The past seven days were filled with decisions from the national to the campus level includng budget cuts to the Iowa’s Regent universities. 

To keep up with Student Government, the Iowa legislature and more, this is a rundown of the past week of content from the politics and administration desk. Click on the headlines to read the full stories. 

This week in: National news

A year in office: Notable moments from Trump’s inauguration to now

One down, three (or more) left to go. This week President Donald Trump completed his first year in office. 

Jan. 20 marked one year since Trump put his hand on a bible and was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States. 

The past year has seen executive orders and presidential decisions met with protests and the president’s Twitter use turning into news stories. 

This week in: State news

Update: Iowa State responds to midyear cuts

Iowa State and other state institutions may face more cuts to fiscal year 2018 after Senate Republicans proposed $52 million cut to state spending Thursday, The Gazette in Cedar Rapids reported.

The bill proposed Iowa State be cut by $6.9 million. The University of Iowa will be cut the most out of the three regent universities—$8.7 million—and the University of Northern Iowa may be cut by $3.7 million.

This amounts to over $19 million in cuts to the universities. Gov. Kim Reynolds proposed the Board of Regents, the governing body of the institutions, be cut by $5.1 million. 

Ames pediatrician runs for Congress

John Paschen is a Democrat running for Congress because he has a “Paschen” for Iowa.

His main priority is affordable health care, but beyond that, he said he is prioritizing action in Washington.

“[My main goal is] affordable health care yes, but also just getting Washington to do their job,” Paschen said. 

This week in: City Council

City debates development of affordable housing

Ames City Council debated the development of affordable housing at the old Ames Middle School property at 321 State Ave. at their Tuesday night meeting.

The city first considered acquiring the lot at 321 State Ave. in 2015 with the intention to create affordable homeownership opportunities. Since then, the city has been working on how to move forward with the plan.

J-CORP proposed to develop housing on the site, but the city recently ended negotiations with the developer over concerns of the cost, amount of subsidy per unit, and types of housing proposed. This leaves the city with $900,000 in unspent funds designated for infrastructure construction that could be committed to the site.

This week in: Student Government

StuGov funds $21,000 to KURE, approves new election commissioner

Two orders dominated the discussion during Wednesday’s Student Government meeting, one being a $21,000 funding request for upgraded equipment to KURE 88.5 and the other being the nomination—and later approval—of a new election commissioner.

The election commissioner position, which was left vacant at the end of the fall semester, was filled by former chief of staff and current Senate clerk Jacob Zirkelbach. 

Previously, Zirkelbach served as the Inter-Residence Hall Association president and for the West-Smith slate as their campaign manager in last year’s election.

Many questions asked by senators to Zirkelbach focused in on how he would best handle possible conflicts of interests with the senate and executive campaigns, as well as how he might resolve issues should they arise. 

How to run for Student Government elections

Whether you’re looking to become president or a senator, now is the time to start thinking about Student Government campaigns. 

Though voting day isn’t until March 9, required meetings for candidates start this week. Five informational sessions will be held this week and next week which are required for all candidates to attend. 

Jacob Zirkelbach, newly appointed election commissioner, gave more information on what a potential candidate needs to know. 

“I think the most important thing that [potential candidates] need to know, especially right now, is to go to those information sessions,” Zirkelbach said. “Right now we want to make…the entrance barrier as low as possible.” 

There are two sessions left: 

– 6-7 p.m. on Jan. 30, Sloss House Room 203

– 6-7 p.m. on Feb. 1, Memorial Union Cardinal Room