Thursday, August 13th, 2026

Support for IPR comes from Hancher Auditorium. The 2025-20206 Broadway series has been announced and includes Kinky Boots, Clue, The Music Man, and more. Information at hansher.uIowa.edu slash Broadway. It's here first for my PR News. I'm Megan McKinney. Iowa libertarians have picked some new candidates they needed to replace for this fall's general election, and Johnson County may find a way to pass local protections for trans people despite a new state law. It's Thursday, August 13th. A city council meeting about data centers in northwest Iowa has been postponed because of safety concerns. Salix Mayor Kevin Nelson says the decision comes after death and terroristic threats were made on Facebook. They come as a community remains divided over a potential data center. Be civil towards each other and not break the law and threaten public officials. It seems like such a very basic thing to have to say. I shouldn't even have to say it, but now that's where we're at. The council was expected to vote on a one-year moratorium on data centers. Nelson says the Woodbury County Sheriff's Department is investigating. He says officials also received death threats in May after Salix annexed about 900 acres of farmland for the project. Two vacant extended state hotels in the Des Moines Metro will soon become nearly 200 units of supportive housing. Here's more from IPR's Mara Curran. Former hotels in Urbandale and West Des Moines are being modified to support people experiencing homelessness or housing instability. The nonprofit, Greater Des Moines Supportive Housing, will convert the sites to barrier-free housing and support services for people with little to no income. Des Moines Supportive Housing CEO Emily Osweiler says having affordable units and support in one place addresses two sides of the homelessness system. We as a community are not doing enough prevention and diversion, and we're not doing enough. We don't have enough affordable and supportive housing inventory. Osweiler says studies done in Polk County show gaps in homelessness prevention and recovery. She says the new sites will help people at risk of becoming homeless or those already experiencing it. I'm Mara Curran, IPR News. State law now says local governments can't add any local civil rights protections that exceed state ones. But Johnson County may still find a way to protect trans people. IPRs Eliza Billingham has more. Sex stereotyping is when one person expects another person to conform to their idea of how someone of a certain sex would talk, speak, or act. Johnson County Supervisor v. Fixma Arise is proposing an amendment to the county's civil rights ordinance to include a definition of sex stereotyping. Fixma Arise says that type of stereotyping would fall under sex discrimination in the Iowa Civil Rights Act, and therefore the amendment would fit into current state law. This was also discussed at the Transgender Advisory Committee.

It's something that they're obviously anxious to see getting passed and we'll utilize this to go throughout the county and other city councils and use as a template. Iowa City already has a similar amendment in place. The county's amendment process takes several weeks. I'm Eliza Billingham, IPR News. Iowa Libertarians have new candidates for lieutenant governor and the third district house race in November. Charles Aldrich will replace Jules Cutler as the nominee for lieutenant governor, and Jacob Hurd will take over as the third district nominee after Marco Patalia dropped out of the race this month. Iowa Libertarian Party Chair Stephanie Berlin says the party chose to nominate a new lieutenant governor because it's required for gubernatorial candidate Nicholas Globa to be on the ballot. 8,000 and changed people signed petitions to put Glouba on the ballot. It's a huge miscarriage of justice to disenfranchise that many Iowans. The state objection panel removed Cutler and Battaglia from the ballot over election paperwork in June. You're listening to Hear First from IPR. I'm Megan McKinney. Hey, thanks for listening today. How has your week been? I hope it's been good. Are you into the state fair? It opens today. I'm excited this year for a lot of different things, but I'm really looking forward to this new Parmesan ice cream. Thanks for listening. Talk tomorrow.

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