(Radio Iowa) – Fundraising is underway to help refugees settle in central Iowa this year. The U-S Committee for Refugees and Immigrants field office in Des Moines is expecting an influx of refugees in the area after President Biden promised to increase the refugee cap. Even though he hasn’t signed the determination yet, the state should still prepare, according to Kerri True-Funk, the committee’s Des Moines director. “Due to the pandemic, things have been a little bit slow,” True-Funk says, “but we are anticipating as vaccination efforts worldwide are being undertaken and the determination ceiling goes up, that we will get new arriving refugee families.”

True-Funk expects they’ll help settle more than last year’s 75 refugees in central Iowa, but doubts they’ll reach the record of more than 660 refugees set in 2016. “But I do anticipate that, especially as vaccinations roll out and mitigation efforts continue, that the numbers will start to come up,” she says. The organization is raising money to buy mattresses for the expected refugees and ten-percent of the goal has been met so far.

(reporting by Kassidy Arena, Iowa Public Radio)

The CAM School District’s Board of Education, Monday, opted to discontinue a Business Manager with the Atlantic School District for the upcoming school year, and instead share the position with the Nodaway Valley Community School District. The agreement, effective for the 21-22 School Year, is a 50/50 cost share, at $58,328.

Also during their meeting, Monday, the CAM School Board set April 12^th at 6:30-p.m., as the date and time for a Public Hearing on the 2021-22 School Calendar, which has the first day of school set for Aug. 23^rd 2021, and Graduation as May 25, 2022. The hearing will take place in the Superintendent‘s Office.

The Board also approved a 21 member school facilities committee, which will be tasked with reviewing the discussion process that began over a year ago, with architects. The committee will set the dates for community meetings on the facilities project. Community input will be received during the process to help the district in make sound decisions for students’ future education.

Police in Creston, Tuesday afternoon, arrested a man at his home, on a Union County warrant. 20-year-old Montell Mario Rivers was taken into custody on a warrant for Child Endangerment with Serious Injury. Rivers was being held in the Union County Jail on a $10,000 bond.

The 7:07-a.m. report from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.5MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Grow Another Row Cass County invites local farmers and gardeners to plant a few more rows of produce to share this year. According to ISU Extension, the 13 best produce donations are:
tomatoes, winter squash, zucchini, potatoes, onions, peppers, cucumbers, melons, broccoli, cabbage, sweet potatoes, carrots, and beans. The Grow Another Row leadership team requests
additional potatoes, carrots, melons, and green beans because these were the items that were in highest demand last year, and the team knows these items will get used in Cass County.

Grow Another Row Cass County is a Healthy Cass County campaign started in 2020 by a group of local growers to encourage residents to grow and share more food. After a successful first
year with lots of positive feedback from people who enjoyed produce, the planning team is excited to continue the project in 2021.

Emily Paulsen, with Brun Ko Garm, a Grow Another Row leadership team member, says “We know some folks are already planting seeds in greenhouses and others will start gardens later. We invite any grower—big or small, seasoned or green–to join us.” She noted, “You don’t have to sign up for the email newsletter to participate in the program, but you might want to.” Growers can sign up for the Grow Another Row newsletter by emailing Cass County Wellness Coordinator Brigham Hoegh at bhoegh@iastate.edu or visiting https://www.extension.iastate.edu/cass/content/grow-another-rowcass-county.

Grow Another Row is seeking a Program Coordinator for 2021. This temporary position is made possible through AmeriCorps funding. The coordinator will manage produce donations and distributions throughout Cass County. Cass County ISU Extension is seeking to fill the position immediately. Interested individuals should visit https://www.extension.iastate.edu/cass/ for more
information and to apply.

Sheriff’s officials in Pottawattamie County, Tuesday, said 31-year-old Jose Rodriquez was arrested Monday afternoon for Reckless Driving, after a Deputy attempted to stop a 2013 Hyundai Sonata having no license plates, and traveling at a high rate of speed on westbound Kanesville Blvd. The driver attempted to elude authorities for a short time, but was later located with the assistance of officers from the Council Bluffs Police Dept. Rodriquez and a female passenger were also arrested for warrants and driving offenses. A small dog was taken into protective custody.

A little after noon, Monday, Pott. County Deputies arrested 51-year-old Jonathon Holtz, following a traffic stop on his pickup truck in the Shelby area. Holtz was arrested for Driving While License Suspended or Revoked. Sunday afternoon, 44-year-old Brock Allen Knop was arrested in Hancock, while Deputies, along with an Iowa DHS Investigator, were at home on 410^th Street. They were on location in reference to a follow up being conducted by the Iowa DHS. Authorities learned Knop was in the presence of a woman while at the residence, in violation of protective orders against him issued from Tennessee and Iowa.

An inmate at the Pott. County Jail was charged Friday, with being a Fugitive from Justice. 30-year-old Andrew Lucas Espinoza, was being held also for Burglary in the 3rd Degree. His bond is set at $5,000. Another inmate, 53-year old Rocky Lee Weis, who was being held on charges that include Fugitive from Justice and Theft in the 2nd Degree, was issued a warrant for Violation of Probation. His bond was also set at $5,000.  Espinoza and Weis were presented with their warrants and returned to the custody of Corrections Staff.

Red Oak Police arrested a man and a woman on drug charges Tuesday night, following a call about two people fighting at a residence in the 200 block of S. 8th Street. Upon further investigation, officers discovered drugs and drug paraphernalia inside the home. After a search warrant was obtained, Police arrested 21-year old Jacob David Berggren, of Red Oak, for Possession of Methamphetamine, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. 25-year old Paige Marie Clark, of Red Oak, was arrested for Possession of Marijuana and Possession of Paraphernalia.

The pair were taken into custody at around 8:15-p.m. and transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where their bonds were set at $1,000 each. Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies assisted in the arrests.

(Radio Iowa) – Republicans in the Iowa House have voted to forbid introducing what the bill calls “divisive concepts” like gender or race-based stereotypes in diversity training for staff and students at most publicly-funded institutions in the state. The bill would bar public schools and universities as well as any state or local government agency from having diversity training that suggests the United States or the State of Iowa is fundamentally racist.

Republican Representative Steven Holt of Denison was the bill’s floor manager. “I believe that teaching or applying a certain characteristic to a certain group of people based on color is the very definition of racism,” Holt says, “and the way I was raised, that’s unAmerican.” Represenative Henry Stone, a Republican from Forest City, is an Asian American who told his colleagues he’s been called every racial slur you could imagine, but Stone says he does not believe there is systemic racism in the United States or in Iowa.

“I wholeheartedly support this bill because I believe that diversity training should still go on,” Stone said, “but we need to change the way that it’s taught.” Republican Representative Mark Cisneros of Muscatine says he objects to diversity training that promotes victimhood. “We have evidence of the ill effects of it,” Cisneros says. “…Tearing down statutes or attempting to, demanding that white people apologize for their whiteness, yelling at people in public.” All the Democrats present in the House last (Tuesday) night voted against the bill.

Representative Ako Abdul-Samad, a Democrat from Des Moines, says the bill impedes an open discussion about racism. “I love America and in loving America, we have a right to criticize America…and this bill is not going to deal with the ills of America,” he said. Representative Kirsten Running-Marquardt, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, says the bill goes too far in dictating what topics cannot be introduced in diversity discussions. “If the teachers and trainers cannot identify the evil, the root of the problem…how are we going to solve it?” she asked.

Representative Mary Wolfe, a Democrat from Clinton, accused Republicans of trying to cancel reality. “Closing our eyes and trying to pretend that if we don’t say, ‘implicit bias,’ it doesn’t exist,” Wolfe said, “or if we don’t say ‘systemic racism,’ we can pretend we don’t have that.” The House debated the bill for about four hours before passing it at about 7:15 last (Tuesday) night. The proposal now goes to the Senate for consideration.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has passed a bill that calls for faculty and students at the three state universities to be trained each year about free speech rights. Republican Representative Dustin Hite of New Sharon says the bill is in response to three high-profile incidents in which the views of conservative students at Iowa, Iowa State and U-N-I were dismissed or denigrated.

The board that governs the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa has already adopted the provisions of the bill as policy for the three schools. Hite says it’s not the job of the universities to tell students what to think — but to give them the tools to decide for themselves. “The reason free speech is so important in the world of education is that’s when our young folks of this state are developing their own thoughts and ideas,” Hite says.

The bill passed on a 97-to-one vote. Representative Christina Bohannan, a Democrat from Iowa City, is a University of Iowa professor. She says the university’s faculty senate considers free speech central to the educational process. “When it comes to the First Amendment, we have to take the long view,” Bohannan said. “Today, it’s mostly conservatives we hear arguing for free speech, but in the ’50s and ’60s it was the liberals — civil rights activists and Vietnam protesters — that pushed for First Amendment rights.”

Representative Jennifer Konfrst, a Democrat from Windsor Heights, is a Drake University professor. “What I do is force students to think critically, whether they’re conservative or liberal,” Konfrst says, “and this bill allows for that to happen in every classroom across the state.” The bill would apply the same free speech policies at the state’s community colleges that are proposed for the public universities.

The lone “no” on the vote came from Representative Dave Jacoby, a Democrat from Coralville. He says the bill is not needed to protect free speech and doesn’t open new doors for those who want to practice their First Amendment rights.