The last U.S. troops left Afghanistan yesterday, nearly a day before a Biden Administration deadline of this afternoon Iowa time for the departure. U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst is a retired lieutenant colonel from the Iowa Army National Guard. She shared her thoughts with Fox News Channel. Sen. Ernst called the withdrawal “haphazard”.
The U.S. Education Department says it is investigating Iowa and four other Republican-led states that have banned or limited mask requirements in schools, saying the policies could amount to discrimination against students with disabilities or health conditions. The department’s office for civil rights sent letters to education chiefs in Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah. It marks a sharp escalation in the Biden administration’s battle with Republican states that say wearing masks should be a personal choice. For her part, Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a statement noting that Iowa’s schools reopened responsibly more than a year ago and said the Biden team was picking a political fight to distract from his own failures in Afghanistan, on the southern border and regarding inflation.
27-year-old Cristhian Bahena Rivera was sentenced yesterday to life in prison without the possibility of parole in connection with the stabbing death of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts three years ago. Judge Joel Yates sentenced the illegal immigrant to the mandatory sentence for first-degree murder in Iowa. A jury found him guilty last May.
Schools are designed to educate students…but they have to have the right frame of mind in order to do that. That’s according to Mike Beranek, president of the Iowa State Education Association, who spoke recently with KXEL’s Tim Harwood. Hear the full conversation by going to the podcast section of KXEL.com.
The Linn County Treasurer’s Office announced it is closed to walk-in customers until further notice due to a staffing shortage caused by COVID-19 positive cases and exposures. The Treasurer’s Office will continue processing transactions received through the mail, drop box, and email and responding to phone calls as staffing levels allow.
Officials in south-central Iowa are investigating the cause of an explosion and subsequent fire at a bank in Indianola. The explosion happened at TruBank around 9:30 p.m. Sunday, when witnesses reported hearing the explosion and seeing smoke and fire coming from the teller area inside the bank. Officials say the bank was closed and no one was inside the building at the time of the explosion. No injuries were reported.
