IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Former Iowa Gov. Chet Culver is urging Gov. Kim Reynolds to back off policies that he says will force employees to be in unsafe workplaces that have had coronavirus outbreaks. Culver says in a letter to Reynolds that workers should not have to risk serious illness or death or face the loss of their unemployment benefits. He warned that her policy choices “will affect Iowans’ quality of life for generations to come.”

Culver, a Democrat who served from 2007 to 2011, said the Republican governor’s policies have created an appearance “that the state’s most powerful business owners have exerted undue influence.”