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Iowa News Headlines: Sunday, Aug. 30 2020

News

August 30th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 5-a.m. CDT

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A second Iowa judge has ruled in favor of President Donald Trump’s campaign and ordered a county to invalidate at least 14,000 absentee ballot requests. In his ruling Friday evening, Judge Patrick Tott found that Woodbury County elections commissioner Patrick Gill acted improperly when he sent absentee ballot request forms to 57,000 registered voters that had their personal information filled in. About 14,000 have been returned so far. The Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee and other GOP groups sued three Iowa counties. The decision came a day after another judge ruled that Linn County officials also had violated the secretary of state’s directive.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — One of the largest school districts in Iowa is starting the school year with online-only instruction. KRCG reports that the Iowa City school board voted Saturday to conduct all classes virtually for the first two weeks. Classes in the 12,000-student district begin on Sept. 8. The move comes after the state granted the district a waiver earlier in the week allowing for the virtual instruction. The 14-day average positivity rate in Johnson County, where the district is located, was 13.9% on Wednesday but had risen to 21.1% by Saturday. The threshold Gov. Kim Reynolds has established for schools to seek online learning instead of required classroom lessons is 15%.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Hundreds of people have participated in an Iowa march in support of law enforcement amid widespread demonstrations elsewhere over the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin. The Des Moines Register reports that the “Back the Blue” march began Saturday morning at the Iowa Capitol and ended at the Des Moines Police Department. Demonstrators held signs that read “we support our police,” and “cops for Trump” and chanted “Back the blue!” At the police department, the crowd chanted “Thank you, blue” as Des Moines Police Chief Dana Wingert stepped out of the building to give a speech.