Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds is accepting federal summer food program money in 2025, but is asking for a waiver to use it in a different way in a state program being designed.
For the summer underway, Iowa was one of 13 states that did not use federal SUN Bucks, or Summer EBT, funds for a grocery program for children in need.
Reynolds rejected the program that would have provided $29 million of federal food assistance to about 240,000 kids over the summer. Instead she provided $900,000 to expand existing state free summer meal sites.
Anti-hunger advocates delivered a petition to Reynolds last week with more than 3,500 signatures urging her to join the program in 2025.
Thursday was the deadline for states to make a decision on Summer EBT for next year. In a release, Reynolds described asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a waiver for what she said will be a better state-run program, when compared to the federal nutrition program.
Reynolds said it will expand eligibility to serve more children, provide more food and better nutrition at a lower cost, and offer a delivery option to improve access for families without transportation.
*Additionally, the number of immigrants living in South Dakota has greatly expanded, at a rate much higher than the national average over the last dozen years.
The number of immigrants in South Dakota grew by 45 percent, or 10,000 people, from 2010 to 2022. By comparison, the percent of immigrants nationwide grew by 15.6 percent over that time, South Dakota News Watch reported.
The percentage of immigrant growth in the state ranks second in the nation, trailing only North Dakota. However, the number of immigrants in South Dakota is still quite small.
Many of the new arrivals are coming from Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and they are choosing South Dakota to be near family or for job opportunities. Many work in manufacturing, transportation, health care, or social service fields.
*Voters in the Okoboji School District will decide in November whether $69 million will be spent to build new facilities.
The proposal in the school bond measure would add an addition onto the high school and build a new elementary on the west edge of Milford.
According to a school newsletter, the district has seen a 23 percent increase in enrollment over the last decade, at a time when many Siouxland districts are struggling to maintain enrollment.
Okoboji School District officials are planning to hold public meetings so people can have details, such as any impact on taxes, in the runup to the election in three months.
*Additionally, Iowans on Medicaid will no longer have to get a doctor’s prescription in order to repair a wheelchair.
The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services says it responded to concerns about barriers and delays when it determined prescriptions are no longer needed for Medicaid-funded wheelchair repairs.
Democratic Representative Josh Turek of Council Bluffs sponsored a bill last session to change the rule.
Turek said getting a prescription required an unnecessary face-to-face doctor’s visit, which meant some people would go weeks before getting repair approval.
“In the meantime, individuals like myself that use a wheelchair were completely incapacitated with no freedom of mobility or movement just essentially, just imprisoned in their own house, through no fault of their own,” Turek said.
HHS’s change to the requirement went into effect in July.
