Iowa
State-funded temporary housing for flood victims being implemented across northwest Iowa
SPENCER, Iowa (KCAU) — Just shy of two months after the historic floods, the state of Iowa is reaching out to those affected in a big way.
“I won’t say it was easy,” said Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Director John Benson. “Because there are so many moving parts with this.”
FEMA approves $61 million for Iowans affected by severe weather
Working with FEMA, local officials and outside entities, the state of Iowa has created the Disaster Recovery Temporary Housing Program, putting affected families into RVs and travel trailers for six months at no cost.
“It takes a little bit of the stress off of them so [they] don’t have to worry about ‘where am I going to rest my head tonight?’ ‘No, I’ve got a good place to rest my head, now I can put a lot more effort into what my long-term housing solution is going to look like going forward,” Benson said.
As the number of those impacted grows, the state is prepared to temporarily house as many people as need it.
“The primary qualifier is that you’re in a county that was impacted, FEMA has been turned on, you’re engaged with the FEMA program, and that your house is uninhabitable,” Benson said. “Right now we’ve got 385 households that have applied. We’re initially planning for up to 500, and if we have to go beyond that, we’ll be more than able to accommodate that.”
153 of those applicants are from Clay County, Iowa, which is currently laying down the groundwork to move residents into the temporary homes.
“We couldn’t be more appreciative of the state because they saw the need right away,” Clay County housing team member Brittany Spieker said. “We knew that FEMA couldn’t get their trailers in as soon as we really needed them, and it’s July and August in Iowa, it’s really, really hot, with the flood mold can grow and the atmosphere and the environment can’t be the best for some people. So, absolutely, this came at the best time.”
With the first few trailers set up, Clay County is prepared to move forward in their community recovery process.
Goodwill gives large donation to American Red Cross
“We’ve had so much support from the state level, from the federal level, Red Cross, all of it, and we just worked really, really hard together,” Spieker said. “We keep hearing that we’re way further along in the disaster, and I don’t know what that means because this is our first disaster. But I’m super proud of our community and our housing team and everybody that came together to help.”
Officials expect Clay County residents to be able to move into the temporary housing in the upcoming weeks.
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Iowa
Elections live updates: Key races to watch in California, Iowa, Montana and New Jersey primaries
Live Coverage
In California, competition is fierce for the gubernatorial and Los Angeles mayoral nominations. Iowa, Montana and New Jersey have open U.S. Senate seats. In New Jersey, a silent congressman could lose his House seat.
Iowa
Iowa joins wave of states forcing porn sites to verify users’ ages
Beginning July 1, Iowans must verify they are adults to access porn websites.
How online porn is shaping a generation of young men
Early porn exposure among boys is rising. And experts say it leads to lasting struggles with addiction, mental health and relationships.
Iowa will require porn websites to verify users are at least 18 under a new law signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds.
The Hawkeye State joins at least 25 other states, including Kansas and Nebraska, in requiring age verification for adult content in an effort to prevent minors from accessing it.
House File 864 is modeled after a Texas age verification law the U.S. Supreme Court upheld in a 6-3 decision in June. The measure will apply to websites or apps if at least one-third of their content is pornographic.
Beginning July 1, the law will require the websites to verify a user’s age using government-issued identification, financial documents or other documents that are “reliable proxies for age.” Age verification may also be performed by third parties or through any “commercially reasonable and reliable method.”
The law states websites and third parties “shall not retain, sell, lease or otherwise disseminate any identifying information of an individual subject to reasonable age verification unless retention or dissemination of the identifying information is required by law or a court order.”
It also requires third parties and websites to use “reasonable methods given the person’s scope of business to secure all data collected and transmitted” during the age verification process.
Under the new law, Iowa’s attorney general can sue companies in violation of the law. Violators could face fines up to $1,000 for each time an individual accesses a site in violation of the law. Civil penalties for providers are capped at $10,000 per day.
Iowa Senate lawmakers unanimously approved the measure while the House advanced it 82-2.
Rapid Response Politics Reporter Maya Marchel Hoff can be reached at mmarchelHoff@usatodayco.com. You can find her on X (formerly Twitter) at @mmarchelhoff.
Iowa
Iowa Democratic Senate primary: Wahls, Turek make final push before election
DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa State Capitol Bureau) — Iowa’s primary election is Tuesday, and candidates across the state are making their final push to voters.
One of the most closely watched contests is the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. The winner will advance to November’s general election to compete for Senator Joni Ernst’s seat.
Iowa State Senator Zach Wahls and State Representative Josh Turek are competing for the Democratic nomination.
Wahls spent Monday in Des Moines speaking with voters about the issues they want addressed in Washington.
“It’s time for change. We’ve been talking about it from day one. Iowans have been failed by leaders in both parties for far too long,” Wahls said. “In order to get the change that we need, we need a leader and a fighter who’s willing to challenge the broken status quo and clean up the corruption in Washington DC.”
Turek toured the state during the final days of the race. He was in Sioux City Friday and said he will represent working class Iowans if elected.
“I come from a working class family, a working class community, somebody that’s gone through a lot of hardships, a lot of struggle, both on the economic and on the health care side,” Turek said. “I think what’s fundamentally wrong with DC right now is we’ve got enough millionaires up there. I’m the only one in this race that’s not a millionaire.”
For the first time in more than a decade, Iowa will have an open U.S. Senate seat.
While campaigning, candidates have heard concerns ranging from affordability and housing costs to agriculture and water quality.
Polls open Tuesday morning across Iowa.
—
Isabella Warren covers state government and politics for Gray Media-owned stations in Iowa. Email her at isabella.warren@kcrg.com; and follow her on Facebook at Isabella Warren TV on X/Twitter@isabellaw_gray, and on Instagram@IsabellaWarrenTV.
Copyright 2026 Gray Media Iowa State Capitol Bureau. All rights reserved.
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