(Radio Iowa) Republican Kim Reynolds used last (Tuesday) night’s “Condition of the State” address to press for a law requiring schools to offer 100 percent in-person instruction.

Reynolds criticized schools — mainly in Iowa’s urban areas — that failed to reopen all day, Monday through Friday, this fall. She’s asking legislators to no longer allow urban schools to deny “open enrollment” transfers to neighboring districts and the governor is calling for “education savings accounts” that would give parents state money to cover private school tuition.

Republican lawmakers cheered the governor’s education agenda. House Democratic Leader Todd Prichard of Charles City says the governor is taking an adversarial approach toward public schools and teachers, who are on the front lines of the pandemic.

And Prichard says Democrats will oppose diverting public tax dollars to private schools.

Reynolds spoke for more than 41 minutes last (Tuesday) night and offered a long list of priorities, including making child care and housing more affordable — and more available. Reynolds also called for spending 150 million dollars in each of the next three years to boost broadband. “As we’ve seen during the pandemic, high speed internet is as vital to our communities as running water and electricity,” Reynolds says. “If they don’t have it, they can’t grow.” Iowa has the second-slowest broadband SPEED in the country, according to the governor, and she says it’s rarely available in a third of the state.

“Let’s plant a stake in the ground and declare that every part of Iowa will have affordable, high-speed broadband by 2025 and we’ll get there by committing $450 million over that time period, which will leverage millions more in private investment,” Reynolds said, “giving Iowa the biggest build out of high-speed internet in the country.” Reynolds used a portion of her speech to introduce Davenport police officers who were ambushed last summer and the officers were applauded by lawmakers. Reynolds then called for legislation to both increase penalties for rioting or attacking police and to ban racial profiling. “No actions should ever be taken based on the color of someone’s skin,” Reynolds said, to applause.

Senate Democratic Leader Zach Wahls of Coralville says lawmakers and the governor took a first step last June by passing a law banning the rehiring of officers fired for misconduct. “Figuring out ways to take that next step on justice reform, while continuing to support our men and women in uniform in our law enforcement agencies is something that we should obviously be taking a look at doing.” House Speaker Pat Grassley, a Republican from New Hartford, says legislators will start digging into the details, but he praised the governor’s overall agenda.

“The governor laid out a lot of what I would call aggressive, forward-thinking proposals,” Grassley says. Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver says the governor presented a positive, optimistic message. As is common in a “Condition of the State” speech, Reynolds reviewed the past year, which in the case of 2020 included a devastating derecho and a pandemic, and she praised citizens for going “beyond Iowa nice” to help neighbors navigate tough times. “That’s how I know that the condition of our state is strong because you are strong,” she said, ” stronger than you ever imagined.”

(Radio Iowa) – The three Iowa Republicans serving in the U.S. House say they will vote “no” today (Wednesday) on impeaching President Trump. Last night (Tuesday night), The New York Times reported Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell will not stand in the way of an impeachment trial in the Senate and that he is “done” with Trump. Also last night, Liz Cheney — the third-ranking Republican in the U.S. House — announced that she will vote to impeach the president.

Cheney said Trump “summoned” the mob and “lit the flame” that led to violence in the U.S. Capitol a week ago. Ashley Hinson of Marion, Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottumwa and Randy Feenstra of Hull — the three Iowa Republicans serving in the U.S. House — all said last week it’s time to unify the country. And staffers for all three confirmed again last night to Radio Iowa that they will oppose Trump’s impeachment.

Iowa Congresswoman Cindy Axne, a Democrat from West Des Moines, announced last week she’d vote for impeachment. Last night, Axne tweeted that impeachment is the only Constitutional option left to deal with the threat Trump poses to the safety of the country and its citizens.

The Red Oak Police Department reports the arrest at around 7:40-p.m., Tuesday, of 39-year old Jared Michael Nyquist. The Red Oak man was taken into custody in the 700 block of E. Oak Street, for Animal Neglect resulting in death. Nyquist was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $1,000 bond. And, a traffic stop resulting in a brief pursuit Tuesday, in the 1900 block of Broadway ended with the arrest of 46-year-old Jason Lasiter, from Red Oak.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office says Lasiter was arrested for Eluding, Reckless Driving, and Unlawful Possession of Prescription Drugs. His bond was set at $1,000. Red Oak Police assisted Montgomery County Deputies in making the arrest.

Council Bluffs Police were dispatched a little after 6-p.m. Tuesday, to the area of 1222 North 31st Street on a shots fired call. Prior to officers’ arrival, witnesses informed the 911 Center that two unknown men were seen running from one of the apartments in the Northgate Apartment complex towards the parking lot. Officers were informed that one adult male had been shot.

Officers arrived along with Medics, the victim was located and transported to Mercy Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The identity of the two men have yet to be determined, there were no other injuries reported. Detectives are currently investigating the incident, and no further information is available at this time.

The investigation is ongoing by the Criminal Investigation Division. Anyone with any information that was in the area at the time of this incident is encouraged to contact this Division at 712-328-4728 or they may call Crime Stoppers at 712-328-7867.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa will celebrate the 175th anniversary of becoming a state in December of this year and the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs has several things planned to celebrate on the way to that date. Department spokesman Michael Morain says they looked back on what President James Polk wrote in his diary the day he signed the bill making Iowa a state. “President Polk wrote in his journal ‘nothing much happened today.’ Which is not great,” Morain says. ” But I can tell you that Iowans have been proving him wrong for the last 175 years.” He says they hope to give everyone a look at some of the key events and people in the state’s history. He says they have a whole catalog of online history presentations offered by the State Historical Society of Iowa that start on Thursdays.

This Thursday, January 14th is the first presentation and they will continue with a variety of topics. There is also a history book club. “We’ll take a look at a book called…’Iowa: The Middle Land’ by Dorothy Schwieder, the late great historian from Iowa State. And that is really if you read one book about Iowa history, this gives a broad overview of history with a lot of interesting stories that even life-long Iowans might not know,” according to Morain. He says they have tried to provide activities that people of all ages can do. He says there’s a collection of things people can download and do at home — and he says the State Historical Museum is still open and you can visit.

A special 175th-anniversary exhibition called “Iowa’s People & Places” will open on March 5th at the State Historical Museum. “Iowa History Month always rolls around in March — so we’ll be ramping up extra programs during March — including a special exhibit that’ll take a broad look at the people and places of Iowa over the last 175 years. So, that is a pretty broad scene,” Morain says. He says it’s amazing the impact Iowa has had since becoming a state. “There are remarkable stories of Iowans who have shaped not only our state and our country, but the world. There’s an Iowa connection to almost everything if you dig under the surface a little bit,” he says.

To learn more about the programs celebrating Iowa becoming a state — go to iowaculture.gov.