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Iowa lawmakers advance bill to support sexual assault survivors

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Iowa lawmakers advance bill to support sexual assault survivors


House File 705 would fund nonprofit sexual assault forensic exam centers, aiming to improve care and evidence collection for survivors.

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Iowa lawmakers advance bill to support sexual assault survivors

House File 705 would fund nonprofit sexual assault forensic exam centers, aiming to improve care and evidence collection for survivors.

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COMPLAINT. HE’S SCHEDULED TO APPEAR IN COURT ON APRIL 17TH, LESS THAN TWO WEEKS REMAIN IN THE LEGISLATIVE SESSION HERE IN IOWA AS WE TAKE A LIVE LOOK FROM THE STATEHOUSE IN DOWNTOWN DES MOINES TODAY, A BILL TO EXPAND SERVICES FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS IS MOVING FORWARD. HOUSE FILE 705 WOULD CREATE A GRANT PROGRAM TO SUPPORT NONPROFIT SEXUAL ASSAULT FORENSIC EXAM CENTERS ACROSS IOWA. SUPPORTERS SAY THE FUNDING WOULD HELP ENSURE VICTIMS HAVE ACCESS TO SPECIALIZED CARE AND EVIDENCE COLLECTION SERVICES. WHEN TYPICALLY OUR VICTIMS DON’T FEEL SEEN, THEY DON’T FEEL HEARD AND THEY DON’T FEEL RELIEVED TO JUST KNOW THAT TO MAKE IT THIS FAR, THE COMMUNITY DOES SEE THEM AND HEAR THEM. AND YOU KNOW, WE NEED YOUR HELP TO GET STARTED SO THAT WE CAN ENSURE THAT THOSE SERVICES ARE DELIVERABLE. YOU KNOW, WE CAN BUILD IT, BUT WE NEED WE NEED TO KEEP ACCESS OPEN AND AVAILABLE TO THEM BY BEING ABLE TO PROVIDE THAT. SO AND THE BILL PASSED

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Iowa lawmakers advance bill to support sexual assault survivors

House File 705 would fund nonprofit sexual assault forensic exam centers, aiming to improve care and evidence collection for survivors.

Updated: 9:29 PM CDT Apr 8, 2026

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Iowa lawmakers are advancing House File 705, a bill that would create a grant program to support nonprofit sexual assault forensic exam centers across the state. The bill passed a House subcommittee today and now heads to a full committee for further debate and a vote. It would require the attorney general’s office to contract with an Iowa-based nonprofit specializing in caring for survivors of sexual abuse or assault. Shannon Knudsen, who founded the S.A.F.E. Center of Iowa, says the funding would help ensure victims have access to specialized care and evidence collection services. “We need your help to get started so that we can ensure that those services are deliverable,” Knudsen said to lawmakers. “We can build it, but we need to keep access open and available to them.” Because this bill was filed under Appropriations, it did not have to pass by specific deadlines to stay active. The current session is set to end on April 21, which is when per diem ends for lawmakers. A statewide budget has to be passed by both chambers before lawmakers gavel out.

Iowa lawmakers are advancing House File 705, a bill that would create a grant program to support nonprofit sexual assault forensic exam centers across the state.

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The bill passed a House subcommittee today and now heads to a full committee for further debate and a vote. It would require the attorney general’s office to contract with an Iowa-based nonprofit specializing in caring for survivors of sexual abuse or assault.

Shannon Knudsen, who founded the S.A.F.E. Center of Iowa, says the funding would help ensure victims have access to specialized care and evidence collection services.

“We need your help to get started so that we can ensure that those services are deliverable,” Knudsen said to lawmakers. “We can build it, but we need to keep access open and available to them.”

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Because this bill was filed under Appropriations, it did not have to pass by specific deadlines to stay active. The current session is set to end on April 21, which is when per diem ends for lawmakers. A statewide budget has to be passed by both chambers before lawmakers gavel out.

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Iowa

Iowa State women’s basketball, home-and-home league opponents announced

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Iowa State women’s basketball, home-and-home league opponents announced


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The Iowa State women’s basketball team will face a trio of its old Big 8 opponents at home and on the road next season during conference play.

The Cyclones’ home-and-home league partners for the 2026-27 campaign are Kansas, Kansas State and Oklahoma State, the Big 12 announced June 11.

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Iowa State’s home-only opponents are BYU, Colorado, Houston, TCU, Texas Tech and Utah. The Cyclones get Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, UCF, Cincinnati and West Virginia on the road only.

The unbalanced schedule — with just three home-and-home opponents — has been in place since the league expanded to 16 teams.

It will be a pivotal season for the Cyclone program after losing nine players to the transfer portal, including stars Audi Crooks, Addy Brown and Jada Williams.

Dates, times and broadcast information will be released later this summer.

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Iowa State columnist Travis Hines has covered the Cyclones for the Des Moines Register and Ames Tribune since 2012. Contact him at thines@amestrib.com or (515) 284-8000. Follow him on X at @TravisHines21.



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Rob Sand says audit shows PBMs may be overcharging Iowa taxpayers

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Rob Sand says audit shows PBMs may be overcharging Iowa taxpayers


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State Auditor Rob Sand said pharmacy benefit managers who work with Iowa’s Medicaid program appear to be overcharging taxpayers by using prohibited pricing techniques.

But Sand said he wasn’t able to get a full picture of the financial impact to the state’s Medicaid program because the three pharmacy benefit managers that work with Iowa Medicaid did not provide certain financial records and other information his office requested.

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“We believe that Iowans deserve to know how their tax dollars are being spent and that PBMs shouldn’t be allowed to rip off taxpayers by hiding behind what they say is proprietary information,” he said at a news conference Wednesday, June 10.

At issue is the use of what is known as effective rate pricing, which Sand said allows PBMs to claw back payments previously made to pharmacies at the end of the year. That results in “spread pricing,” which the audit says occurs when the PBM receives a larger reimbursement payment from the Medicaid managed care organization it works with than the PBM pays to the pharmacy.

Sand said spread pricing is prohibited under Iowa Medicaid.

“It can inflate costs for taxpayers, reduce the quality of care and create financial hardships for pharmacies,” he said. “That’s especially true for the independent pharmacies in smaller communities.”

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Sand’s office released a report Wednesday covering transactions from 2019 to 2021. While incomplete, he said it showed the effective rate reconciliations for one of the three PBMs that works with the state totaled $100 million over that time period.

“That’s $100 million that Iowa taxpayers may have been overcharged,” Sand said. “We believe it to be even more than that because despite the fact that we made repeated requests and negotiated, the PBMs still at the end of the day withheld critical financial information.”

Sand said his office hired a firm called 3Axis Advisors that has performed similar work in other states to assist with the audit, at a cost of about $30,000.

Sand’s report recommends banning year-end reconciliations and requiring PBMs, managed care organizations and other state contractors to provide unrestricted access to information for the auditor’s office.

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The report says there should be additional regulations on PBMs to separate Medicaid payments from non-Medicaid payments and to remove pricing variability from PBM contracts.

Sand, a Democrat who is the party’s nominee for governor, earlier this year released a health care platform pledging to crack down on pharmacy benefit managers.

Last year, Iowa lawmakers passed legislation placing several new regulations on PBMs, including requiring them to pay higher reimbursement rates to pharmacies.

A federal judge partially blocked portions of the law last summer while a lawsuit is pending from a coalition of business groups. It is awaiting an appeal.

Sand praised the law as “very good” but said “I think there’s a lot more that could be done.”

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“The regulations that were contained in it would prevent some abuses,” he said. “But again, I think it’s very important to emphasize that auditors need to have access to this information to make sure that taxpayers are being protected, and they’re not being ripped off.”

Heather Nahas, a spokesperson for Gov. Kim Reynolds, said Iowa has recovered hundreds of thousands of dollars in improper fees charged to pharmacies.

“For the last several years, Gov. Reynolds and Iowa lawmakers have been leading the fight against abusive PBM practices, advancing reforms, strengthening oversight and defending those efforts against repeated challenges,” she said in a statement.

Nahas called Sand’s report “irrelevant and outdated,” saying the data he looked at does not reflect current practices at Iowa’s Department of Insurance and Financial Services or Medicaid pharmacy oversight.

Nahas said the report includes recommendations that Iowa Medicaid implemented more than three years ago.

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“The auditor may be late to the game, but he’s finally arrived at the same conclusion that Iowans, the Republican legislature, and the Reynolds administration have known for years: PBM practices demand scrutiny, transparency and reform,” she said. “The difference is we’re doing something about it.”

Sand said his efforts to gather data were delayed by resistance from the PBMs and by a Republican-passed law, Senate File 478, that blocks the auditor from going to court against other state entities to force them to turn over documents.

“It took absolutely forever to get all of this data, to go back and forth with the PBMs, to evaluate legal claims about trade secrets or about SF 478,” he said. “And so as usual with this industry everything is much murkier and slower moving than any reasonable person would expect.”

Stephen Gruber-Miller is the Capitol bureau chief for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com, by phone at 515-284-8169 or on X at @sgrubermiller.



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“Retracing the Dragoon Trail in Iowa” with Kevin T. Mason

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“Retracing the Dragoon Trail in Iowa” with Kevin T. Mason


Kevin T. Mason, author of “Retracing the Dragoon Trail in Iowa,” came to the Ames Public Library on Wednesday. Mason went to ISU as a student and now teaches at the University of Northern Iowa. He is a rural and environmental historian of the American Midwest. Mason talked about his book covering the old Dragoon Trail, which runs across Iowa. Many have probably seen the signs all over Iowa marking the Dragoon Trail.

This all started in 1835, when the Dragoons went on an expedition across Iowa to survey the land for future Americans. Dragoons were military foot soldiers who rode horses and explored the land. When the Dragoons first encountered Iowa and explored it, the Iowa they saw was very different from the Iowa we see today.

Copies of Retracing the Dragoon Trail in Iowa by Kevin T. Mason for sale at Iowa History Live Event: Retracing the Dragoon Trail held at the Ames Public Library in Ames, Iowa, June 3, 2026. (August Anderson)

The Dragoons are said to have hated Iowa. It was all marsh, full of mosquitoes, and it became unbearable in the winter. They were also said to have seen the largest herd of buffalo ever, with around 5,000 individuals. Iowa was also chock-full of prairies; however, today we have lost 99.8% of them.

Stephen Watts Kearny, one of the Dragoons, escorted settlers and projected military dominance; he took New Mexico and California in 1846. Albert Miller Lea dealt with the reconnaissance and mapping of the Dragoon Trail and published notes on the Wisconsin territory also. Nathan Boone led Dragoon patrols, stretched survey changes and charted the arterial paths of settlement; he is memorialized in Boone County, which is named after him, and he is honored as the son who set the stage for American settlement. 

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“The Dragoons are looking for a place to build a new fort,” Mason said. “They cover 1,000 miles. They’re actually going to leave, and they are going to follow the ridge between the Skunk River and the Des Moines River on their outward journey. Conveniently, we built Highway 163 right on top of it.”

The Dragoons cover in their writings, the prospect of coal, soil profiles and about the people and animals that lived here. They thought Iowa was going to become rich because of its coal, and it was going to be a great commodity. 

Mason walked the entire Dragoon Trail. It was 371 miles long. It took him 21 days to walk up the river. There was some help along the way from his wife, who followed along in her car.

“In each of these chapters, I’m trying to pull a strand from at least the Dragoons all the way forward to 2021 to tell small histories of Iowa in a hyper-connected way, which took six drafts, and I still don’t know that I did it,” Mason said. 

Author Kevin T. Mason speaks at the Iowa History Live Event: Retracing the Dragoon Trail held at the Ames Public Library in Ames, Iowa, June 3, 2026. (August Anderson)

Mason also offered an interesting snippet from his book that told the tale of Boneyard Hollow:

“Just off the river’s west bay, tucked unassumingly along the winding main road of Dolliver Memorial State Park, lies a place with a name alluding to a gristly past. Boneyard Hollow, the shallow sandstone gorge slices through the park’s northern edge, shaded by oaks and maples, often quiet, save for bird song. An ancient buffalo jump, Boneyard Hollow, is only one of Iowa’s rare surviving testament to a way of life long predicting clouds and durian tiles packing miles… Shaggy mountains. Some move, and faster than man. Bison could kill with a horn or hoof. Still, human hunger demanded hunting…” 

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Mason says that his book is a mile wide and an inch deep. One student of Mason’s said that it was a “gateway drug into Iowa history.” 

To learn more about Mason’s book, please visit his webpage.



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