DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — The deep freeze has prompted several eastern Iowa schools to cancel classes or start the school day late. The Davenport district and nearby Bettendorf and Muscatine schools canceled classes Friday. Davenport’s air temperature earlier this morning was minus 12, with a wind chill of minus 29. Wind at the time was reported at 8 mph. Late starts were scheduled for the Decorah, Louisa-Muscatine, Wapello and other districts, including many in southwest Iowa.

Alliant Energy says its crews are working on restoring power to more than 900 customers in frigid Clayton County who have been without power since about 5:15 a.m. The utility says it expects to have the electricity back on by 10 a.m. It’s unclear whether the cold caused the outage, however. Forecasters say the numbing cold is expected to linger into next week.

(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa Supreme Court heard oral arguments Thursday in the Department of Human Services appeal of a district court ruling that said the state Medicaid program has to pay for sex-change surgery for two transgender individuals. The lower court ruling says the state violated the Iowa Civil Rights Act and the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution by refusing payment, but lawyer Matthew Gillespie argued that is not the case. “This case is not about whether transgender Iowans have suffered and continue to suffer from pernicious discrimination. This case is not about whether transgender Iowans have legitimate medical needs related to gender dysphoria,” Gillespie says. ” In fact, this case is not about transgender Iowans at all.”

He says the case centers on the rules followed by the state. “This case is about whether Iowa Medicaid appropriately denied coverage for surgeries performed primarily for psychological. For the reasons outlined in our brief, and I will discuss here today, the answer should be ‘yes’,” according to Gillespie. He says the rules were not specifically written to discriminate against transgender Iowans. “The petitioners have argued that transgender Iowans seeking coverage for procedures to treat gender dysphoria are similarly situated to non-transgender Iowans seeking treatment for the same procedures to address non-physiological conditions,” according to Gillespie. “And in doing so, it reveals the true nature of the crux of the issue is not gender identity — but is instead focused on psychological versus non-psychological health.” Gillespie also disputes the idea that the issue violates the Iowa Civil Rights Act. “Had the Iowa Civil Rights Act been intended to apply in circumstances such as this, there would have been a more clear indication that it was meant to. Again, the application of that act to policy decisions of the executive is a massive expansion unprecedented in the state and contrary to both federal and other state law,” Gillespie argued.

The attorney for the other side, John Knight, says the state has tried to move the target. “The state in challenging the district court’s ruling has in a sense taken on the role of medical expert. And they’ve proposed a different set of facts with respect to the regulation,” Knight says. He says the state is wrong about the need for the surgery. “In a sense they have recharacterized the nature of this surgery here as cosmetic by their use of the language psychological services. The record evidence however shows that this surgery is medically necessary, and that it is really life-saving treatment for a number of individuals — including my clients,” Knight says. He says the state also has it wrong when it comes to the denial of payment violating the Iowa Civil Rights Act. “Section B of the public accommodations definition talks about units of government and it talks about services provided by a unit of government. There’s nothing that limits those services to on-site services. So I think you’d have to be basically writing an exception in that isn’t there,” according to Knight.

Knight was asked about how big an impact this would have. “Everyone with gender dysphoria does not need surgery. My clients do, and so there would certainly be medical people involved — both a surgeon and a mental health professional, at least one and sometimes two who are assessing the necessity of the coverage,” according to Knight. “And the reality is, this is a very small population, so we are not talking about a about significant number of people.”

The Supreme Court will issue a ruling on the case at a later date.

The National Weather Service says yet another winter storm is forecast Sunday night into Monday across much of Iowa. The greatest potential for moderate to heavy snow is located over north-central to northeast Iowa, while further southwest a wintry mix is anticipated. There remains some uncertainty in the snow amounts along the southwest edge of the snow band due to the wintry mix possibility Sunday night.

Click on the map to enlarge

Strong northwest winds develop Monday morning and will likely cause blowing and drifting snow throughout the day and even into Monday night. Then, bitter cold temperatures and wind chills are anticipated throughout the work week next week.

More area and State news from KJAN News Director, Ric Hanson.

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The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Briar Cliff University in Sioux City has announced a $2 million gift from the Sisters of St. Francis. The money will be used to establish an endowed chair in theology and support Briar Cliff in the recruitment and retention of faculty. The private college was founded in 1929 by a Roman Catholic Franciscan nun from the order in Dubuque. Briar Cliff’s current enrollment is around 1,200 students.

(Radio Iowa) — Clinton firefighter Adam Cain, who was critically injured battling a blaze earlier this month, is being released from the hospital today (Friday). A news release from Clinton City Hall says Cain has met with his surgery team, trauma team and physical therapy team. All have agreed that Cain has done amazingly well in his healing process. They have decided he can be discharged and cleared to go home with follow-up outpatient therapy.

While fighting the fire at the city’s A-D-M plant on January 5th, Clinton Fire Lieutenant Eric Hosette was killed. The incident is still under investigation. Cain is 23. Hosette was 33.

Non-profit organizations in Cass and Audubon Counties are being reminded that applications for funds from the separate Cass and Audubon County Community Foundations are due in about a week. In each county, approximately $115,000 in grant funds are available for nonprofit organizations that submit their respective county applications by no later than Feb. 1st. Only organizations providing charitable services in Cass County or Audubon County are eligible, in each respective county, only. They must be able to demonstrate broad community/county support, and be an IRS approved 501(c)(3) Public Charity or hosted by a fiscal sponsor. Requests for general operational funds will not be considered.

Detailed application procedures, fact sheets, and a link to the application form can be obtained online at http://omahafoundation.org/swiowa. Applications will only be accepted through the online system.

Contact any Cass or Audubon County Community Foundation board member in your respective county, for additional information. You may contact Stacey Goodman at 800-794-3458 or stacey@omahafoundation.org, or Denise Cardos at denise@omahafoundation.org, with grant application-specific questions. All completed applications will be considered at the March board meeting with notification of results in early April.

Board members of the Audubon County Community Foundation are Chair, Genelle Deist of Audubon; Vice Chair, Joel Hoegh of rural Brayton; Secretary/Treasurer, Barbara Johnson of Audubon; Bob Blomme of Audubon; Shelley Burr of Audubon; Steven B. Hansen of Audubon; and Joseph T. Rasmussen of Exira. Board members of the Cass County Community Foundation are Chair, Nicholas Hunt of rural Atlantic; Vice Chair, Gary Maas of Anita; Secretary/Treasurer, Roland K. Landsness, Esq. of Atlantic; Royal Bierbaum of Griswold; John Curry of Massena; and Mark D. Kyhnn, CPA of Atlantic.

The Southwest Iowa Planning Council (SWIPCO), in conjunction with the Cities of Walnut and Griswold, is holding housing assessment meetings in the coming weeks.  In Walnut, the housing assessment meeting will be held 6-p.m. Thursday, January 31st, at the Walnut Community Building. In Griswold, the meeting takes place 6-p.m. Thursday, February 7th, at the Griswold Community Building.

The purpose of each meeting is to gather public input on the current condition of the housing stock in each city; to address the rehabilitation of current housing, development of new housing, and affordability of housing. This will also include setting goals to improve/maintain the housing conditions within the city and what avenues the city may explore to reach these goals. The information obtained will be added to other data to formulate a formal written housing assessment for the city and as part of the public participation requirement of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application the city is applying for in April 2019. The meeting will conclude with asking all participants, if they have not done so already, to fill out a housing survey and CDBG Pre-Application.

SWIPCO Lead Planner Alexsis Fleener says “Public participation is a critical component of the housing assessment and application process. In addition, the meeting gives residents an opportunity to be involved in the future of their city. Housing has been identified to be a major contributing factor to the growth or decline of our towns. A housing assessment is a pro-active approach to address those factors that could be detrimental and set clear goals for how to continue to thrive and grow.”

The CDBG owner-occupied housing repair program the city is applying for seeks to bring homes up to Iowa Minimum Housing Rehabilitation Standards. Items repaired may include furnaces, water heaters, windows, doors, roofing, siding, foundation, etc. up to $24,999. If anyone would like more information on the Housing Assessment meeting, plan, or CDBG application please contact Alexsis Fleener at 866-279-4720.

BOONE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say firefighters discovered the body of a man inside the charred remains of a Boone County house. Firefighters were sent early Thursday morning to the home just northwest of Boone. Fire officials say the body was so severely burned that identification could take several weeks. Firefighters say some dogs also died in the fire, while others survived. Investigators suspect a wood-burning stove may have been involved in starting the fire.