(Radio Iowa) — A bill that would end tenure for professors at the three state universities has cleared the first procedural hurdle in the Iowa Senate and key lawmakers say they want to “keep the conversation alive.” Senator Brad Zaun, a Republican from Urbandale, says too many courses are being taught by teaching assistants rather than professors.

“My job is simple: look out for the kids, the students,” Zaun says. About 10 percent of classes at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa are being led by teaching assistants. Keith Saunders, a lobbyist for the University of Iowa, says if the bill becomes law, Iowa would be the only state that does not offer tenure to professors at its public universities.

“This bill would really relegate Iowa to sort of the backwaters of higher education,” Saunders says. “…Faculty would avoid Iowa. I think it’s everyone’s goal to have the best and the brightest teaching our next generation, but they would not come here if tenure’s not available to them.” Zaun questions some of the sabbaticals professors have been granted for research outside the classroom and Zaun says, to him, tenure “pretty much guarantees” a professor can’t be fired.

“I recognize there is brilliant professors at our three public universities. I’m not picking on them,” Zaun said. “It’s just frustrating to me.” Rachel Boon, the chief academic officer for the Iowa Board of Regents, says 25 tenured professors have been terminated or agreed to resign in the past decade. “I want to make clear tenure is not a blanket guarantee of job security or immunity from termination,” Boon says. The bill cleared a three-member senate subcommittee yesterday (Wednesday) with the votes of Zaun and fellow Republican Jerry Behn, a state senator from Boone.

“I think the underlying goal of all of this is to do what’s best for the students,” Behn said. “After all, that’s why all the professors are there, so I think it’s important to keep the conversation alive.” A similar bill has stalled in the senate in year’s past.  Tenure has existed for more than a century. The chief academic officer for the Iowa Board of Regents says tenure does protect professors who “make some people uncomfortable.”

“We can’t fire them because they do that really important work in an area that maybe makes the employer or some other external entity unhappy,” Boon says. Senator Herman Quirmbach, a Democrat, is a tenured Iowa State University professor and he says this bill might lead to the suppression of research, like the “oleo” controversy of 1943. Iowa State economists suggested margarine compared favorably with butter and American should eat more of it because there was a shortage of butter for World War II soldiers. The dairy industry objected, the pro-margarine wording was retracted and 16 economics professors left Iowa State.

“That’s what happens when you challenge and undermine academic freedom,” Quirmbach says. Two of the professors who left Iowa State over the oleo controversy later won the Nobel Prize for Economics.

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

JAMAICA, Iowa (AP) — The central Iowa town of Jamaica is set to appoint a new mayor after its previous mayor was arrested earlier this month on charges related to marijuana found growing in her basement. Acting mayor Tim McDermott tells the Des Moines Register that city leaders are expected to appoint a new mayor at a meeting Monday. Former mayor LaDonna Kennedy and her husband, Randy Kennedy, were arrested Jan. 16 after sheriff’s deputies found marijuana plants in the home.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The clearest path for Democrats to reclaim the White House runs through the upper Midwest, and the party could soon have multiple presidential contenders who have deep roots in the region. The two biggest Midwestern Democratic names in the mix for 2020 are Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. They’ve succeeded in states where it’s critical to appeal to rural and working-class voters _ groups Democrats are eager to court as they work to defeat President Donald Trump.

CHICAGO (AP) — The painfully cold weather system that put much of the Midwest into a historic deep freeze is expected to ease Thursday, though temperatures could still tumble to record lows in some places before the region begins to thaw out. Disruptions caused by the cold will persist, too, including power outages and canceled flights and trains. Crews in Detroit will need days to repair water mains that burst Wednesday, and other pipes can still burst in persistent subzero temperatures.

URBANDALE, Iowa (AP) — An Urbandale police sergeant is suing the city, saying he suffered harassment, discrimination and retaliation for the post-traumatic stress disorder he suffered in the wake of the 2016 ambush killings of a colleague and a Des Moines officer. The Des Moines Register reports that Sgt. Mark Jorgensen was one of the first responders on the scene when Urbandale Officer Justin Martin was shot as he sat in his patrol car.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Friday, will announce their appointment of a person to fill a vacancy position for the Cass County Attorney’s Office. Earlier this week, the Board interviewed four candidates who had submitted their applications by the deadline: Robert Engler (With the Cambridge Law Firm, in Atlantic); Anne Rohling, a lawyer from Council Bluffs who owns her own law firm; Marti Sleister, an experienced trial attorney in criminal and juvenile law, with the Sleister Law firm in Fremont, NE; and Vanessa Strazdas, a lawyer from Omaha.

On Wednesday (Jan. 30th), the Supervisors discussed the four applicants.  During their meeting, it was noted that all four were well qualified.  One applicant is a current county resident and the other three noted they would be able to establish residence by date of appointment, therefore the board determined that all were eligible for appointment.  After due consideration, the board reached a decision on whom they would choose to appoint. That individual was reached by phone and offered the position. They immediately accepted the offer.

The person appointed during the Board’s meeting at 9-a.m., Friday, will immediately succeed Michael Hooper, who Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds on Jan/ 11th appointed as a judge in the Fourth Judicial District. Following the appointment of the new County Attorney, the Board will act on a Resolution to approve the number of, and appointment of Administrative Assistants to the Cass County Attorney.

They will also act to fill the vacancy term of a Cass Township Trustee (an appointed position).

The body of a University of Iowa student has been found on the campus in Iowa City, and officials say they believe his death was weather-related.

Television station KCRG reports that the body of 18-year-old Gerald Belz was found behind an academic hall just before 3 a.m. Wednesday by campus police. He was taken to a hospital, where he died. While officials believe his death was related to dangerously low temperatures at the time he was found, officials have not given a specific cause of death.

Belz’s family told KCRG that doctors did not find alcohol in his system.

The National Weather Service says the wind chill around 3 a.m. was negative 51 degrees (negative 46 Celsius).

The death is the eighth fatality linked to the extremely cold weather in the Midwest.

JAMAICA, Iowa (AP) — The Guthrie County town of Jamaica is set to appoint a new mayor after its previous mayor was arrested earlier this month on charges related to marijuana found growing in her basement. Acting mayor Tim McDermott tells the Des Moines Register that city leaders are expected to appoint a new mayor Monday. McDermott says former mayor LaDonna Kennedy submitted her resignation last week.

Kennedy and her husband, 58-year-old Randy Kennedy, were arrested Jan. 16 on various drug charges after Guthrie County Sheriff’s deputies searching for a suspect in a separate crime knocked on their door. The suspect wasn’t found, but deputies called for a search warrant after smelling an “overwhelming odor of raw marijuana” coming from the home.

Investigators say 18 marijuana plants, several bags of marijuana and drug paraphernalia were found.

(Radio Iowa) — Four Republicans in the Iowa House are sponsoring legislation to erect they describe as an “abortion victims monument” on the state capitol grounds. “I saw a news article about a similar bill in Tennessee, where they had passed a bill to build such a monument, so I thought that would be a good idea for Iowa, too.” That’s Representative Dean Fisher of Montour.

There’s no spot picked out or even a design for the statue. The bill would leave those decisions to the state agency and the state commission that oversee the capitol grounds in Des Moines.  “I don’t envision something huge,” Fisher said. “Not a huge tower or anything, something a few feet tall.” Fisher emphasizes the bill calls for private funds to be used in designing, constructing and maintaining the monument.

“It will help people to remember and realize the loss that we’ve suffered by aborting thousands upon thousands of babies here in Iowa,” Fisher says. “Those are lives lost that could have been productive members of our society.” The Family Leader, a Christian conservative organization, is the only group registered TODAY in favor of the bill. The Interfaith Alliance of Iowa is registered in opposition. Connie Ryan, the group’s executive director, says the bill would set a dangerous precedent. “I don’t understand why somebody would want to use state land to push forward their political agenda,” Ryan says.

There are nearly 50 monuments and memorials on the Iowa Capitol Grounds today.