The Creston Police Department Monday (Today) said two people were arrested over the weekend on drug and other charges. Saturday evening, 21-year old Noah Young, of Creston, was arrested for Driving While Suspended, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and Domestic Abuse Assault. His bond at the Union County Jail was set at $1,000. Sunday night, 33-year old Sunita Phipps, of Creston, was arrested at the Creston Walmart Store for Theft in the 3rd Degree, Possession of Meth/1st offense, and Possession of Drug paraphernalia. She was released from the Union County Jail on a $3,300 bond.

Sunday afternoon, 25-year old Tyler White, of Creston, was arrested at the Union County Law Enforcement Center, on a Union County warrant for Violation of Probation. He remained in the jail Monday, on $1,000 bond. And, Friday morning, 51-year old Tony Fizer, of Creston, was arrested for Driving While Barred. He was later released on $2,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) Governor Kim Reynolds this weekend lifted the restrictions on businesses and limited face covering requirements outlined in her previous pandemic proclamation. The public health measures Reynolds issued three months ago coincided with escalating numbers of Covid patients in hospitals. A record 15-hundred-27 Covid patients were hospitalized in Iowa on November 17. The patient count has fallen by nearly 80 percent. “Not surprising, we experienced an increase in positive cases following Christmas and New Year’s gatherings, but they were minor in comparison to other parts of the nation and far from the surge that some predicted would occur.”

Reynolds made those comments in late January. She has recently described Iowa’s Covid situation as “stable.” “Our goal continues to be keeping virus activity at a level we can manage over the course of our daily lives and I think we’re demonstrating that we can do that,” Reynolds said. Democrats like Congresswoman Cindy Axne say the governor is sending the message that masks and safety precautions are no longer necessary. House Democratic Leader Todd Prichard of Charles City says Reynolds is being reckless. “The response has been ridiculous,” Prichard says. “The lack of leadership on Covid from the governor’s office and since the Republicans have brought us into session has been non-existent.”

On Sunday, President Biden’s chief of staff criticized the governor’s decision, suggesting it’s not too much to ask people to wear a mask until more Americans can be vaccinated.

(Radio Iowa) – The presidents of Iowa’s public universities are pushing back against the idea of ending tenure at their institutions. Republicans in the legislature are considering bills that would get rid of the tenure system at the universities in Ames, Iowa City and Cedar Falls. Iowa State University president Wendy Wintersteen says if Iowa becomes the first state to ban tenure, it would hurt I-S-U’s ability to attract talented professors. “Why would they come here when they could go to Purdue, Wisconsin Illinois? And I just won’t be able to compete in the market,” Wintersteen says. “And it won’t be just the recruitment of the very best faculty for research, teaching and extension, but I will lose faculty because they will see it as an embarrassment that they are now at an institution where tenure is prohibited.”

University of Iowa president Bruce Harreld says getting rid of tenure would have an immediate negative impact. “Our faculty are underpaid relative to their peers at other institutions already,” Harreld says. “You put removal of tenure into the system, I think you should anticipate in the next three to five years — zero to five years, a pretty substantial exodus,” Harreld says.

University of Northern Iowa president Mark Nook says tenure isn’t given, it’s earned. “A faculty member has to spend five to seven years proving their stock,” Nook says, “proving that they are able to educate students, proving that they have the research credentials to make a difference and make a difference in their discipline and in our state.”

Economic development groups and associations representing soybean, pork and cattle producers are opposed to the bill eliminating tenure at I-S-U, Iowa and U-N-I. Republican backers says ending tenure at the schools will make it easier to fire bad professors. One G-O-P lawmaker suggests professors who’ve treated conservative students badly have not been fired because tenure has given them “Teflon coating.”

(Radio Iowa) – It looks like the state, counties, and cities are going to end up in good shape with funding to repair roads after things didn’t look so good at the start of the pandemic. The D-O-T’s Stuart Anderson says traffic dropped by more than 40 percent in April — which meant a drop in fuel taxes paid into the Road Use Tax Fund. “Traffic did slowly rebound after mid-April when we were at the peak drop in traffic,” according to Anderson. “It’s grown until about mid-August when we hit about ten to 15 percent below previous levels. And it has really stayed at that level since that point.”

And while regular vehicle traffic dropped off during the pandemic — truck traffic did not. “It’s been at or above previous year levels — which makes some sense because freight still needs to move and people are still buying things. How they are buying them might be different — but there is still a lot of freight being moved on the system.” Truckers carrying that freight continued buying diesel fuel and paying the taxes on it. Fees for the licensing and sale of cars are another component of the road fund. Car sales dropped dramatically early in the pandemic — but Anderson says they also turned around. “They definitely have rebounded,” he says, “and we also have seen vehicle prices increase — particularly in the used car market — because of the heavy demand. And so that has impacted the revenue stream we collect for the Road Use Tax Funds.”

The state receives 47-and-a-half percent of the Road Use funds, counties get 32-and-half percent, and cities receive around 20 percent. Anderson says the state received 122 million dollars in federal pandemic relief funds that will be used to offset loses. “And the COVID impact having been — we are estimating 50 million dollars through the end of June — then this would more than cover the loss of state revenue,” Anderson says. “Local governments to varying degrees have also had their local revenues impacted by COVID-19. However, that has impacted street and road system as well.”

Anderson says they will be making a recommendation this week to the Transportation Commission on the distribution of that federal funding.

Some area schools are starting late this morning, due to the weather. As of 5-a.m., there are 2-hour late starts for the: Bedford, Griswold, Red Oak and Stanton School Districts. And, Southwestern Community College will open at 9-a.m.  For additional announcements (as they come into to our Newsroom), see “Information you can use” under the Community Hub, at kjan.com.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:30 a.m. CST

BETTENDORF, Iowa (AP) — Iowa authorities are investigating after a Bettendorf police officer shot and killed a man who was involved in a domestic dispute. Bettendorf Police said officers were called to a home around 12:15 a.m. Sunday because of a dispute between a man and a woman but the couple left the area before officers arrived. About an hour and a half later, the man and woman were found in a vehicle. Police say the woman exited the vehicle and told officers the man had threatened to kill her with a handgun. Police said the man refused to comply with officers’ commands before an officer shot him during the confrontation.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Two firefighters were seriously injured Sunday when a hose line failed while they were battling a blaze at a Cedar Rapids apartment complex. The Cedar Rapids Fire Department said one firefighter was struck in the head and knocked unconscious and another was struck in the chest and knocked down when the hose line failed around 1:30 a.m. Sunday. Neither injury was believed to be life-threatening. Firefighters were called to the eight-unit apartment building around 1:15 a.m. Sunday after smoke alarms were activated inside the building. It took more than an hour to bring the blaze under control as firefighters dealt with frigid temperatures.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A Nebraska man was hospitalized after a standoff with police that took place Friday at a construction site in Council Bluffs. Council Bluffs Police said 40-year-old Ryan Linehan of Omaha was arrested after the standoff after he shot himself in the lower jaw. He was in stable condition afterward at an Omaha hospital. The standoff began Friday morning when officers tried to arrest Linehan on a warrant for first-degree sexual assault. When officers approached, Linehan ran back to the excavator he had been operating and swung the equipment’s bucket at the officers. Negotiators spent several hours trying to persuade Linehan to surrender before he shot himself.

Due to changes in COVID protocol for performances, the Atlantic High School Large Group Speech team hosted their own District and State level contest in Atlantic this year. District contest was held on Friday, Jan 22nd with Riverside and Atlantic students competing. Those that received a 1 rating advanced to State. (Courtesy Trisha Niceswanger, High School/Middle School Spanish Instructor; Co-Head Speech/Debate Coach)

District Results are as follows:

Atlantic

Riverside

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STATE RESULTS

The Atlantic HS Speech team competed at and hosted the Iowa High School Speech Association (IHSSA) State Large Group Speech contest held Saturday, Feb 6. Six other schools attended ranging from West Central Valley, Underwood, Red Oak, Missouri Valley, Council Bluffs St. Albert and Council Bluffs Lewis Central. This was a much smaller contest than usual due to all the limitations on gatherings for competition.

Students compete in front of three judges at the State level rather than one judge at District. Of the 5 Atlantic entries who competed, 4 received a Division 1, or Superior, rating.  Three of these were straight ones, where all three judges delivered a Div. 1 rating.

All entries which received an overall division 1 rating stand the chance to be nominated for All-State honors.  Normally there would be a festival held to honor those chosen with another performance and awarding of medals. This year, the IHSSA hopes to hold a gathering of some sort in the summer. Nominations are said to post to the IHSSA website on Wednesday, Feb 17th.

Atlantic Results