From the Associated Press:
MOLINE, Ill. (AP) — Union workers at farm-equipment maker Deere & Co. would get wage increases of 10% if they ratify a tentative contract reached over the weekend. The upfront pay would be followed by 5% raises in the third and fifth years of the tentative contract. Terms of the deal were posted Sunday on the United Auto Workers website. The agreement next goes to a vote of union members. The deal would cover more than 10,000 Deere & Co. workers in Iowa, Illinois and Kansas. But a UAW strike that began Oct. 14 will continue. The strike began after UAW workers overwhelmingly rejected an initial proposed contract that would have delivered immediate 5% raises for some workers and 6% for others depending on their positions at Deere factories.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Running for a school board seat is getting expensive in Iowa given the current intense interest in how schools are responding to the coronavirus pandemic and teaching history. The Des Moines Register reports that the 58 candidates running for school board seats in the Des Moines area’s seven largest school districts have collectively raised more than $180,000 for the Nov. 2 elections. In the last two elections, all the candidates in those same districts raised less than $35,000. Several candidates raised over $10,000 apiece for their races, which is something no candidate did in the 2017 and 2019 elections.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Nineteen states are now suing to block President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors. One suit filed in Missouri on Friday includes that state as well as Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. A second suit filed in Georgia also includes Alabama, Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia. Texas sued individually on Friday, while Florida filed a separate lawsuit Thursday. The lawsuits argue that the Biden administration overstepped its authority in requiring federal contractors to make their employees get the coronavirus vaccine. Biden has argued that sweeping vaccine mandates will help end the deadly pandemic.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed into law a bill that allows Iowa workers to seek medical and religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccine mandates and guarantees that those who are fired for refusing a vaccine will qualify for unemployment benefits. Reynolds signed the bill Friday and the law becomes effective immediately. Reynolds has opposed federal requirements for masks and vaccines, even though COVID-19 has killed nearly 7,000 people in Iowa and medical science has shown both to be effective in reducing the spread of the coronavirus. In Iowa, 55.4% of the population is fully vaccinated. Reynolds says no Iowan should lose their job over the vaccine.
CHELSEA, Iowa (AP) — A man has died after being shot by a Tama County Sheriff’s deputy during what police described as a armed confrontation. The shooting happened Thursday night in Chelsea. The Iowa Department of Public Safety says in a news release that the Tama County Sheriff’s Office received calls around 7:30 p.m. of shots being fired in the town, and deputies along with law enforcement from several other agencies responded. The department says arriving officers saw 28-year-old Dewey Dale Wilfong III walking around in the area holding a handgun, and a Tama County deputy fired one round that hit Wilfong in the upper torso. Wilfong was taken to a Cedar Rapids hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
