(Radio Iowa) — Operators of big rigs traveling through Iowa and seven other states are starting to take advantage of a new system designed to make it easier for commercial drivers to locate parking in rest areas and private truck stops. Phil Mescher, with the Iowa DOT’s Office of Systems Planning, says the effort was launched several years ago and went “live” earlier this month. “People can travel all across our interstate system and at certain times see overcrowding of trucks in our rest areas and truck stops,” Mescher said.

Truck drivers can get information on available parking spaces along select interstates through various smart phone apps that access a data feed provided at trucksparkhere.com (trucks park here dot com). Officials in each of the eight states that are part of the “Trucks Park Here” system chose their own state-specific plans. In Iowa, the information is focused primarily on parking spots located along Interstate 80. “In Iowa, we picked the Interstate 80 corridor because that is where most of our truck traffic is. Mescher said also, “We have some sites that are very close to I-80. They go up I-29 and we also have one off of I-235. We go up Intestate 35 all the way to the rest areas that are south of Story City. We go up Interstate 380 as well, up to the Cedar Rapids area.”

Information on the available truck parking spots in Iowa will eventually be included on the state’s 511 system (www.511ia.org). The system should help truckers who need to find a parking space before reaching limits on how many hours they can be on the road. “It will never say that there are no spots available, it will just say the availability is low. But that at least gives them advanced information to make a decision…if they know their hours of service are about up, then they should probably go ahead and park in that first one rather than trying to risk getting to the next one,” Mescher said.

The Trucks Park Here system uses a variety of in-pavement and parking lot entrance/exit sensors. The effort was funded by a $25 million federal grant and involves the states of Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

WAUKEE, Iowa (AP) — The superintendent of the embattled Waukee Community School District will be leaving her post at the end of the school year. The school board voted Monday to accept Superintendent Cindy McDonald’s resignation, effective June 30. The third year of her three-year contract will be voided. A special state audit report released last month said administrators improperly used state credit cards and spent nearly $129,000 on items and services that “were not in the taxpayers’ best interest.”

The report says the items included nearly $28,000 for lounge chairs and furniture for the superintendent’s office and more than $83,000 on district administrators’ retreats. The district’s former chief operating officer, Eric Rose, is charged with two counts of solicitation to commit a felony and one count of felonious misconduct in office. Dallas County court records say Rose has pleaded not guilty.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST

WASHINGTON (AP) — Iowa Republican congressman Steve King is losing his place on House committees after GOP officials condemned his comments about race. The nine-term congressman had lamented in a recent interview that white supremacy and white nationalism have become offensive terms. House Democrats are pursuing censure and other punishments for King, who has been criticized for his remarks about race over the years.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s top elections official has acknowledged that his office mistakenly derailed a long-sought plan to grant residents more expansive gun rights by forgetting to notify the public of the proposed constitutional amendment. Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate cited a “bureaucratic oversight” for his office’s failure to publish notice of the proposed amendment in newspapers before the November election, which the state constitution requires.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republicans who control the Iowa Legislature are vowing to continue building the state’s workforce while reducing taxes and government dependence, the kind of reforms they say voters had in mind when returning them to power. Both parties pledged bipartisanship as the legislative session opened but largely laid out priorities unlikely to foster much agreement.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — House Democrats appointed to a committee to review the results of a contested northeast Iowa House seat are vowing to fight any attempt to rush to judgment on whether to count 29 absentee mail ballots. Kayla Koether trails Republican incumbent Michael Bergan by nine votes in the Iowa House district 55 seat. The dispute is the result of a conflict between state law and current practices of the U.S. Postal Service.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Veteran Republican Rep. Steve King will be blocked from committee assignments for the next two years after lamenting that white supremacy and white nationalism have become offensive terms. King, in his ninth term representing Iowa, will not be given committee assignments in the Congress that began this month, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Monday night.

King served on the Agriculture, Small Business and Judiciary committees in the last Congress, and he chaired Judiciary’s subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice. McCarthy, R-Calif., called King’s remarks “beneath the dignity of the Party of Lincoln and the United States of America.”
King’s comments “call into question whether he will treat all Americans equally, without regard for race and ethnicity,” McCarthy said, adding: “House Republicans are clear: We are all in this together, as fellow citizens equal before God and the law.”

The action by the GOP steering committee came after King and McCarthy met Monday to discuss the remarks on white supremacy, the latest in a years-long pattern of racially insensitive remarks by King. King called McCarthy’s decision to remove him from committees “a political decision that ignores the truth.” He vowed to “continue to point out the truth and work with all the vigor that I have to represent 4th District Iowans for at least the next two years.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell denounced King earlier Monday, saying, “There is no place in the Republican Party, the Congress or the country for an ideology of racial supremacy of any kind.” Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, also condemned King, telling CNN Monday that King “doesn’t have a place in our party” or in Congress and should resign.

Meanwhile, House Democrats moved to formally punish King. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., the third-ranking House Democrat and the highest-ranking African-American in Congress, introduced a formal resolution of disapproval late Monday. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., said he will introduce a censure resolution, a more serious action by the House, that Rush said would announce to the world that Congress has no home for “repugnant and racist behavior.” A third Democrat, Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio, introduced a separate censure resolution against King.

One Republican did not join the chorus of criticism. Asked about King’s remarks Monday, President Donald Trump said, “I haven’t been following it.”