From Gun Safety to Pollution Control: An Insightful Discussion on Iowa’s Recent Regulations and U.S. Supreme Court Decisions

This week, several new laws took effect in Iowa. Stephen Gruber-Miller from the Des Moines Register provides a rundown of these new regulations, which were reported on our show. Host Ben Kieffer then discusses a recent declaration by the U.S. Surgeon General with Helen Eddy, the Public Health Director of Polk County. It has been almost a year since Polk County launched their “Talk It Up, Lock It Up” gun safety campaign, and we hear from Iowans Joe Gorton and Richard Rogers who have differing views on treating gun violence as a public health threat.

Later in the episode, University of Iowa professors Peter Thorne and Shannon Roesler dive into the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to temporarily block the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Good Neighbor” air pollution rule. This marks the third consecutive year that the SCOTUS has halted the EPA’s pollution control efforts.

The guests on the episode include Stephen Gruber-Miller, a Statehouse reporter from the Des Moines Register, Helen Eddy from the Polk County Health Department, Richard Rogers from the Iowa Firearms Coalition, Joe Gorton from the University of Northern Iowa, Peter Thorne from the UI College of Public Health and Shannon Roesler from the UI Charlotte and Frederick Hubbell Professor of Environmental and Natural Resources Law.