Iowa

Of the 99 counties in Iowa, 66 currently lack access to OB-GYN and birth services. At the state Board of Regents meeting on Nov. 9, Kim Hunter, interim chief executive officer, chief nurse executive, and interim associate vice president of UI Hospitals and Clinics, said this lack of resources is only getting worse.

Heard this mentioned in a podcast and thought it really important to share in light of the defacto abortion ban that was just signed into law in Iowa and has no rules in place to govern its implementation we're about to see this problem get even worse.

Women can't vote you out of office if they all flee the state!

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - The number of ways to consume legal THC in Iowa is growing. Bars and liquor stores are now offering drinks infused with THC, the main psychoactive compound in marijuana and hemp.

Michael Williams said he’s a regular at Old Neighborhood Pub in Cedar Rapids. When the bar started carrying drinks infused with THC, he gave them a try.

“My review of it is, in and of itself, [it] is a little on the relaxing side,” said Williams.

That was after he took a sip; before there was some uncertainty about what he was trying.

“I asked quite a few questions, you know, to get an educated understanding of what [the drinks] were,” he added.

In 2019, Governor Reynolds signed into law the Iowa Hemp Act, which was then approved by the USDA in 2020. With that law, hemp plants are no longer controlled substances and products derived from hemp are legal. According to the Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, hemp plants must have THC levels of 0.3% or less or be destroyed.

In January, Climbing Kites registered as a business in Iowa. The company proclaims it is “Iowa’s first cannabis-infused social beverage.” It also appears to have opened the floodgates.

“We actually got [THC drinks] before we were able to put them on our shelf. But we were able to get our permit, I think it was three weeks ago. We’ve actually had two orders go through already,” said Andrea Van Hoeck, owner of Old Neighborhood Pub.

Jason Wilkerson, owner of Local Craft Cellar, said the products have proven “extremely popular.”

“Collectively, I would say that Climbing Kites brand is outperforming 90% of our craft beer brands,” said Wilkerson. “And we sell a lot of craft beer.”

Recreational marijuana is still illegal in the state of Iowa, but Williams and Van Hoeck hoped THC drinks were indicators of change.

“Everybody around us right now is legal except for Iowa,” said Van Hoeck, adding, “Nebraska is working on it.”

Williams said the drinks were “baby steps” toward marijuana legalization. “Our state is so behind on what most of the country is doing at this point in time.”

Copyright 2023 KCRG. All rights reserved.

House File 732, known as the "fetal heartbeat bill," would ban abortion once cardiac activity is detected. Doctors say this happens around six weeks of pregnancy.

They knew they had to get this passed before the election so Iowa wouldn't have a chance to vote on the issue.

"Additionally, Mount Trashmore has monitoring wells that collect and handle the leachate — a sort of garbage juice created when organic matter breaks down — in a sanitary manner."

Delightful!

View from Waterloo's newly lit 4th Street Bridge. Happy 4th everyone!

Something somewhere between breakfast cereal and dog food

Far from it, my friend

Was that sound:

1. Thunder
2. Fireworks
3. Gunshots

In all seriousness, have fun and be safe this weekend everyone!

Seriously, these past few days have been bad enough as someone without breathing issues. I feel terrible for anyone that has any issues breathing.

Iowa already charges EV owners a $130 registration fee. Now they will start charging a $0.026 tax on EV charging at charging stations.

I'm not sure what I'm hoping to get out of this, but I thought I might shout into the void for a moment. I'm a lifelong Midwesterner, but I've always tended to live in larger, college-type cities with a notable liberal leaning. Two and half years ago, my partner and I moved to central Iowa so I could return to college and get my degree. This was my decision, as was the choice of school. There is a good, relatively inexpensive degree program for an uncommon field, and my partner has friends in the area. I love our home and my school, those choices I don't regret.

But, I hate Iowa so much. It's so overwhelmingly mediocre. Except for the politics, which frankly are abhorrent and are getting worse by the day. It's a cultural wasteland, even in a college city. Even on campus, I don't think Ive ever been anywhere with so many white people, and I say that as a white person. The restaurants have little variation, the shops are all big boxes. Even Des Moines is only the size of Madison, WI, and without hardly any of the personality (yes, the East Village is nice and we love the botanical garden, but that only goes so far). The landscape is flat and unchanging, and the only beauty, the prairie, has almost entirely been stripped away to plant more corn. So much corn across unending flat, treeless terrain.

It also doesn't help that I have been completely unable to make any fiends here. Friendly acquaintances, sure, but not someone I can grab a beer with and kvetch about life with. I'm in my early 40's, as is my partner, and we are happily child-free and non-religious. So, there go two major ways of meeting people around here: kids and church. My partner is from Iowa, although not this area, and has a circle of 5 or so guys that have been friends since college that live in the area and they get together weekly to play games. I am welcome to join them whenever, and I do sometimes, but they are people with his interests, not mine. I've tried Meetup a few times, alone and with my partner. I'm a student, but 20 years older than all my fellow students, and with life and work experience closer to my professors, who I'm not allowed to be friends with. All our neighbors are retired (or close) conservatives with whom we have a polite but distant relationship. I've looked for crafting communities to try to find a hobby group, but only find old lady quilting clubs meeting in churches in the small towns nearby. I'm outgoing and talkative, and have a variety of interests, so I'm not used to being in an environment where I literally can't make any friends.

I'm going crazy in a place I feel like an alien in. I've never been so lonely and felt so isolated in my life, even during COVID. I still have a few years here while I finish my degree, so I have to make peace with my choice and find a way to exist here. Surely there has to be a way for a liberal person to find a community in central Iowa?

cross-posted from: https://midwest.social/post/823962

Tenderized pork tenderloin, double breaded with seasoned flour and saltine cracker crumbs.

My lawn needed this so bad, it was getting kinda crunchy.

Despite appointing two of the three judges siding in favor of Reynolds' effort to reinstate a 2018 abortion ban, Iowa Supreme Court split on a ruling, leaving the ban blocked.

Upside: This is a solid win for Iowans and their reproductive rights.

Downside: The Iowa Democratic Party was utterly dependent on this as a wedge issue last election cycle and has proven inept at adapting strategy; unless they can find a way to win over voters, they're likely going to get creamed harder.

more fitting of the swine republic

There was supposed to be an image with this but I'm getting a timeout error :(

Hey all, ex-Iowan here. How's Davenport doing? It's been all over the news, anyone local there know how people are dealing with it?

I've just created an account here after the Reddit API pricing stories started going around. Not really ditching Reddit yet, but thought I'd start looking at what else is out there.