From the KCRG-TV9 Newsroom:
The chair of the Des Moines School Board has ended her campaign for the U.S. Senate in the wake of the arrest of the district’s former superintendent. Jackie Norris has been under pressure from several fronts after the arrest of former superintendent Ian Roberts for accusations he lived in the country illegally and falsified employment academic records. Republicans tied the Roberts scandal to her decision to hire him for the job as superintendent two years ago. She initially praised his work, but later had to acknowledge that Roberts misled the board about a number of things. Some Democrat donors and activists had doubts about whether Norris could shake any public perception that she should have done more to investigate Roberts’ past or possibly not helped hire him in the first place.
One man is dead and a woman remains in critical condition after a shooting in Waterloo Wednesday. Officers were called to the 3100 block of Hammond Avenue around 3:45 in the morning, where they found two people had been shot. 39-year-old Montana Gunhus was killed. Waterloo Police have not announced any arrests in the case.
Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Jeff Kaufmann is set to lead the Republican National Committee’s Presidential Nominating Process Committee. That group will decide whether the Iowa Precinct Caucus will remain first in the nation. This comes after the Democratic National Committee removed the only Iowan from a key committee that sets its presidential nomination calendar. That same committee stripped the state of its first-in-the-nation status in before the 2024 election.
An Ottumwa woman has been arrested after more than 40 cats were taken from her home. 77-year-old Suzette Stocker now faces 43 counts of animal cruelty as well as a charge for exceeding the number of animals allowed. Police say they found an “offensive odor” inside and outside the home and determined the living conditions were unsanitary and unsafe. The Ottumwa Humane Society posted to its Facebook page, asking for donations of food, money, and cleaning supplies.
