Undeterred by being defeated in a bid for re-election to the U.S. House only eight months ago, Iowa Democrat Abby Finkenauer says she’s running for her party’s nomination for U.S. Senate in 2022. The seat is currently held by Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of New Hartford, who has not announced his election plans. Dave Muhlbauer has already announced he is running for the Democrat nomination; others, such as Waterloo Mayor Quentin Hart and 2020 primary candidate Mike Franken, have been mentioned as possible candidates. Despite losing her House seat in 2020 after only one term, Finkenauer is still seen by some as a viable prospect for Iowa Democrats.
One of two Iowa prison nurses fired for her role in accidentally giving dozens of inmates large overdoses of the coronavirus vaccine is appealing her termination, saying she is “blameless” for the mix-up. The Iowa Department of Corrections fired Amanda Dodson, a registered nurse at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison, in May after an investigation found 77 inmates received shots containing up to six times the recommended dose of the Pfizer vaccine. Dodson and her union have appealed her firing to the Iowa Public Employment Relations Board, arguing it was unjust. A union spokesperson says the errors happened after the prison switched from the Moderna to the Pfizer vaccine and failed to train nurses on a key change in how the vaccines are delivered.
The Iowa State Patrol says it’s seeing more drivers traveling at speeds of more than 100 mph. Troopers say more drivers were speeding at the beginning of the pandemic due to less traffic and cars on the road. But they say speeding is only getting worse, despite more people being out on the roads. Officials say there are also more traffic fatalities now compared to the same time last year. According to the Iowa DOT, 165 people have died on Iowa roads so far this year. At this time last year, that number was 159.
Iowa’s drought conditions have shown little improvement even though rain fell over much of the state last week. The latest weekly U.S. Drought Monitor report, released yesterday, shows only slight decreases in dry areas. Only 30 percent of the state is under normal conditions, up one percent from the previous week. Abnormally dry areas of the state shrank slightly from 70 to 69 percent. Areas of moderate drought remained at 55 percent, while areas under severe drought did decrease from 31 to 26 percent…and that includes improvement in northeast Iowa. An area of north central Iowa stretching down to a portion of Polk County is the driest in the state.
A top Iowa pork producer is pushing federal lawmakers to allow immigrant workers to stay on the job year-round. A spokeswoman for Iowa Select Farms told U.S. senators during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday that seasonal employment currently allowed under a federal visa program is insufficient to meet the industry’s needs. Jen Sorenson testified that farmers and meatpacking plants are facing severe labor shortages and need immigrant workers to be able to work year-round. Wednesday’s hearing focused on the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which would provide a pathway to legal status for more than 1 million undocumented farmworkers. The U.S. House passed the bill in March.
A high-speed chase led officers through three counties Wednesday afternoon. The Webster County Sheriff’s Department says deputies tried to pull over a car just outside of Fort Dodge for traffic violations, but the driver sped off. The chase took authorities into Hamilton, then back to Webster, then into Wright County. The car was eventually stopped with stop sticks, but the sheriff’s department found the car empty. They think the people inside fled into a cornfield. A search for them was called off Wednesday night.
One person is dead after being hit by a train in Greene County. It happened Wednesday morning west of Grand Junction. The Iowa State Patrol said Marvin Lee Krieger was driving a car and did not stop at a railroad crossing. He was hit by a Union Pacific train and died at the scene.
