(Radio Iowa) — Iowa Congresswoman Cindy Axne says she’s grateful to the VOLUNTEERS who’ve stepped up to help triple-check the Iowa Caucus results. “Folks come to the Democratic headquarters and overnight worked diligently to make sure that the results that will be released are factual and don’t leave any room for error,” Axne says.

Axne and the two other Democrats from Iowa who serve in the U.S. House released a written statement late yesterday afternoon. They said the Iowa Caucuses are the foundation of how BOTH political parties and the nation select presidents and generations of Iowa voters have taken that responsibility seriously. Axne, along with Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer and Congressman Dave Loebsack, called for transparency and accountability moving forward. “We want to make sure we’re doing the job that we were asked to do,” Axne says.

By mid-morning on Wednesday, 71 percent of Caucus-night results had been posted on the Iowa Democratic Party’s website.

(Radio Iowa) — An Iowa teacher who attended last (Tuesday) night’s “State of the Union” speech says federal officials need to boost spending for public schools. Shannon Baity teaches in Altoona, at an elementary school in the Southeast Polk School District. “We’re losing more and more funding to take care of our children which is completely the future of our society,” Baity says. Baity’s grandfather was a teacher and her 70-year-old father is still teaching. “I just want to be able to be a voice for all of the teachers in Iowa,” Baity says, “teachers around the country.”

Baity was the guest of Iowa Congresswoman Cindy Axne. Axne says more teachers like Baity will leave the profession if policymakers fail to act and that’s why she invited Baity to Washington. “Because that’s more important than what happened in the Caucuses in Iowa,” Axne says. Axne — along with Iowa Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer and Congressman Dave Loebsack — issued a written statement late yesterday afternoon, expressing disappointment in delayed reporting of the Iowa Democratic Party’s Caucus Night’s results.

Axne and Finkenauer endorsed Joe Biden before the Caucuses. Loebsack endorsed Pete Buttigieg.

A man from Nebraska who is being held in the Pottawattamie County Jail on numerous charges, was served with a warrant Tuesday afternoon connecting him to a double homicide in Kansas. Authorities in Kansas say 28-year old Kevin Dewayne Dean, of Omaha, faces charges that include two counts of second-degree murder, three counts of armed criminal action, one count of first-degree attempted robbery, as well as one count of unlawful use of a weapon. According to court records, the charges are with regard to the Sept. 10, 2019 deaths of  20-year-old Dajuan Reese and 44-year-old Rance Burton. The men died during an attempted robbery at a South Kansas City apartment. The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports his bond on the Iowa charges was set at $13,000.  Prosecutors in Kansas have requested a cash-only bond of $400,000 related to the charges in their jurisdiction.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports also, 36-year old Andrew Michael Hasbrouck, of Council Bluffs, was arrested Tuesday afternoon for Violation of a No Contact/Protective Order. He was taken into custody after deputies were called to a residence in the 19,000 block of Corcord Loop, with regard to a possibly stolen car. Hasbrouck, who was at the scene upon their arrival, was found to have an active protective order on him, in reference to the female protected party in the residence.

21-year old Andre Frederick Ryan was arrested Monday night in the area of Badger and Jefferson Avenues, following a report of a possibly intoxicated driver. Ryan was subsequently arrested for OWI/1st offense. And, 45-year old Jason D. Mueller was arrested Monday afternoon, following a report of a trespasser on Union Pacific railroad property. Mueller was taken into custody for Possession of Drug Paraphernlia, Public Intoxication, and Trespass/1st offense.

(Radio Iowa) — February is Cancer Prevention Month and a new survey finds Iowans still aren’t getting the message about the biggest cancer risks. Doctor Nigel Brockton, vice president of research at the American Institute for Cancer Research, says the widespread lack of awareness in the state — and nation — is astounding. “Less than 50% of people are aware that diet is related to cancer risk,” Brockton says. “Under 40% are aware that too little physical activity is related to cancer risk, and just over half, 53% are aware that overweight and obesity increases your risk of cancer.”

The obesity rate is quickly rising in Iowa. The latest surveys find 35-percent of Iowa adults are obese, a big jump up from 20-percent in the year 2000. “That’s one of the strongest risk factors,” Brockton says. “It increases your risk for 12 different types of cancer, some of the big, common cancers: breast, colorectal, prostate. It’s actually expected that obesity is going to overtake smoking as the strongest risk factor for cancer in the next 15 or 20 years.”

The “Cancer in Iowa” report in 2019 from the University of Iowa’s College of Public Health estimated two in every five Iowans will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetimes. It predicted more than 18-thousand Iowans would be diagnosed with cancer during the year and that 64-hundred Iowans would die from cancer. The website for the American Institute for Cancer Research has a Cancer Health Check and Brockton says all Iowans could benefit from taking the three-minute screening. “This is a free online survey,” he says. “You can go in and it asks you questions about yourself, about your height and weight, but also about various aspects of your diet, fruit and vegetable intake, whole grains, red and processed meats, fast food, alcohol — to really check in on your health.”

The online tool (at https://www.aicr.org/ ) according to Brockton, can help people assess their lifestyle choices and learn how to live healthier lives.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Another robbery charge has been filed against two men suspected of killing two brothers and a teenage friend at a southeast Des Moines duplex. Emmanuel Totaye Jr. and Daishawn Gills already are charged with murder and robbery connected to last Thursday’s shootings. Polk County court records don’t list the names of lawyers for them. Police said in news release Wednesday that the two assaulted and robbed a juvenile at his home earlier on the day of the shootings. Totaye and Gills are accused of killing 19-year-old Devonte and 16-year-old Malachi Swanks and a friend, 15-year-old Thayne Wright.

By JULIE PACE AP Washington Bureau Chief
WASHINGTON (AP) — Iowa Democrats were drawn to two faces of change. After a daylong delay, partial results from the state’s Democratic caucuses showed Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, with a narrow lead over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. By many measures, Buttigieg, 38, and Sanders, 78, are a study in contrast. They are the youngest and oldest candidates in the Democratic primary. Buttigieg has campaigned as a moderate, calling for more incremental improvements to the nation’s health care and higher education systems, while Sanders — a self-described democratic socialist — is urging sweeping overhauls of domestic policies.

Yet both are pitching themselves as an antidote to establishment forces in Washington that many voters, in both parties, feel have left them behind. And their early success in this primary season suggests Democrats are just as interested in a fresh approach as Republicans were four years ago when they stunned their party’s establishment by nominating Donald Trump, a novice politician and reality television star.  “There’s still a desire for change,” said Karen Finney, who advised Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. “And elections are always about the future.”
The Iowa Democratic Party released 71% of results on Tuesday after delays prompted by sweeping technical issues paralyzed the caucus system. The Associated Press has not yet declared a winner of the contest, which kicks off Democrats’ months-long process to pick a nominee to face off against Trump in November.

Both Buttigieg and Sanders have faced questions about their electability in the general election. Democratic rivals have knocked Buttigieg’s inexperience, given that his highest elected office has been as mayor of a city of 100,000. And party moderates fear that Sanders will turn off independents and centrist Republicans who may be seeking an alternative to Trump.
Yet the early results, as well as an AP survey of Iowa Democrats, offered a glimpse of how Sanders and Buttigieg gained ground on their rivals. They hold a sizable lead in particular over former Vice President Joe Biden, whose centrist campaign has focused in part on a call for a reset in Washington after the Trump the era.

Among Sanders’ supporters, 88% said it was more important to vote for a candidate who will fundamentally change the political system than a candidate who will restore the system to what it was before Trump was elected in 2016. Just over 70 percent of Buttigieg supporters felt the same, according to AP VoteCast.  “The fact that a young gay mayor from a small Midwestern town and a nearly 80-year-old self-proclaimed socialist appear to be leading the pack out of the first primary contest should make Democrats question their long held prognostications about what the party is looking for in a nominee,” said Jennifer Psaki, a former campaign and White House aide to President Barack Obama.

Buttigieg leaned into that call for change Tuesday in New Hampshire, the next state on the primary calendar. Democrats, he argued, win when they nominate presidential candidates who can “turn the page” on the past and usher in the voices of a new generation.  “In order to govern, in order to lead, in order to move this country forward, we need a president focused on the future and ready to leave the politics of the past in the past,” Buttigieg said during a high-energy event Tuesday night in Concord, New Hampshire. Buttigieg would be the youngest person ever elected president, and also the nation’s first openly gay commander in chief. Sanders would be the oldest person ever to serve as president.

Sanders has also spent three decades in Washington, first in the House and then in the Senate. But he’s largely served as an independent, floating on the fringes of the Democratic Party before breaking out in the 2016 presidential primary and emerging as a fierce challenger to establishment favorite Hillary Clinton.  During his own rally in New Hampshire on Tuesday, he urged his supporters to help him finish the job he started during that campaign.  “Let us create the political revolution this country needs,” he declared.

There are others in the Democratic field who have called for transformational change in Washington, namely Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who shares many of Sanders’ progressive views. Warren trails Sanders and Buttigieg in the partial Iowa results, but is expected to be competitive in the New Hampshire primary.  The Democratic field indeed remains crowded coming out of Iowa, and billionaire Michael Bloomberg is waiting for the candidates when the race shifts to the March Super Tuesday contests. But the early Iowa results offer a preview for what could become a head-to-head contest between the party’s moderate and liberal flanks.  Among Sanders supporters, 45% identified as “very liberal,” and another 26% said they were somewhat liberal, according to VoteCast. Nearly two-thirds of Buttigieg’s supporters were self-described moderates.

Buttigieg has staked out more moderate positions on some of the major issues that have roiled the Democratic primary, most notably health care. Unlike Sanders, who backs a government-run, Medicare for all system, Buttigieg has said he would offer public health care to those who want it, while allowing others to keep private insurance. But Buttigieg is also staking out forward-leaning positions on a range of other issues. He’s called for scrapping the Electoral College and adding more seats to the Supreme Court. As he addressed supporters before departing Iowa late Monday, Buttigieg echoed the speech Obama delivered in the state after his surprise 2008 caucus victory, declaring that Iowa had “shocked the nation.”

It was Iowa that helped Obama shake off questions about his own electability, catapulting him to the Democratic nomination and ultimately the White House. Both Buttigieg and Sanders now hope the state can do the same for them.

A joint meeting of the Griswold and Lenox School District Boards of Education will take place 6-p.m. today, in Lenox. The meeting will be held at the Lenox High School’s Collaboration Room (600 S. Locust St.). The purpose of the meeting is to complete the shared superintendent’s evaluation, consider extending the sharing agreement for the position of superintendent, and to consider the superintendent’s individual contract.

Following discussion and a public comment period on the sharing agreement and/or other matters, the combined Boards will consider entering into a closed session to evaluate “The professional competency of an individual whose appointment, hiring, performance or discharge is being considered when necessary to prevent needless and irreparable injury to that individual’s reputation and that individual requests a closed session.”

Afterward, the Boards will resume an open session and act on approval of the sharing agreement and Superintendent Contract.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – A Cedar Rapids nurse accused of taking painkillers from hospital patients’ intravenous lines and injecting herself has pleaded guilty. The Gazette reports that 33-year-old Kelly Postel, of Monticello, entered her pleas Tuesday in Cedar Rapids. Her sentencing hearing has yet to be scheduled. Prosecutors say Postel obtained an excess amount of fentanyl and morphine from the hospital pharmacy and administered patients’ prescribed amounts and then injected herself while at work with the leftover drugs. Authorities also say Postel took fentanyl from a patient by using a syringe to withdraw it from an intravenous line and injected herself while still at work.

Here are the latest, unofficial returns from Iowa by county in the Democratic caucuses for President. (TP=Total # of precincts; PR=Precincts reporting) 1,250 of 1,765 precincts – 71%