A collision between a semi tractor-trailer and a car in Creston this (Thursday) morning, caused about $2,500 damage, but no one was hurt. Authorities says the driver of the semi, 63-year old Arthu McNaul, of Des Moines, was traveling eastbound on W. Adams Street at around 9:10-a.m., and swung wide left to turn onto Elm Street. McNaul didn’t see a 2006 Lexus LS-250 legally entering the right turn lane beside him. When he initiated the turn, the trailer struck the left front wheel well of the car, driven by 27-year old Brant Adamson, of Creston.

No citations were issued. The semi is registered to Ruan Logistics Corp., in Des Moines.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports 25-year old Jessica Marie Larkin, of Creston, was arrested at around 10:30-p.m. Wednesday at the Union County Law Enforcement Center. She was taken into custody on a Union County warrant for Theft in the 5^th degree. Larkin was subsequently released on $300 bond.

(Radio Iowa) — While protests in Iowa and nationwide are dividing many people along racial lines, a University of Iowa dance instructor is launching an effort to unite all sides under a common goal, while raising money for a Cedar Rapids museum. L-D Kidd says he wanted to carry a sign in last weekend’s racial justice rally in Iowa City that would reflect his particular racial make-up, which can’t be reported by checking just one box. “I’m actually half black, half white and I wanted that in-between voice to be heard,” Kidd says. “I created a protest sign that said ‘50% Black, 50% White’ and then like an addition problem, I put ‘100% Over Racism.'”

He got immediate positive feedback from many people, and a friend who runs a t-shirt company offered to start printing the slogan on t-shirts. Within days, the motto has quickly evolved to include people who are 100-percent white or 100-percent black, while Kidd says he also heard from a friend whose children are partly of Asian descent. “She said, ‘My daughters are 50% Korean and they love the shirt and would want to wear it but it doesn’t apply to them,'” Kidd says. “So, that’s where the ‘50% Person of Color, 50% White, 100% Over Racism’ shirt came about. That just sparked more ideas of being as inclusive as possible.”

He says the goal of the movement is to find not just racial equality, but racial equity.  “The main thing with this shirt, I’m not making any profit off of it,” Kidd says. “During the month of June, all of the profit is going to the African American Museum of Iowa, and then in July, we’re going to pick another organization that is on the front lines, fighting for racial equity.”

Kidd says he hopes the shirts can help build momentum for people to “wear their truth.”

(More online at https://www.lovardaviskidd.com/100-over-racism)

(Radio Iowa) – The University of Northern Iowa and Iowa State University will start fall classes earlier and be done by Thanksgiving in an effort to avoid any problems with the coronavirus. I-S-U Extension vice president, John Lawrence, leads the fall planning committee. He says students tend to mix with others when they go home and that increases their risk for exposure. “Visit friends and family and interact with people and then come back in where they were before and then two to three weeks after finals we send them home again. We thought that was just a risk we thought that we could avoid,” Lawrence says.

He says they also have a plan for testing and tracing to keep up on any possible COVID-19 cases. “We’ll be testing all faculty and staff and then the students living in our residence halls. Were standing up our own contact tracing team here on campus — it will work closely with Story County Public Health — but allow us to much more quickly track down people who may’ve come in contact with someone who has the systems or tested positive,” according to Lawrence. He says they will also take other measures to help cut the spread. He says they are cutting the size of classes to give students more room and will expect all faculty, staff and students to wear face coverings.

The three state schools finished the spring semester with online courses. Lawrence says I-S-U will have a mix of class types in the fall. “There’ll be some things that will be online — particularly our large lectures will be online — and we will supplement those with discussion groups and recitation and so on,” according to Lawrence. “Some of our moderate size, mid-size lectures will move up into those larger classrooms. So they will have an in-person component. But they may also have an online piece.”

Lawrence says there are still a lot of things to work out. “Part of our ongoing work in this is trying to identify what are some of those trigger points where we may tighten up restrictions — or even the other way if things are going well — what are restrictions we might loosen up. So not only looking at different trigger points, but different actions that we can take,” Lawrence says.

The schedule calls for fall classes to begin on August 17th and the semester will end the day before Thanksgiving. Classes will be held on Labor Day. The University of Northern Iowa will follow the same calendar. The announcement from the school says they will have a mix of face-to-face, hybrid and online instruction during the fall, and will also reduce the number of students in each classroom. Students and professors will be expected to wear cloth face coverings. The University of Iowa has not yet released its plans for fall classes.