The window for filing nomination papers for municipal elections opened on Monday, and Cedar Rapids candidate Tiffany O’Donnell turned in more than the required number of signatures early Tuesday morning. O’Donnell is the current CEO of Women Lead Change and spent 15 years as the lead anchor for CBS2/Fox28. She’ll join KXEL Live & Local to talk about her candidacy for mayor Thursday morning.
Meanwhile, current state representative Christina Bohannan announced on Twitter yesterday morning that she’s running for Congress. The Iowa City Democrat says she is “running to fight for better health care, better education, and better economic opportunity for Iowans.” Bohannan is a law professor at the University of Iowa. The Second District seat is currently held by Republican Rep. Dr. Mariannette Miller-Meeks.
The Indianola School Board has tabled discussions about dumping the district’s Indian mascot to focus its attention on fighting the spread of coronavirus in school buildings. The board decided at a meeting Monday to postpone acting on any mascot changes until after the November election, in which at least three board seats will be decided at the polls. The board’s decision comes as schools, cities and athletic teams across the country are changing or reconsidering certain mascots considered by some to be culturally insensitive. Last year, the city of Indianola voted to remove Native American imagery from its city logo, including from police cars, badges and patches.
COVID-19 is shutting down a southwest Iowa school district before the school year can even get started after an outbreak was reported among the staff. The AHSTW Community School District, which covers Avoca, Hancock, Shelby, Tennant and Walnut, said it had to cancel open house and delay the start of school until at least next Monday. School leaders said the outbreak among school staff led to “multiple positives and many more exposures.” Contact tracing indicated students at the K-12 levels have not had the same level of exposure so for now, extracurricular activities will continue as planned.
Using federal COVID relief funds, Governor Kim Reynolds announced Tuesday that the Iowa Department of Education would award more than $8.6 million in grants to 64 school districts looking to improve their mental health services. The money comes from the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund, which is part of the federal Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act passed last December. Governors were given a portion of discretionary dollars to address critical issues resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The state reports a total of 130 grant applications were received. Funding is set to be distributed equitably across awardees based on district-certified enrollment for the last school year.
Three people have been arrested in connection with a July shooting that injured a 5-year-old boy in Waterloo. In a series of early morning raids Tuesday, Waterloo police detained three 17-year-olds on charges of intimidation with a weapon and willful injury and executed five search warrants. Officers found about 30 spent shell casings from at least three weapons after someone opened fire at a southbound sport utility vehicle in the area of Logan Avenue and Argyle Street shortly before 9:30 p.m. on July 18. The 5-year-old was struck and taken to an area hospital, where he was treated for a broken arm. Witnesses saw four people running from the area, and investigators recovered surveillance video from the shooting. Police say shell casings came from 9mm, .40-caliber and .45-caliber weapons.
Effective October 24, mandatory 10-digit local dialing will be required for all customers in the Iowa 319 and 515 area codes. The reason is the upcoming implementation of the National Suicide Prevention Hotline. Every customer with a number from the 319 and 515 area codes will change to mandatory 10-digit dialing for local calls. Dialing just 7 digits for local calls will be prohibited for all customers in the entire area code.
