Media groups sue Reynolds over open records law - Iowa Public Radio
Friday, December 17
10 a.m. - Media groups sue Gov. Reynolds over open records law
Three media organizations and their reporters sued Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on Thursday, alleging she has repeatedly violated the state’s open records laws by ignoring requests for government records.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa is representing Laura Belin, who operates the left-leaning Bleeding Heartland blog; Randy Evans, executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council; and Clark Kauffman, a reporter for the Iowa Capital Dispatch.
The reporters say they have tried to get public records from Reynolds’ office starting as early as April 2020 without success, despite waiting for months and, in some cases, well over a year. Often, the governor’s office didn’t acknowledge the records requests or respond to inquiries.
The lawsuit seeks an order finding that Reynolds’ office violated the law, compelling her office to provide the requested records to the reporters and an order for the governor’s office to comply with future requests in a timely manner.
A spokesman for the Republican governor did not immediately respond to a request to comment on the lawsuit.
Iowa’s Open Records Law is designed to guarantee the public has access to the public records of government bodies at all levels, with no exception for the governor’s office. The law does not allow public officials to delay access to records for an unreasonable amount of time.
Reynolds also has been seeking to dismiss lawsuits filed by Utah attorney Suzette Rasmussen, who asked for documents from Reynolds’ office and the Iowa Department of Public Health in March that included information about the state’s contracts with Utah-based Nomi Health for COVID-19 testing. Reynolds and the health department provided information months later, after the lawsuit was filed, then argued the cases were moot because the state complied.
8 a.m. – Iowa dentists ask state to add more to Medicaid budget for dental care
Iowa dentists are asking the state to add more than $30 million to the Medicaid budget for dental care.
Laurie Traetow is the executive director of the Iowa Dental Association. At the governor’s public budget hearing Thursday, she said the amount dentists get paid for treating patients who rely on Medicaid for their insurance has been the same for 20 years.
“For reference, dental Medicaid rates in Iowa now only reimburse between 30 cents to 40 cents for each dollar of care provided. Due to the ongoing underfunding of this program, Iowa has seen a decrease in dentists taking on new Medicaid patients, which creates access to care issues for the children and adults receiving Medicaid dental benefits.”
Traetow says patients often have to travel to get dental services and are put on long waitlists
The state of Iowa has a large budget surplus, and Republican leaders are advocating for using that for more tax cuts.
8 a.m. – Reynolds says next legislative session is opportunity for tax cuts
Gov. Kim Reynolds says she thinks the next legislative session is an opportunity for “generational tax relief.”
At her public budget hearing Thursday, several business groups and others asked Reynolds to use the state’s budget surplus to enact sweeping income tax cuts on top of those passed earlier this year.
Reynolds says she wants to send that money back to taxpayers in the form of tax cuts.
“We’re not competitive. We’re not near where we need to be. I’m looking forward to working with you and the legislature in really passing generational tax relief. Which I believe we have the capacity and we absolutely should be moving in that direction.”
Reynolds and other top state Republicans have not yet released specific plans for tax cuts. Democrats say any tax cuts should be targeted to middle and lower income Iowans.
Business groups also asked for corporate tax cuts, but Republican leaders have said they’d like to reform corporate tax credits first. The next legislative session is scheduled for Jan. 10.
8 a.m. – Iowa universities to face off at championship game Saturday
Two Iowa universities will face off at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Football championship Saturday.
This is the first time Morningside University in Sioux City and Grand View University in Des Moines will vie against each other for the title.
Morningside students and faculty cheered for their football team as they hit the road for Durham, North Carolina Tuesday.
Junior Garrett Arbuckle was among the over 60 fans gathered to send off the team. “The atmosphere on campus since last Saturday when we won against Northwestern has been pure and utter excitement. Everyone’s ready to get done with the semester and get out to North Carolina to support Mustang football.”
This is the third time in the last four years Morningside has played in the title game. It will be Grand View’s first appearance since winning the championship in 2013.
Arbuckle says he’s excited to know the title will be coming home to Iowa either way, but he hopes it ends up in Sioux City.
The game starts at 6 p.m. at Durham County Memorial Stadium.
source: https://www.iowapublicradio.org/ipr-news/2021-12-17/daily-digest-december-17-2021
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