(Radio Iowa) — The leader of the Iowa Department of Education has been getting a lot of calls and questions as the number of school days canceled by winter weather continues to mount. Director Ryan Wise says making up the days depends on whether school districts set their yearly calendar based a set number of hours or a set number of days.  “If schools have a days calendar — they have to have at least 180 school days of instruction,” Wise explains. “If they choose a calendar based on instructional hours — they need to have a thousand and 80 hours of instruction over the course of the year.”

School districts had to tack missed days onto the end of the school year or cut short spring break to make up missed days the hour option was added with a change in state law 2014. Wise says it’s become the calendar of choice. “I believe about 95 percent of districts have an hours calendar and so, that allows them the flexibility to do creative things like add additional minutes on to the end of the day. So, they lengthen their school day for a set period of time for the remainder of the year,” Wise explains.

Schools that use the 180-day calendar need to have students in class for a minimum number of hours to qualify as a day. “Six hours of instruction meets the minimum requirement for a day of instruction toward the 180-days requirement,” according to Wise. “And schools are also allow to use parent-teacher conferences to count toward the days of instruction.” The Department of Education doesn’t keep a running total of school days — but Wise says he’s heard it ranges from more than 10 to less than 10. One of the questions he gets is if the Ed Department or the governor can waive the calendar requirement in years like this one. “There’s no power granted to the governor or the department or the director to waive that requirement, ” he says.

Each district makes its own decision on when the weather is too bad to hold classes. “It is absolutely one of the toughest decisions that our superintendents have to make,” Wise says, “and I don’t envy them at all in having to make that call.” He says the superintendents do a good job of making those decisions based on the what’s best for the safety of the students and school employees.  Wise says the number of snow days this year varies widely across the state. “I’ve heard in some places 10-plus days have been missed, and in others it’s been less than that.”

The Creston Police Department reports two women were cited for Theft in the 5th Degree, Sunday night. 19-year old C’Anne Sabrie Hunter, of Oklahoma, and 18-year old Yolanda Annabelle Lopez, of Arizona, were cited at the Creston Wal-Mart Store and then released. And, 24-year old Jessica Marie Larkin Hedgepeth, of Creston, was arrested late Saturday morning, on a Union County warrant. Hedgepeth was taken into custody on a warrant for Failure to Appear on an original, Possession of a Controlled Substance/2nd offense – charge. She was also arrested for two counts Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Hedgepeth was being held for Union County without bond, in the Adams County Jail.

(7-a.m. News)

California Democrat Congressman Eric Swalwell met with a group of Democratic Party activists at the home of the Cass County Democratic Party Chair Sherry Toelle, Sunday (February 17th). Swalwell was raised in Sac City, Iowa until age 6. His family moved to Oregon, before settling in California. Toelle says his basic life philosophy was formed in his youth when his father was police chief.

CA Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell

Swalwell, who is considering a run for the presidency, spoke of his priorities: education, infrastructure, health care, jobs and the economy, and gun violence, saying “We should have background checks for all guns. And we need to invest in mental health, health care, so people are not jailed, instead of receiving treatment.” He cited a recent incident in California where a man was having a heart attack and the theater emptied out because people thought a shooting was occurring; “there is a state of fear in this country.”

Swalwell stated that a top priority is creating new jobs and “connecting the disconnected. So many people feel disconnected from opportunities. Americans need a leader who can connect to them”, adding that he is familiar with the everyday struggles of families. He was the first in his family to go to college and he and his wife have two young children and nearly $100,000 in student loan debt. He proposes a variety of initiatives to create more jobs, including workforce training, infrastructure investment, and tax changes to boost growth in low-income communities.

Swalwell has served in the US House of Representatives since 2013 and is currently a member of the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees. His mantra is “Go big. Be bold. Do good.”

(Radio Iowa) — Democratic presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar hit the Iowa campaign trail this weekend. “It is wonderful to be back in Mason City on a wonderful sunny day,” Klobuchar said Saturday before joking. “I left my snowglobe behind.”  Klobuchar kicked off her campaign for the White House eight days ago with an outdoor speech in her homestate of Minnesota – during a snow storm. Yesterday (Sunday) afternoon, Klobuchar met with Iowans in Knoxville and Albia, promising to bring Midwest pragmatism to the Oval Office if she’s the next president. “When you drive the snowstorm in Iowa today, you think about all the people who for so many years that worked hard to earn a living and continue to work hard to earn a living,” Klobuchar said, “and one of the things that I have done in Minnesota because we’ve got a metropolitan area and rural is try to bridge that divide.”

Klobuchar calls her approach “heartland economics.” “Making sure we make the case that one size doesn’t fit all, that you’ve got special needs for rural hospitals, that you’ve got special needs for how we run our schools and other things, but it’s also about governing from the heart,” Klobuchar says. “and that means everyone’s got to have everyone’s backs and got to take on some of these special interests whether it’s health care or whether it’s the tech companies.”

John Delaney, the former Maryland congressman who’s been running for governor since 2017, campaigned in Iowa this weekend, as did a couple of other Democrats who say they’re CONSIDERING a run for the White House.

Red Oak Police say officers were dispatched at around 7:40-p.m. Sunday to the 100 block of West Reed Street, for a report of harassment. Upon further investigation, officers issued a Juvenile Referral for a 14-year old female, for Harassment in the 1st Degree. The teen was cited into Juvenile Court and released to the custody of her parents.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports Marshall Larry Adams, of Stanton, was arrested Sunday in the 500 block of Prairie Avenue in Stanton, following a traffic stop. Adams was arrested for OWI/1st Offense and on two counts of Child Endangerment. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.