Recent Articles

Bettendorf's school board paid Supt. Michelle Morse $720,000 to get her to resign.

The same day that settlement was made public, the board signed off on a contract to pay her one-year interim replacement $218,000.

The huge pay-out agreement – held secret by Board President Paul Castro for nearly two weeks – indicates the board had no reason to seek to terminate the superintendent for cause, and was willing to pay Morse three year's of her salary in exchange for her resignation.

Morse had served as superintendent for the district for the past six years and had two years remaining on her contract with the district.

Iowa Capital Dispatch
July 8, 2026

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by an Iowa immigration detainee who suffered “horrific abuse” in Sudan before being jailed in the United States for two years by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa by Mutasim Ibrahim Abdoulrahman Nour against ICE and the Muscatine County sheriff, sought Nour’s immediate release from the county jail.

In dismissing the case, Chief Judge Stephanie Rose of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, ruled recently that while she “laments the horrific abuse he suffered in Sudan,” federal law and ICE policies cited by Nour do not offer him the legal refuge he now seeks.

Iowa Capital Dispatch
June 25, 2026

The federal government is taking an Iowa dog breeder to court, seeking a court order that will allow inspectors onto the property for the first time since 2024.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is suing Wuanita Swedlund of Farmington for allegedly barring federal officials from conducting unannounced inspections of her dog-breeding operations.

According to the USDA’s lawsuit, licensed breeders are required, during business hours, to allow inspectors to enter their place of business to inspect and photograph the property, the animals and business records. The lawsuit alleges Swedlund has failed to provide the USDA’s APHIS inspectors with access to her facility the last five times they have visited the Farmington operation, all of which fell between November 2025 and May 2026.