an Iowa Senate panel have advanced a bill that would prohibit religious discrimination against adoption agencies.

The conservative Christian groups that support the bill say it’s needed to protect those who run adoption agencies from having to violate their own religious beliefs. That would include being able to deny adoption or foster placements to same-sex couples.

Becky Strope-Boggus of Des Moines and her wife are foster and adoptive parents. She says their adopted daughter was abused by her father and was very afraid of all men.

“If our daughter’s welfare would’ve been handled by an organization that was allowed to refuse to place her with a lesbian couple because of a deeply held religious belief, her repeated cycles of trauma would’ve continued, and it would’ve prevented the miles of progress she’s made with our family.”

Other LGBTQ parents at the subcommittee hearing today (Thursday) said there’s a shortage of foster parents in Iowa, and the state should be welcoming to all potential foster families.