A Warren County legislator says he’ll try again next year to give students new privileges who switch schools in order to get away from a bully. Representative Scott Ourth started championing the idea after hearing about a 15-year-old wrestler whose older teammates verbally and physically abused him. Under Iowa’s open enrollment law, students can transfer to a neighboring school district, but they can’t play sports right away.  “He either has to quit the sport he likes to avoid being bullied in the wrestling room or he has to change school districts and be punished once again by not being able to pursue this sport,” Ourth says.

Ourth, who is a Democrat from Ackworth, is not identifying the school district or the name of the student. “All he’s trying to do is protect himself from this egregious behavior and every single time we say no to a person like that, we’re handing a victory to the bullies,” Ourth says. Ourth spoke about the issue this week before the legislature’s Administrative Rules Review Committee.

Some members of the committee said they support the open enrollment law as written, to prevent kids from cherry-picking schools just to play sports.

(Radio Iowa)

w/ Jim Field

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Hawkeye 10:

• Atlantic 10, Shenandoah 2
• Lewis Central 9-11, Creston 5-3
• Denison 15, Red Oak 6
• Denison-Schleswig 6, Roland-Story 5
• Kuemper 5, Perry 0
• St. Albert 13, Des Moines Christian 10

Western Iowa:

• Tri-Center 2 Logan-Magnolia 1
• IKM-Manning 3 Coon Rapids-Bayard 2
• Treynor 4, Underwood 1

Others:

• Carroll 6, Ballard 4

(Start times 7:00 p.m. unless noted)
Class 1A Regional Semifinals –
At Charter Oak: Glidden-Ralston vs. Ar-We-Va
At Lenox: Bedford vs. Mount Ayr
At Martensdale: Martensdale St. Marys vs. CAM
At Red Oak: Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton vs. Essex
Class 2A Regional Semifinals –
At Earlham: Earlham vs. IKM-Manning
At Logan: Underwood vs. Treynor
At Mapleton: Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto vs. Lawton-Bronson
Class 3A Regional Semifinals –
At Adel: ADM vs. Atlantic
At Osceola: Clarke vs. Shenandoah

CLASS 2A
Fort Dodge St. Edmond 13, Panorama 0 (3 innings)

CLASS 4A
Carroll 7, Denison 6
LeMars 14, Storm Lake 0 (5 innings)
Glenwood 6, Lewis Central 1
Perry 8, Harlan 6
Winterset 11, Creston 0

SILVIS, Ill. (AP) — Iowa golfer Zach Johnson, Rory Sabbatini and Brian Harman all shot an 8-under-63 to stake claim to the first round lead at the PGA’s John Deere Classic. They lead Todd Hamilton, William McGirt and Steven Bowditch by one shot.

There’s a little extra pressure this week. The top finisher not previously eligible for the British Open will earn a spot next week at Royal Liverpool for this year’s Open, provided he’s among the top five and ties.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Edinson Volquez tossed a complete game six-hitter to win his fourth straight start and the Pittsburgh Pirates downed the St. Louis Cardinals 9-1 on Thursday night. Neil Walker, Josh Harrison, Russell Martin and Andrew McCutchen all drove in two runs for Pittsburgh, which avoided being swept in the four-game series. Volquez has a 0.90 ERA in winning four consecutive starts for the first time in his career. He struck out five and walked two.

Shelby Miller allowed four runs in five innings. He walked four and struck out one. Walker extended his hitting streak to a season-high 12 games with a two-run double in the fifth that extended the Pirates lead to 4-1. McCutchen started the three-run uprising with a run-scoring single that broke a 1-all tie.

McCutchen drove in a run in the sixth with a sacrifice fly. Harrison added a two-run double in the inning that made it 6-1.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Royals placed left-hander Jason Vargas on the disabled list after an appendectomy and recalled reliever Louis Coleman from Triple-A Omaha before Thursday night’s game against Detroit.

Vargas began experiencing pain early Wednesday in Tampa, and underwent the procedure later in the day. He remained in Florida after the Royals beat the Rays to wrap up their series.

Vargas is off to the best start of his nine-year big league career. He’s 8-4 with 3.31 ERA in 19 starts, solidifying a rotation that lost Ervin Santana to free agency last season.

Coleman was a dominant reliever for the Royals last season, but he had an unsightly 6.41 ERA with the club this season. He’s been in Omaha trying to rediscover his form.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis Cardinals All-Star catcher Yadier Molina will undergo surgery Friday to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb and will be sidelined eight to 12 weeks.

The Cardinals recalled catcher Audrey Perez from Triple-A Memphis before Thursday night’s game against Pittsburgh.

Molina was injured Wednesday when he planted his hand for balance after sliding feet-first into third base in the second inning. He caught another half-inning before Tony Cruz hit for him in the third.

Molina was voted to his sixth straight NL All-Star team Sunday and is a starter for the fourth time. He was hitting .287 with seven homers and 30 RBIs.