< All Tracks
Policy
The latest issues positioned to drive big change.
Previous Sessions
Policy Articles
-
There were swift and loud demands for change to laws and practices across Iowa in the wake of George Floyd's death. How much progress has been made and what will it take to accomplish even more lasting change? Panelists include: Stacey Walker, Linn County Supervisor; Bruce Teague, Mayor, City of Iowa City; Betty Andrews, President of Iowa-Nebras...
-
The COVID-19 pandemic created instantaneous disruption and market changes for food producers and suppliers. From massive plant shutdowns, to major market disruption, the food industry changed quickly. What can be done to make the food system -- which Iowa has a major role in -- into more of a responsive system able to support individual consumer...
-
Presentation of Iowa's COVID-19 data has undergone several changes since the COVID-19 pandemic began in Iowa in March. What happens when these changes and corrections challenge public confidence in the data? Panelists include: Sara Willette, Iowa COVID-19 Tracker; Dana Jones, Nurse Practitioner, University of Iowa; Dr. Kelly Baker, Assistant Pro...
-
While significant transgender rights were secured in a court battle, the challenges against LGBTQ rights continue in Iowa in the most recent legislative session when more than a dozen bills seeking to undermine LGBTQ rights were introduced, with bills seeking to require schools to seek parent authorization to present materials on gender and sexu...
-
Whether it's felon voting rights, disproportionate incarceration of persons of color, comprehensive criminal justice reform has been a challenge for local and state leaders in Iowa. What needs to be done to make serious progress on criminal justice reform in Iowa? Panelists include: Dr. Beth Skinner, Director of Iowa Department of Corrections, D...
-
Newsrooms in Iowa and across the country face unprecedented challenges as business models meet global pandemics, social unrest and a large political chasm. A group of Iowa media leaders will discuss what this means for Iowans, public access to information and more. Panelists include: Adam Carros, News Director for KCRG-TV9, Carol Hunter, Executi...
-
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds joins The Gazette Executive Editor Zack Kucharski to discuss the state's ongoing COVID-19 response, the state's economy, racial justice and other topics.
This Q&A was part of the 2020 Iowa Ideas Conference presented by ITC and held Oct. 15-16, 2020. This session originally occurred at 12:30 p.m. on Oct. 15, 2020. ...
-
CEDAR RAPIDS - Technology has made it so the plight of Black Americans no longer can be ignored. 'It is certainly a time where the cellphone is really one of the greatest civil rights tools there is,” said Betty Andrews, president of the Iowa-Nebraska chapters of the NAACP. 'The fact that we now - through video - can put some footage in front of...
-
CEDAR RAPIDS — Awareness of racial disparities and inequities in Iowa's criminal justice system is growing but change is slow in coming in a state that is 'Iowa nice' but has data that says otherwise, according to panelists who drilled into the issue Thursday during The Gazette's Iowa Ideas conference. Beth Skinner, director of the state Departm...
-
The push to release inmates to protect both free and incarcerated populations from COVID-19 raises questions about who we send to jail and why. Since the 1970s, the rate of incarceration in the United States has increased fourfold, according to the Vera Institute, an independent not-for-profit national research and policy organization in the Uni...
Iowa Ideas is free to all attendees. Join the conversation!
Register for Iowa Ideas
