logo
Rob Sand visits potential voters in Davenport

Rob Sand visits potential voters in Davenport

Yahoo15-05-2025
Voters in Davenport had an opportunity to meet with a 2026 Iowa governor candidate Wednesday Morning.
State auditor Rob Sand (D) visited Lafayette Park as he makes his way around the state.
Sand is the first high-profile Democrat in Iowa's governor's race. He promised to be a governor for everyone by focusing on public service rather than politics.
Sand said his campaign raised $2 million from 9,000 donations in the first 24 hours of entering the race.
The Democrat added he would have no problem working with Republicans if they maintain their majority in the legislature.
'I think one of the most important things we need to prioritize is restoring the power of the auditor's office so that Iowans actually know how their tax dollars are getting spent,' Sand said. 'I think knowing how your tax money is getting spent is a fundamental right and a fundamental freedom for Iowans. I also think it's important to get our economy back in shape. We're 49th in the country in economic growth, according to the Trump administration right now. That's not good enough.'
Sand said he plans to announce a schedule for 100 town hall meetings as part of his campaign.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

House Democrat: Trump ‘militarization' of cities ‘violates everything that we believe in'
House Democrat: Trump ‘militarization' of cities ‘violates everything that we believe in'

The Hill

time19 minutes ago

  • The Hill

House Democrat: Trump ‘militarization' of cities ‘violates everything that we believe in'

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday denounced President Trump's 'militarization' of cities such as Los Angeles and Washington, claiming it 'violates everything that we believe in.' MSNBC's Alicia Menendez asked Goldman if GOP lawmakers are as 'unanimously in favor' of Trump's federal takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) as the president seemingly believes. 'I would really, really hope not, because the militarization of our cities and our domestic law enforcement violates the Posse Comitatus law and violates everything that we believe in [as] Americans,' Goldman responded. 'But just as I thought there would be Republicans who would stand up for their constituents and prevent them from losing health care, prevent them from losing food benefits, prevent million — billions of dollars of offshore wind investment in their own districts, I thought they would stand up for their own districts, and they didn't,' the New York Democrat told 'The Weeknight' host, referring to provisions included in the massive spending and tax bill signed into law last month. Trump earlier this week deployed National Guard troops to the nation's capital and declared a crime emergency in the district, giving the administration temporary authority to take control over the local police force under the city's Home Rule Act. The president on Wednesday told reporters that he will seek 'long-term extensions' from Congress to lengthen the initiative. Democrats, from local officials to members of the House and Senate, have decried the move as 'unnecessary' and ' unlawful,' as data shows the crime rate shrinking. He also ordered National Guard troops and some U.S. Marines to go to Los Angeles earlier this year when protests spread throughout the city — and beyond — in opposition to the White House's robust immigration agenda, including an uptick in detainments and deportations by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Social Security has existed for 90 years. Why it may be more threatened than ever.
Social Security has existed for 90 years. Why it may be more threatened than ever.

Boston Globe

time19 minutes ago

  • Boston Globe

Social Security has existed for 90 years. Why it may be more threatened than ever.

Just as it has for decades, Social Security faces a looming shortfall in money to pay full benefits. Since President Trump took office the program has faced more tumult. Agency staffing has been slashed. Unions and advocacy groups concerned about sharing sensitive information have sued. Trump administration officials including the president for months falsely claimed millions of dead people were receiving Social Security benefits. Former top adviser Elon Musk called the program a potential 'Ponzi scheme.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Trump and other Republicans have said they will not cut Social Security benefits. Yet the program remains far from the sound economic system that FDR envisioned 90 years ago, due to changes made — and not made — under both Democratic and Republican presidents. Advertisement Here's a look at past and current challenges to Social Security, the proposed solutions and what it could take to shore up the program. The go-broke date has been moved up The so-called go-broke date — or the date at which Social Security will no longer have enough funds to pay full benefits — has been moved up to 2034, instead of last year's estimate of 2035. After that point, Social Security would only be able to pay 81% of benefits, according to an annual report released in June. The earlier date came as new legislation affecting Social Security benefits have contributed to earlier projected depletion dates, the report concluded. Advertisement The Social Security Fairness Act, signed into law by former President Joe Biden and enacted in January, had an impact. It repealed the Windfall Elimination and Government Pension Offset provisions, increasing Social Security benefit levels for former public workers. Republicans' new tax legislation signed into law in July will accelerate the insolvency of Social Security, said Brendan Duke at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. 'They haven't laid out an idea to fix it yet,' he said. The privatization conversation has been revived The notion of privatizing Social Security surfaced most recently when Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent this month said new tax-deferred investment accounts dubbed " Trump accounts " may serve as a " backdoor to privatization," though Treasury has walked back those comments. The public has been widely against the idea of privatizing Social Security since former President George W. Bush embarked on a campaign to pitch privatization of the program in 2005, through voluntary personal retirement accounts. The plan was not well-received by the public. Glenn Hubbard, a Columbia University professor and top economist in Bush's White House, told The Associated Press that Social Security needs to be reduced in size in order to maintain benefits for generations to come. He supports limiting benefits for wealthy retirees. 'We will have to make a choice,' Hubbard said. 'If you want Social Security benefits to look like they are today, we're going to have to raise everyone's taxes a lot. And if that's what people want, that's a menu, and you pay the high price and you move on.' Advertisement Another option would be to increase minimum benefits and slow down benefit growth for everyone else, which Hubbard said would right the ship without requiring big tax increases, if it's done over time. 'It's really a political choice,' he said, adding 'Neither one of those is pain free.' Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, an advocacy group for the preservation of Social Security benefits, is more worried that the administration of benefits could be privatized under Trump, rather than a move toward privatized accounts. The agency cut more than 7,000 from its workforce this year as part of the Department of Government Efficiency's effort to reduce the size of the government. Martin O'Malley, who was Social Security agency commissioner under Biden, said he thinks the problems go deeper. 'There is no openness and there is no transparency' at the agency, he said. 'And we hear about field offices teetering on the brink of collapse.' A Social Security Administration representative didn't respond to a request for comment. Concerns persist An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted in April found that an increasing share of older Americans — particularly Democrats — support the program but aren't confident the benefit will be available to them when they retire. 'So much of what we hear is that its running out of money,' said Becky Boober, 70, from Rockport, Maine, who recently retired after decades in public service. She relies on Social Security to keep her finances afloat, is grateful for the program and thinks it should be expanded. 'In my mind there are several easy fixes that are not a political stretch,' she said. They include raising the income tax cap on high-income earners and possibly raising the retirement age, which is currently 67 for people born after 1960, though she is less inclined to support that change. Advertisement Some call for shrinking the program Rachel Greszler is a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, the group behind the Project 2025 blueprint for Trump's second term. It called for an increase in the retirement age. Greszler says Social Security no longer serves its intended purpose of being a social safety net for low-income seniors and is far too large. She supports pursuing privatization, which includes allowing retirees to put their Social Security taxes into a personal investment account. She also argues for shrinking the program to a point where every retiree would receive the same Social Security benefit so long as they worked the same number of years, which she argues would increase benefits for the bottom one-third of earners. How this would impact middle-class earners is unclear. 'When talking about needing to reform the system, we need to reform it so that we don't have indiscriminate 23% across the board cuts for everybody,' Greszler said. 'We need to reform the system in a more thoughtful way, so that we are protecting those who are most vulnerable and reliant on Social Security.'

The Latest: Federal agents will patrol Washington 24/7
The Latest: Federal agents will patrol Washington 24/7

San Francisco Chronicle​

time19 minutes ago

  • San Francisco Chronicle​

The Latest: Federal agents will patrol Washington 24/7

The increased presence of local and federal law enforcement officers in Washington, D.C. has intensified in the days following President Donald Trump's unprecedented announcement that his administration would take over the city's police department for at least a month. Troops are expected to start more missions in Washington on Thursday. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to London on Thursday in a show of support for Ukraine as Trump prepares for his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. Both Zelenskyy and the Europeans have worried that the bilateral summit would leave them and their interests sidelined. GOP climate change denial continues amid soaring heat and fires Trump has called climate change a hoax — rhetoric echoed by many in the GOP — and his administration has worked to dismantle and defund federal climate science and data collection, with little to no pushback from Republicans in Congress. He's proposed to revoke the scientific finding that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare — the central basis for U.S. climate change action. He's declared a national energy emergency to expedite fossil fuel development, canceled grants for renewable energy projects and ordered the U.S. to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, aimed at limiting long-term global warming to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) above preindustrial levels. The Associated Press reached out to more than half a dozen Republicans who criticized Canada but none returned phone calls or emails. Republicans demand Canadian action on wildfires — but not on climate change Republican lawmakers are blaming Canada for not preventing and containing the wildfires whose smoke has fouled the air in their states. In letters expressing outrage and indignation, they're demanding more forest thinning, prescribed burns and other measures. They say the smoke is hurting U.S.-Canadian relations and warn that the U.S. could make it an issue in tariff talks. What they don't mention is climate change, caused primarily by burning fossil fuels like coal and gas. Scientists say that's a glaring omission that also ignores the U.S. contribution to heat-trapping gases that help set the stage for more intense wildfires. 'If anything, Canada should be blaming the U.S. for their increased fires,' said Jennifer Francis, a climate scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Maine clinics want their Medicaid funding A network of clinics that provides health care to thousands of people across Maine is expected to ask a judge Thursday afternoon to restore its Medicaid funding as the Trump administration seeks to keep federal money from going to abortion providers. Trump's ' big beautiful bill ' blocked Medicaid money from flowing to Planned Parenthood and also stopped funding for Maine Family Planning, a much smaller provider that offers health care services in poor rural areas. Anne Marie Costello, deputy director for the Center for Medicaid & CHIP Services, called the lawsuit 'legally groundless.' 'The core of its claim asks this Court to revive an invented constitutional right to abortion — jurisprudence that the Supreme Court decisively interred — and to do so in a dispute over federal funds,' Costello said in court documents. National Guard sets up outside Washington's Union Station At least two groups of Guard members were standing near Humvees outside the city's main train station as taxis and other vehicles drove by. They also stood near a tent with an anti-Trump sign hanging from it. The White House said Wednesday the number of National Guard troops in the nation's capital would ramp up and federal officers would be on the streets around the clock after Trump announced his administration would take over the city's police department for at least a month. The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits fell modestly last week Applications for unemployment benefits for the week ending Aug. 9 fell by 3,000 to 224,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday, below the 230,000 new applications that economists had forecast. These applications are seen as a proxy for U.S. layoffs and have mostly settled in a historically healthy range between 200,000 and 250,000 since COVID-19 throttled the economy in the spring of 2020. Thursday's report showed that the four-week average of claims, which smooths out some of the week-to-week volatility, ticked up by 750 to 221,750. The total number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits for the previous week of Aug. 2 fell by 15,000 to 1.96 million. Inflation surges as Trump's import taxes push costs higher The Labor Department reported Thursday that its producer price index — which measures wholesale inflation before it hits consumers — was up 0.9% last month from June and 3,3% from a year earlier. The numbers were much higher than forecasters had expected. The wholesale inflation report two days after the Labor Department reported that consumer prices rose 2.7% last month from July 2024, same as the previous month and up from a post-pandemic low of 2.3% in April. Core consumer prices rose 3.1%, up from 2.9% in June. Both figures are above the Federal Reserve's 2% target. The new numbers suggest that slowing rent increases and cheaper gas are at least partly offsetting the impacts of Trump's tariffs. Many businesses are also likely still absorbing much of the cost of the duties instead of passing them along to customers via higher prices. There's confusion over who controls Washington police The White House says Attorney General Pam Bondi is effectively in charge of the police department in Washington, D.C. But the city's police force already has a Pam at the helm — Chief Pamela Smith — and she says she only reports to the mayor. D.C. and federal officials say they are working together, but the unusual arrangement is raising questions about who gets to make decisions about police resources, personnel and policy. Trial over California National Guard deployment concludes The judge has yet to rule after a three-day trial over whether the administration broke the law by sending Guard troops to accompany immigration agents on raids in Southern California. The state argued that the deployment violated the Posse Comitatus Act, which generally prohibits military enforcement of domestic laws. Lawyers for the administration said the law does not apply because Trump called up the Guard under an authority that allows separate authority. What to know about the US-Russia summit in Alaska It's happening where East meets West, in a place familiar to both countries as a Cold War front line of missile defense, radar outposts and intelligence gathering. Whether it can lead peace in Ukraine after more than 3 1/2 years of war remains to be seen. It takes place Friday at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson outside Anchorage, according to a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning. It played a key role in the Cold War in monitoring and deterring the Soviet Union. It's Putin's first U.S. trip since 2015, for the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Because the U.S. isn't a member of the International Criminal Court, which has issued a warrant for Putin on war crimes accusations, it's under no obligation to arrest him. — Dasha Litvinova and Michelle L. Price Guard troops expected to ramp up DC missions Thursday National Guard officials say they expect troops to start doing more missions as orders and plans are being developed and more troops stage at the Guard's armory. Neither Army nor District of Columbia National Guard officials have been able to describe the training backgrounds of the troops who have reported for duty so far. While some Guard members are military police, and thus better suited to a law-enforcement mission, others likely hold jobs that would have offered little training in dealing with civilians or law enforcement. Federal agents will patrol the streets 24/7 in Washington, White House says Officials said the number of National Guard troops will ramp up and federal officers will be out around the clock after the president made the unprecedented announcement that his administration would take over the police department for at least a month. Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser is walking a political tightrope. She has called the takeover an 'authoritarian push' but also framed the infusion of officers as a boost to public safety. Hundreds of federal law enforcement and city police officers who patrolled Tuesday night made 43 arrests, compared with about two dozen the night before. Councilmember Christina Henderson downplayed these as 'a bunch of traffic stops' and said the administration is seeking to disguise how unnecessary the intervention is. 'I'm looking at this list of arrests, and they sound like a normal Saturday night in any big city,' Henderson said.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store