Iowa
Inside Iowa Politics: Issues to watch in 2026
DES MOINES, Iowa (Iowa State Capital Bureau) — Iowa legislators prepare for the calendar to change from December to January, they are determining their priorities for the next legislative session with the knowledge that the 2026 election year could put greater focus on what they do and do not choose to do.
Over the next several weeks, the Gray Media Iowa State Capital Bureau team will be conducting interviews with numerous Republican and Democratic legislative leaders, key industry leaders, and the Iowans who want policy changes in the year ahead.
Key Factors:
–The 2026 legislative session begins January 12, 2026.
–This will be the final session for Kim Reynolds, who plans to retire as governor when her term ends in January 2027. She has pledged to be more active with legislative leaders with property tax reform legislation.
–Governor Reynolds angered some members of her own party when she vetoed legislation earlier this year that could have made it more difficult for private companies to use eminent domain to force access on someone’s land.
Will there be any carryover from that, or will everyone involved “forgive and forget” and move on to 2026’s legislative business?
–Republicans will largely determine what gets debated since they hold nearly two out of three seats in the legislature.
–Republicans will have two new leaders: Representative Bobby Kaufmann of Wilton takes over as Iowa House Majority Leader, and Mike Klimesh of Spillville has become the new Iowa Senate Majority Leader.
Democrats will have one, as well: Representative Brian Meyer of Des Moines is the new Iowa House Minority Leader.
There are always more issues than time, ideas, priorities, or political willpower for lawmakers to address each year.
Issues to watch in 2026:
Iowa’s Finances — State leaders expect to take in around $1 billion less in revenues than expected expenses in the year ahead. That could make any new spending initiatives very difficult to achieve.
State’s Economy — Agriculture, in particular, has been struggling for the past few years. That is likely to continue in 2026. That not only makes it difficult for farm families, but it also could cause financial strain for restaurants, local governments, retail shops, equipment suppliers, and auto dealers in rural communities.
Property Tax Reform — Lawmakers could not agree on significant property tax reform legislation in 2025, but they have pledged again to take on the issue. Local leaders have warned them that if state legislators confine them too much, they will not be able to deliver services like their residents expect.
How much, if any, will lawmakers further limit the ability of local leaders to determine their property taxes in the efforts to reduce proprty tax burdens on homeowners? What additional policies could lawmakers use to incent communities to share services to reduce future demand on expenses?
Eminent Domain Restrictions — Legislation to limit the use of eminent domain by private companies may have stressed the legislature in 2025 more than any other.
Lawmakers may not be able to agree in 2026 on legislation that retroactively bans the use of eminent domain for carbon sequestration pipelines (Reminder: The Iowa Utilities Commission already granted Ames-based Summit Carbon Solutions the authority to use eminent domain when landowners in the proposed pipeline’s path don’t voluntarily reach a financial agreement with the company for access).
But could lawmakers agree to give a company more flexibility in changing the pipeline’s path to go around someone’s property who doesn’t want to grant access to someone else who does? Discussions have already been underway for weeks in preparation for January’s start to the session.
Cancer Rates — Revelations that Iowa is one of the worst states in the country for new confirmed cancer diagnoses and the fastest rate of increase in cases have alarmed many people. In 2025, legislators approved $1 million for cancer research and $20,000 for radon kits (Iowa is among the worst states in the country for radon exposure).
But health officials want more focus on what is causing Iowans to get sick with cancer. What can be done to limit new cases? And are many of these new cases the result of exposure from decades ago?
Water Quality — Iowa has a decades-long struggle with balancing efforts to make its water supply as clean as possible with the prevalance of fertilizers, pesticides, and animal waste in agriculture. Will future policy rely on voluntary measures, or will lawmakers mandate change to try to prevent some of this, especially nitrates, from entering lakes, rivers, and ponds?
Education — Republicans have used their legislative majorities to remove books from classrooms and school libraries that deal with topics like gender and sexual orientation that they deemed objectionable for children.
They have limited diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. They have also committed hundreds of millions in tax dollars to support families who want their children to attend private school.
They have significantly raised pay for many teachers. And they have changed policy to make sure that only biological girls can play girls’ sports.
Are there more changes related to funding, curriculum, or shared services that they will pursue in 2026?
Workforce — Iowa’s population has not produced the number of workers with the skills that some companies demand. Reducing immigrants who live in the state — those with or without legal status — could further stress staffing.
Can lawmakers do something to convince more potential workers to move to the state, more residents to acquire the skills that jobs demand, and more people who are not in the workforce to join it?
Copyright 2025 KTIV. All rights reserved.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – World War II veteran Laverne Severson turns 100 years old on July 14. On Thursday, family, friends and fellow veterans gathered at the Freedom Foundation in Cedar Rapids to honor and celebrate the milestone birthday.
The National World War II Museum says fewer than 1% of World War II veterans remain alive.
Laverne served as a line medic during the war and was stationed in the Philippines.
“As soon as I turned 18, it didn’t take me about a month until I was going overseas,” Laverne said.
His son, Boyd Severson, recalled stories his father shared about life at his base.
“His base over there, he told me they would get air raids every morning. The Japanese would do an air raid and they’d have to run and jump into their foxholes. And this is stuff you see in movies, and he actually lived through this,” Boyd said.
Eric Parker, assistant director of the Freedom Foundation, said veterans like Laverne deserve recognition.
“As long as we are allowed to still be graced with their presence, then we need to just soak that up and just be really thankful,” Parker said. “There needs to be a remembrance and there needs to be a legacy there that we can honor.”
Boyd said the number of surviving World War II veterans in Iowa underscores the importance of events like Thursday’s celebration.
“Slowly but surely we’re losing this generation that, from what I’ve seen, there’s 250 to 275 surviving World War II veterans remaining in Iowa, and my father’s one of them and they all should be recognized. It all should be honored,” Boyd said.
And we had to ask…what’s the secret to a century of life?
“Crackers and peanut butter in the morning for breakfast!” Laverne said.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
‘MasterChef’ winner and son rate 2025 Iowa State Fair foods
‘MasterChef’ Grant Gillon and his son Grady decide once and for all which is the best 2025 Iowa State Fair dish.
Summer at the Iowa State Fair has always been a celebration of Iowa’s appetite for fun, flavor and a little bit of culinary chaos.
On July 7, the Iowa State Fair revealed 84 new dishes served at the 200-plus food stands on the fairgrounds. And while the fair has always had an appetite for foods on a stick, novelty creations and glorious gut busters, the 2026 lineup pushes that spirit further than ever.
This year’s new foods reflect a fair in full technicolor: patriotic desserts exploding with red‑white‑and‑blue pride, global flavors stretching from Hawaii to Vietnam and over‑the‑top creations engineered for the camera as much as the palate. Strawberries dominate the sweets scene, butter becomes a starring ingredient and bison quietly emerges as the protein of the moment. Even classic comfort foods get a modern remix, whether wrapped in frybread, dipped in chocolate or topped with jalapeño heat.
Together, these dishes tell a story of a fair that’s evolving into louder, brighter and more playful dishes while still rooted in Iowa’s love of indulgence, nostalgia and big summer flavor. Here are the 10 trends defining the 2026 Iowa State Fair.
Hyper‑patriotic foods take over
This year, the Iowa State Fair celebrates America’s 250th birthday with a patriotic Fair Spirit theme that includes a massive 250-flag display, a “Spirit of ’76” historical exhibit, nightly drone shows and special events, as well as an official America 250 Tree and the Iowa Veterans Memorial Walkway on Expo Hill.
The State Fair’s 250th‑anniversary theme shows up everywhere, especially in desserts. Red‑white‑and‑blue sprinkles, flag toppers and “1776” branding dominate the fairgrounds.
Look for 1776 Dubai strawberries, dipped in a rich, creamy pistachio-tahini paste and crunchy toasted kataifi (shredded phyllo pastry) for $19 from The Strawberry Station. The Dairy Zone offers patriotic nachos, a sweet treat with waffle chips and vanilla ice cream, drizzled with cherry and blue raspberry dips, topped with whipped cream and festive red, white and blue star sprinkles for $10.
Bubbly Bar has Parmesan ice cream, a nod to an 18th-century sensation that combines the rich, nutty flavor of aged Parmesan with smooth, creamy ice cream. Bubbly layers in tart cherry and buttery pound cake for a Revolutionary-era treat for $14.
Over the Top goes patriotic with Sweet Americana, featuring strawberry shortcake, lemon bar and blueberry crisp ice creams, each topped with a shortcake cookie, a lemon bar square and chocolate-covered blueberries for $13.
Another sweet dish, the Star Spangled Frybread, comes with a sweet glaze, topped with festive red, white and blue sprinkles and finished with a light dusting of powdered sugar from Its Dough Time for $12.
On the savory side of the menu, Blue Ribbon Bar & Eatery has the 1776 Liberty Bowl with a sourdough bread bowl loaded with cheese curds, French fries and slow-roasted shredded beef, all smothered in gravy and topped with hand-breaded onion rings. Try it for $15.
This is the most overtly patriotic menu the fair has produced in years.
Chocolate‑covered everything
Chocolate is the year’s dominant sweet, whether it’s poured, drizzled, dipped or smothered.
Try Belgian chocolate-covered strawberries from The Strawberry Station for $17 or an affogato, an espresso ice cream drink drizzled with chocolate (or caramel), at the Biscuit Bar for $8.
The Iowa Specialty Crop Growers Association slathers its Strawberry Bliss in chocolate. A buttery shortbread cookie comes topped with a strawberry and a cloud of meringue. The entire creation is covered in milk chocolate, drizzled with white chocolate and finished with a sprinkle of fresh-cut strawberries. Try it for $8.
Chocolate + fruit + spectacle is a clear 2026 signature.
Sweet‑heat mashups
Spicy‑sweet combos are bigger, bolder and more chaotic than ever.
Make your dessert fiery with the Firecracker Churros from Applishus with Lola’s jalapeno and habanero pepper spice sauce, honey molasses and sugar topped with an apple butter and cream cheese dip for $10.
Maybe one of the craziest concoctions at the fair is the Cajun Cluck ’N’ Chaos, a Cajun-style chicken sloppy joe with crunchy sweet pepper coleslaw and fiery spicy pickles topped with a skewer stacked with a tangy pickled egg and extra pickles, finished with a cloud of lime-infused pickle cotton candy. It all comes on a brioche bun at Cluckin’ Coop for $14.
Cowboy Candy from Stockman’s Inn brings sweet and spicy breaded jalapenos for $5.
Whatcha’ Smokin BBQ returns with Star Spangled Swine with pork belly with an apple chipotle rub and Big Red soda glaze rolled in blue and white honey crystals for $15.
While this trend marks a continuation of the fair’s love affair with spicy‑sweet combos, this year they’re more extreme.
Cheese goes maximalist
Cheese isn’t a garnish — it’s the headliner in 2026, with dishes with the dairy product as the main event.
Start with America’s “Berry” Good Grilled Cheese from What’s Your Cheez for $16. It combines several trends with a sweet and savory grilled cheese made with caramelized brioche bread, stuffed with blueberry white cheddar, layered with tart raspberry amaretto jam and blueberry bourbon jam, then stuffed with crispy candied pork belly that has a touch of sweet heat. Patriotic, sweet and savory, maximalist and cheesy all in one dish.
Cheese takes center stage with the Mozza‑Tini from DG – Destination Grille for $10. These hand-breaded gluten-free mozzarella sticks come with warm vodka sauce, jalapeno ranch drizzle and fresh parsley. Spicy and sweet come together with cheese.
The garlic dill pickle cheese curds from Brad & Harry’s Cheese Curds for $9 combine the food stand’s two most popular flavors, garlic and dill pickle.
Strawberries are the star fruit
Strawberries appear in more new food dishes than any other fruit. Often, they are paired with chocolate or patriotic themes.
The 1776 Dubai Strawberries at The Strawberry Station, the Strawberry Bliss at the Iowa Specialty Crop Growers Association and Sweet Americana at Over the Top are just some of the dishes offered at the fair.
This mirrors national trends. Strawberries are having a moment.
Global fusion expands
Hawaiian, Vietnamese, Salvadoran and Mexican influences make this the fair’s most international menu yet.
New dishes include Saigon birria pupusa from Saigonais Cuisine for $10. A pupusa comes filled with pho-braised brisket and melted cheese, served with a hoisin birria consommé for dipping. “Just as Iowa’s heritage has been built by generations of people bringing their own stories and traditions to the table, the Saigon birria pupusa brings Salvadoran, Vietnamese and Mexican flavors together in one dish. It is a tribute to the fair spirit — a celebration of unity, heritage and the American tradition of creating something greater together,” the fair said of the dish.
A taste of Hawaii brings spam musubi to Kama’aina Grill for $5. This fusion food combines American spam with Japanese musubi (rice ball) techniques. The stand also has Kama’aina Bento for $23. The plate lunch from Hawaii features teriyaki beef, fried saimin noodles, spam or garlic chicken served with rice and macaroni salad.
Bao Bao’s Tanghulu brings tanghulu, a Chinese street food of candied fruit on a stick, for $12.
GoldenKDog brought Korean hot dogs to the fair in 2025. This year, they introduced the Cinnamozza Kdog, a mozzarella cheese Korean corn dog dunked in salted butter, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and topped with Cinnamon Toast Crunch for $18.
Dessert spectacle rules
Desserts are bigger, brighter and built for social media. These over-the-top dishes are shareable, both with another person and on Instagram.
Oreo Overload Nachos from Dairy Zone for $10 start with waffle chips piled around vanilla ice cream, hot fudge topped with crushed Oreo cookies for dipping and whipped cream. Dairy Zone suggested dipping the waffle chips into the sundae.
The deep-fried cookie dough pie from Minneapple Pie comes with vanilla or cinnamon ice cream for $12.
The walking taco goes dessert-style with the walkin’ Oreo sundae for $9 from Wonder Bars.
If combining savory and sweet is your thing, try the Ultimate Bacon-Brisket Mac & Cheese Donut. The $7 snack from The Rib Shack starts with mac and cheese loaded with bacon and brisket that’s breaded in a cake-style coating and finished with a sweet barbecue glaze. Not enough? It’s topped with chopped brisket and garnished with a slice of fresh jalapeno. You can nab six for $30.
Dessert nachos, dessert doughnuts and dessert frybread add up to the fair pushing “dessert as spectacle.”
Bison and pork dominate the protein scene
The Iowa Pork Producers lead the way with pork dishes at the Iowa State Fair. The fair estimates it sells 46-50,000 of its famous Pork Chop on a Stick during the 11-day event. But save room for some new riffs on pork that appear in 2026, including the Porky Pileup at the Stockman’s Inn for $15. The dish features fries layered with pulled barbecue pork, mac n’ cheese and cowboy beans topped with bacon bits.
Kalua pork appears at Kama’aina Grill as a plate lunch with rice and macaroni salad for $18, as well as in a poke bowl for $23.
DG – Destination Grille has the Porky Parm Gnocchi, a gluten-free potato gnocchi and Graziano sausage tossed in a house-made AE cream Parmesan sauce with a pesto drizzle and shaved Parmesan, all topped with an America 250th year flag and a souvenir piggy pal for $14. Note that everything at DG – Destination Grille is gluten-free.
Bison, though, is emerging as the breakout starring protein. Newcomer Sleepy Bison Grill has a bison burger for $13, a bison cheesesteak slider for $11 and bison nachos for $14.
Butter becomes a flavor
The Iowa State Fair is famous for its Butter Cow made with approximately 600 pounds of low-moisture, pure cream Iowa butter. In 2011, the fair turned food media on its collective head with the deep-fried butter on a stick from concessionaire Larry Fyfe. The indulgent dish featured frozen butter dipped in honey-cinnamon batter, deep-fried and topped with a powdered sugar glaze.
In 2026, butter is a micro-trend, with the butter-dipped ice cream cone from Coney Corner for $6 that swaps out chocolate for a buttery hard shell encasing vanilla soft serve.
That Cinnamozza Kdog comes with a salted butter dunk. And buttery desserts feature shortcake, pound cake and even Biscoff cookie butter cheesecake funnel cake from McGrath’s Funnel Cakes for $15.
Chaos foods define the fair
Maximalist, hybrid, over‑the‑top creations are now a fair signature, and the new dishes in 2026 do not disappoint. The Cajun Cluck ’N’ Chaos at Cluckin’ Coop and Ultimate Bacon‑Brisket Mac & Cheese Donut at The Rib Shack certainly fall into that category.
One of the most expensive dishes at the Iowa State Fair brings caviar and chicken nuggets from JR’s SouthPork Ranch for $99 that blends childhood nostalgia with pure luxury. JR’s calls it “a little bit county fair, a little bit Champagne lifestyle and 100% conversation starter.” Coqodaq, a Korean-inspired fried chicken restaurant in New York, served this dish during the 2025 U.S. Open, and McDonald’s followed with a Valentine’s Day special that combined McNuggets with caviar. Now, the trend hits Iowa.
Sign up for our dining newsletter, Table Talk DSM, which comes out on Wednesday mornings with all the latest news on restaurants and bars in the metro. You can sign up for free at DesMoinesRegister.com/tabletalk.
Susan Stapleton is the entertainment editor and dining reporter at The Des Moines Register. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, or drop her a line at sstapleton@gannett.com.
One Iowa high school athletic department is facing extremely low numbers in multiple sports, prompting school officials to begin searching for programs to share with.
Exira-EHK High School has already cancelled the upcoming 2026 Iowa High School Athletic Association varsity football season, going instead with a junior varsity-only series of games. According to a report by Western Iowa Today, they have also shared softball with Audubon.
The Exira-EHK/Audubon softball team is currently ranked No. 1 in Class 1A of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. A total of 11 of the players on the 23-girl team are from Exira-EHK. They are 15th in the latest High School On SI Iowa Top 25 State Rankings as they prepare for postseason play.
Enrollment For Exira-EHK School District Continues To Drop
Enrollment at the high school level for the Spartans is down by over 20 students, with the expectation for even more of a drop in overall enrollment moving into the 2026-2027 school year.
Tom Petersen, the Exira-EHK athletic director, was part of a community-wide meeting earlier this week alongside Trevor Miller, the school superintendent.
“I’m going to continue to campaign, keep working (to get more kids out),” Petersen said. “It’s just part of being an AD and a coach. I have tried every scenario that I can to try and make it that our kids could go and play varsity (football).
“It’s not the state’s fault, it’s not our fault; it’s the middle of a two-year cycle. I coached here for 20 years in football and it’s crushing (to not have a program).”
Petersen also mentioned during the meeting that he is struggling to fill several coaching vacancies, including the head boys basketball position. He said that they have received zero applications for that coaching vacancy.
Spartans Currently Share Multiple Sports With Audubon
Along with baseball and softball, the Exira-EHK school district also shares girls basketball, boys wrestling, girls wrestling, boys tennis and girls tennis with Audubon. Petersen is proposing to the school board a share agreement for boys basketball, boys track and field, and girls track and field, in addition to the other sports.
Last fall, the Spartans went 4-5 overall, as they won 22 games over a stretch of seasons after going 0-7 in 2020. Exira-EHK was 12-1 in 2013 and had three consecutive years of at least eight wins after that.
The schools are a combination of the towns of Exira, Elk Horn and Kimballton.
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