An Iowa law that bans abortion as early as six weeks of pregnancy will go into effect at 8 a.m. on Monday, July 29.
A district court judge filed a motion Tuesday to dissolve a temporary injunction next week. That legal action followed an Iowa Supreme Court decision last month that found the law, which bans abortion when cardiac activity is detected, can go into effect.
When the law does go into effect, it makes Iowa the most recent state to severely restrict the procedure, particularly since a June 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
That can be as early as six weeks of pregnancy - or before many people know they’re pregnant. It does have exceptions for rape, incest and life-threatening situations.
Planned Parenthood, which operates four abortion clinics in the state, estimates it will block the vast majority of abortions in Iowa.
In a Tuesday statement, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said, “Today is a victory for life. There is nothing more sacred and no cause more worthy than protecting innocent unborn lives.”
Additionally in Nebraska, a special session of the Legislature will gavel in on Thursday, as Governor Jim Pillen continues to push comprehensive change to the state’s property tax functioning.
Pillen at the beginning of the 2024 legislative session let state lawmakers know that property tax reform was a key issue for him. He has expressed disappointment that no such measure passed.
In a release this week, Pillen said, “The health of Nebraska’s economy is at stake when state senators return to Lincoln for the special legislative session I’m convening July 25. Our decades-long property tax crisis must be resolved. Not getting the job done is unacceptable,”
He has joined with state senators Lou Ann Linehan and Robert Clements in presenting in what Pillen calls a sweeping plan for property tax reform.
The proposal would slash property taxes paid by Nebraskans by an average of 50 percent, which if enacted would be the largest property tax cut in state history.
As lawmakers discuss ways to add other taxes to replace those by any lessened property taxes, Pillen says some sales tax increases should be off the table.
For the governor, those include no sales taxes on food, on medicines used for treating people, and no sales taxe on services or items that are exempt in all other states.
*In other news, the Federal Emergency Management Agency continues to open Disaster Recovery Centers in flood-impacted Northwest Iowa.
A sixth such center will open in Sheldon on Wednesday, July 24.
Over the last three weeks, FEMA has opened centers in towns heavily impacted by flooding that began in late June. At those centers, FEMA workers can explain disaster assistance programs and help people complete or check the status of applications for federal assistance.
The most recent center was added in Cherokee on Saturday, and the others are located in Spencer, Rock Valley, Rock Rapids, and Estherville. Some Siouxland rivers are still running high.
Additionally, those FEMA centers will be holding some special sessions to help people who fear they lost family treasures in flooding.
FEMA Spokeswoman Tiana Suber said people may be concerned about damaged photos, books and other family treasures or heirlooms may have been damaged too.
She said rather than throwing those mementos away,
FEMA preservation professionals at the centers will hold workshops on how to clean photographs, and preserve books, documents, electronic media and textiles.
The demonstrations are free and will be in Estherville on July 27, Spencer on July 28 and 29, Rock Rapids on July 30 and 31, and in Rock Valley on August 1 and 2.
*After the Sunday announcement that President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential contest, there was speculation about how wide open the nominee selection process might be at the convention next month.
A Sioux City delegate to the Democratic National Convention on Monday morning threw her support to Vice President Kamala Harris. As the day went on, Democratic lawmakers, organizers, and potential rivals largely rallied around the candidacy of Harris.
By Monday evening, all of Iowa's 40 delegates to the convention agreed to back Harris as the party’s new nominee.
South Dakota Democratic Party Director Dan Ahlers said many in the delegation look favorably upon Harris. He said he expects the convention will have an orderly process to pick the nominee to go up against Republican Donald Trump.
