From the Associated Press (11:20 a.m.):
DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) – Union leaders for workers at a Davenport defense contractor supplier say a labor strike that began last month has ended. A representative of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District Lodge 6 tells the Quad-City Times that more than 400 union members employed at the Eaton Mission Systems Division of Davenport will return to work after a contract agreement was reached Tuesday. DeLane Adams said in a statement that the new contract included improved wages and other items, but terms of the contract were not disclosed. The strike began Feb. 18 after 98% of union members voted to reject a tentative agreement that included what union officials said were sub-standard wages and cuts to health care and retirement benefits.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Developers of $492 million transmission line are appealing a federal judge’s ruling that blocks the project’s crossing through the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge. American Transmission Co., ITC Midwest, and Dairyland Power Cooperative are building the 345-kilovolt transmission line which would run more than 100 miles from Dane County to Dubuque County in Iowa. The Driftless Area Land Conservancy and the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation have mounted a number of legal challenges to the project in state and federal court. In a ruling earlier this year, a federal judge sided with the conservation groups that sued the agencies that issued approvals for the line.
WASHINGTON (AP) – An Associated Press review finds that state and local governments have spent nearly $1 billion worth of federal coronavirus aid on projects that have little to do with combating the pandemic. The spending runs the gamut. In Broward County, Florida, $140 million will help to build an upscale hotel. In Dutchess County, New York, $12 million is being used to renovate a minor league ballpark. Alabama plans to spend $400 million building new prisons. When congressional Democrats passed their $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan a year ago, they characterized it as “emergency funding” that would keep front-line workers on the job, open schools and ramp up vaccinations.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Police say two southeast Iowa teenagers used a baseball bat last fall to kill their high school Spanish teacher, and one of them then described in social media posts how they followed the woman, carried out the attack and hid her body. On Tuesday, a judge also rejected defense lawyers’ requests that the media be excluded from a hearing later this week at which the teens will seek to be tried in the juvenile system rather than in adult court. Jeremy Goodale and Willard Miller, both 16, are charged with murder in the death of Fairfield High School Spanish teacher Nohema Graber. Her body was found Nov. 3.
MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) – Less than six months after dropping the mascot “Mohawks,” the Mason City School Board has approved a student-led suggestion to adopt the name “River Hawks.” The Globe Gazette reports that the board unanimously approved the name change Monday night. The name was presented by members of the Mason City High School student senate after a vote of the student body saw more than 61% select River Hawks over two other contenders – the Majors and the Monarchs. The previous mascot was retired in November, following examples across the country of schools and sports teams dropping offensive names and mascots that either pull from or pervert Native American culture.
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – Police in Waterloo say a man has died after being shot early Tuesday in a residential neighborhood. The Courier reports that police were called shortly after 4 a.m. to an address just west of Washington Park and found a 41-year-old man wounded. Police say he had been shot in the abdomen. Paramedics took the man to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police have not released the man’s name and have not announced any arrests or suspects in the case.
