Gov. Kim Reynolds has announced that Iowa will join a number of states ending pandemic-related federal programs that give extra cash to unemployed workers. Reynolds announced the change yesterday in a news release, saying the state will end the federal boosts, including an additional $300-a-week unemployment payment, on June 12th. Reynolds said in the announcement that the benefits are keeping people from returning to work and are hindering the state’s economy — a charge echoed by governors in several other states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Montana and South Carolina. The move was praised by a number of business organizations, including the Iowa Association of Business and Industry. That group’s president, Mike Ralston, noted that Iowa had a workforce shortage prior to the pandemic, and the continued extended benefits have only exacerbated the challenge and slowed the state’s recovery.
The public will be able to watch the trial of the man charged with killing University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts — but not in person. Citing COVID-19 protocols, Judge Joel Yates said in an order this week that members of the public and news media will not be allowed to attend the trial of Cristhian Bahena Rivera that starts next week. But he said news outlets can operate remote-controlled video cameras to broadcast the proceedings live on the internet or television. Rivera is expected to stand trial beginning Monday in Davenport for first-degree murder in connection with the death of 20-year-oldTibbetts, who disappeared in July 2018 while out for a run in her hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa.
The self-haul drop-off site for derecho tree debris from unincorporated areas of Linn County will close permanently at 7 p.m. this coming Sunday, May 16. The site is located at the Wickiup Hill Learning Area in Toddville. Residents who live in unincorporated Linn County can continue to self-haul derecho tree debris to this location and drop it off at no charge through Sunday, but you must pre-register before dropping off tree debris.
A jury has acquitted a former eastern Iowa high school Spanish teacher of allegations that he sexually exploited a student. After less than two hours of deliberation, a Louisa County jury found former Columbus Community High School teacher Eusebio Jimenez, Jr., not guilty of the charge of sexual exploitation by a school employee. A judge had dismissed a second count during the trial. Prosecutors had alleged that Jimenez had once rubbed the student’s leg in his classroom and made inappropriate sexual remarks to him in person and through text messages.
Governor Kim Reynolds signed a bill into law this week that allows Iowa parents to remove students from schools with voluntary diversity plans and allows parents to enroll their children into other school districts. Iowa law previously allowed schools to deny transfer requests to balance their diversity based on socio-economic status as measured by the free or reduced-price lunch program. Five school districts in Iowa have voluntary diversity plans, including Waterloo and West Liberty. The governor also signed a bill that limits the types of diversity training schools and governments may offer.
Governor Reynolds joined nearly 20 other governors—including those from Nebraska, Missouri, South Dakota and North Dakota–in sending a letter to the White House calling on the Biden administration to take immediate action at the U.S.-Mexico border. As the number of migrant crossings has reached the highest count in nearly 20 years, they say the crisis is now too big to ignore…and that issues at the border are spilling over beyond border states and into their states. The letter goes on to say the Biden Administration is enticing migrants to cross the border “by using irresponsible rhetoric and reversing a slew of policies.”
An Iowa woman has been found guilty of first-degree murder for killing her estranged husband’s girlfriend. A Marion County jury deliberated for less than a hour yesterday before convicting Michelle Boat in the May 2020 death of 46-year-old Tracy Mondabough in Pella. Prosecutors say Boat stabbed Mondabough because she was dating Boat’s husband. The couple was married for 20 years before Boat’s husband left her. Boat’s attorney acknowledged during the trial that Boat killed Mondabough, but he asked the jury to convict her of a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter. Boat faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
A nutrition expert who pioneered innovative ways of raising fish rich in micronutrients and fatty acids and incorporating them into diets in developing countries has won the World Food Prize. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted, who grew up on the Caribbean island of Trinidad and is a citizen of Denmark, is being recognized for her achievements in pioneering fish-based food systems to improve nutrition, health and livelihoods for millions around the world. Yesterday she was named this year’s recipient of the $250,000 World Food Prize, which was created by Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Iowa native Norman Borlaug in 1986 to recognize researchers who have improved the quality and availability of food. The foundation that awards the prize is based in Des Moines.
