A racial equity group is urging the city of Burlington to sever ties with a bank because of an official’s Facebook post. The Black Leadership Council is outraged that Burlington is still doing business with Farmers & Merchants Bank & Trust after a vice president, Lisa Walsh, used a racist slur against Kamala Harris in a November Facebook post. The Walsh family owns 53% of the bank. Walsh has been placed on administrative leave. Burlington Mayor Jon Billups says he has been discussing the issue with F&M.
Another 71 people died in Iowa of the coronavirus and there were more than 1,400 new confirmed cases of the virus. The state Department of Public Health reports that in the previous 24 hours as of Thursday morning, the additional deaths raised the total number of virus-related deaths to 3,739. There were 1,425 new confirmed cases, increasing the total to 272,444. Data from Johns Hopkins University shows that in the past 14 days, Iowa has reported 691.7 new confirmed cases per 100,000 people. That ranks the state 40th nationally during that period.
According to an Associated Press investigation, Iowa’s attorney general hasn’t convicted a police officer for improperly using force since at least 2004, which was the earliest date for which records are available. Attorney General Tom Miller’s office only pursued charges against two officers out of 35 force cases it reviewed, and both of them were ultimately acquitted. Police officers often aren’t charged when someone ends up dead. Laws often shield officers and give them the benefit of the doubt for a dangerous and unpredictable job, and juries can be reluctant to convict. But prosecutors who have a history of declining to charge police are now facing scrutiny of their records following a summer of mass protests calling for accountability.
The U.S. Justice Department has found that an Iowa state-run care center for people with intellectual disabilities likely violated the constitutional rights of residents by subjecting them to human experiments, some of which were deemed dangerous. A report released Tuesday identified broad failures at the Glenwood Resource Center, including poor treatment of residents and failure of the Iowa Department of Human Services to respond. The DOJ began investigating in November 2019 after reports of a high rate of deaths. The DOJ outlined detailed steps for improvement. Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Iowa DHS say they have cooperated with the investigation and will work with DOJ to resolve the problems.
An Iowa City woman is facing a felony charge accusing her of neglect that led to an elderly woman’s death. 54-year-old Tara M. Edwards was arrested Wednesday morning and faces one count of intentional dependent adult abuse causing serious injury. The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office says it began an investigation in February into the death of a 72-year-old woman who suffered from several conditions that prevented her from caring for herself. Edwards was reportedly the woman’s primary caregiver. Authorities say Edwards failed to fill the woman’s prescriptions, failed to take her to medical appointments and failed to provide necessary nutritional supplements.
Police in northwest Iowa are investigating the death of a woman, and they say it’s being treated as a homicide. Lake Park officers were called to a home around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday and found the victim inside. Her name and cause of death were not released. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and Dickinson County authorities are assisting in the investigation. Lake Park is a town of about 1,100 residents that sits along Silver Lake near the Minnesota border.
