DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A push has begun in Dubuque to change the name of a park to honor of a one-time slave who gained his freedom and another Black man killed in a lynching. The Dubuque Telegraph Herald reports that the Dubuque branch of the NAACP and other community members support renaming Jackson Park after both men, Ralph Montgomery and Nathaniel Morgan.

Montgomery was a slave living in Dubuque when, in 1839, he won his freedom in a ruling by the Iowa Supreme Court. It was only a year later that Morgan was killed in a lynching. The park is currently named for President Andrew Jackson.

Officials with the AHSTW School District announced Thursday, the District’s Board of Education will hold a Special Meeting 4-p.m. today (Friday), in the Elementary School Library in Avoca. The only action item on their agenda is a “Return to Learn” Plan. The District began a continuous learning/remote education plan on Tuesday, due to the COVID-19 outbreak. That plan is set to run through today.

In a separate message, school officials said Thursday, they are continuing to assess absenteeism percentages, and are hoping to have decisions and plans regarding their learning format for the week of October 5th ready to share, following today’s Special Meeting.

Members of the Griswold School Board will hold a Special Session 5:30-p.m. Monday, in the Griswold Elementary School Library (20 Madison Street). Superintendent Dave Henrichs says the purpose of the meeting is to consider and act on: the format of parent-teacher conferences, and implementing a mask mandate.

(Radio Iowa) – Vice President Mike Pence drew cheers from crowds in Iowa yesterday as he vowed Republicans will soon fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court. “And Judge Amy Coney Barrett is going to be Justice Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court of the United States,” Pence said, to cheers in Des Moines.

Pence spoke at a manufacturing plant in Carter Lake early Thursday afternoon, then addressed about 600 people at an event in downtown Des Moines hosted by The Family Leader. Pence says the president nominated a remarkable, conservative woman and he challenged Democrats to provide her a “respectful” Senate confirmation hearing.

“When she was nominated to the Court of Appeals, during Judge Barrett’s confirmation hearing, the Democratic chairman of the Judiciary Committee criticized her Catholic faith, saying: ‘The dogma lives loudly within you.'” California Democrat Dianne Feinstein is the senator who questioned how Barrett’s faith would influence her opinions as a judge. Pence says that criticism had been revived by “Hollywood elites” opposed to Barrett’s ascension to the Supreme Court.

“That dogma lives loudly in me. That dogma lives loudly in hundreds of millions of Americans and every American who cherishes faith has the right to live and work and worship according to the dictates of our faith and conscience, enshrined in the Constitution of the United States,” Pence said. The crowd gave his statement a standing ovation. This was the vice president’s fifth trip to Iowa this year. He promised his Iowa audiences a Covid vaccine is “weeks away.”

Joe Biden’s deputy campaign manager issued a written statement responding to Pence’s visit, saying after nearly 90-thousand Iowans contracted Covid, there’s no end in sight to the pandemic’s impact on the health and finances of Iowans.

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

UNDATED (AP) — Another 16 people in Iowa have died of the coronavirus as the number of confirmed infections continues to soar. Iowa reported the 16 deaths in the past 24 hours Thursday as well as 1,057 new confirmed coronavirus cases. There now have been 1,358 deaths and 89,612 confirmed positive cases. The state reported 18 deaths Wednesday. The high numbers come as hospitalizations surged past 400, a number not reached in Iowa since May. More than 50 patients a day have been admitted for treatment of COVID-19 in each of the past nine days, the most consecutive days of that level of hospitalizations.

LE MARS, Iowa (AP) — Relatives of four people people killed in a 2018 plane crash in central Iowa allege in new lawsuits that a maintenance error caused carbon monoxide to enter the plane’s cabin, causing the crash. The lawsuits, announced Thursday, name Ultra Flight LLC, an aviation maintenance facility in Le Mars, and its owner, Tomas Mullally. The single-engine Piper took off from the airport in Le Mars on Nov. 9, 2018, and crashed into a cow pasture near Guthrie Center, about 115 miles (185 kilometers) away. Autopsies determined that all four victims suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — University of Iowa President Bruce Harreld has announced plans to retire after the school’s board finds his successor. Harreld, a former corporate executive and Harvard Business School instructor, has led the Big Ten university since 2015. His tenure has been difficult in recent months as the school has faced a coronavirus outbreak, deep budget cuts and heavy turnover in key administrative positions. Harreld said that he has asked the Iowa Board of Regents to begin the search for his replacement, saying he believes it could take longer than usual given the pandemic. He says he’ll stay on until his successor begins.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Des Moines school board approved a plan to return to in-classroom learning, but it included metrics for allowable coronavirus infection rates that the district doesn’t currently meet. That makes it unclear if students will actually return to school as planned. The board voted 6-1 on Wednesday night to gradually implement a hybrid learning plan, starting with prekindergarten on Oct. 12. Students can choose to remain in all remote learning or opt for 50% instruction in classrooms. Despite approving a plan to return to classrooms, the board set several metrics for coronavirus infection rates as well as student and staff absences. If school were to begin immediately, the district would not be in compliance with at least one of those standards.