Iowa, Cedar Rapids | featured news

IOWA CITY — As with many other businesses, Oasis Falafel has seen a dip in business during coronavirus. Yet co-owner Ofer Sivan said its hummus has been popular enough for it to be a dip in business instead of falling off a cliff.“People are like, ‘My kids won’t eat their lunch if it’s not in there,’” Sivan said.

DES MOINES — Senate Republicans pressed ahead Thursday with a plan for the state to take over the cost of mental-health services now covered by property taxes, as Democrats questioned the state’s reliability and a key House GOP leader expressed caution about taking on a new spending commitment.

Iowa Republicans continued a GOP-pressure campaign Thursday, casting a U.S. House review of a contested congressional election in Iowa’s 2nd District as a partisan power grab to pad Democrats’ narrow 219-211 majority in the House.

Sen. Joni Ernst and Rep. Ashley Hinson are teaming up to increase the availability of federal funds for child care development.Ernst on Thursday introduced the ACCESS Act — Affordable Child Care for Economic Strategies and Success — to provide grants to communities and public-private partnerships. to increase access to child care.

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Cedar Rapids woman admitted to police that she slapped, scratched, bit and used a hammer, extension cord and a remote to hit a 15-year-old girl in 2019, but she blamed the teen for being “bad” and needing the punishment.

DES MOINES — Democratic state lawmakers joined a national gun safety advocacy organization Thursday in calling on Gov. Kim Reynolds to veto legislation that would eliminate a requirement that Iowans obtain a permit to acquire or carry handguns.

DES MOINES — The Iowa House approved a sweeping education policy bill Thursday that, if it becomes law, could have a $12 million impact and delay state income tax cuts previously adopted by lawmakers.

CEDAR RAPIDS — The night Tyler S. Lee drove the wrong way on Interstate 380, crashing into northbound sport utility vehicle, his blood-alcohol level was twice the legal limit, according to a criminal complaint.

SIOUX CITY — State Sen. Jim Carlin began his transition to a staunch political conservative after going through a religious reawakening in the late 1980s. Raised in an Irish-Catholic family in the heavily Democratic state of Massachusetts, Carlin voted for home-state Gov. Michael Dukakis, the Democrat in the 1988 presidential election.

Iowa Workforce Development reported a decrease in unemployment claims between March 14 and March 20, marking the fourth consecutive week with a decline in total claims.New claims fell from 5,750 to 5,498, and continuing claims dropped from 40,145 to 38,165. It’s the first time Iowa had fewer than 40,000 continuing claims since the week of Christmas.