A new audit report blames the national Democrat party’s interference in the Iowa caucuses for problems that delayed the results for days at the beginning of the 2020 presidential nominating process. The report was commissioned by the Iowa Democratic Party. It criticizes the national party’s role in delaying development of an app used to report results and in demanding a last-minute data conversion tool that failed on caucus night in February. But the report also says the state party should have bolstered its back-up phone system for compiling results after the rollout of the app was slow. That phone system was overwhelmed on caucus night.
An Urbandale man has been arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder in connection with a woman’s death there. Police found a woman with severe head trauma around 6:45 Saturday evening at a home; she woman died at the scene. 35-year-old Dustin Sample was arrested Sunday morning and charged with first-degree murder.
The Iowa Supreme Court has ordered a new trial for a Dubuque man who was sentenced to 50 years in prison on a second-degree murder conviction for the death of his girlfriend. Fontae Buelow claims Samantha Link turned a knife on herself in an act of suicide after an argument in March 2017. Prosecutors say he stabbed her and charged him with first-degree murder. The court’s ruling upholds an appeals court decision last year that threw out the conviction because the trial judge did not allow information about Link’s prior suicide attempt and mental health records that may have supported Buelow’s contention that Link stabbed herself.
Not only was this past Saturday’s UNI men’s basketball game cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns…word yesterday that the Panthers are calling off games at Wisconsin on Wednesday and Marshall on Saturday. Due to injuries and COVID-related concerns, the Panthers have just seven available scholarship players, so coach Ben Jacobson said it was best to cancel the rest of the non-conference season and get ready for Missouri Valley Conference play, which begins December 27th. Star guard A.J. Green will undergo season-ending hip surgery this week, and the team has suffered a series of other injuries of late.
New figures from the Iowa Department of Education show a significant drop in grade school enrollment, the first drop in 10 years. The figures show a drop of 5,935 students compared to last year’s enrollment. That’s a 1.2% drop. Certified enrollment is used to determine funding for schools and differs slightly from the actual headcount of students enrolled. The Department of Education will be meeting with the Iowa Legislature and the governor’s office to discuss the potential impact of declining enrollment. 215 school districts, or two-thirds of all schools across Iowa, reported a drop in enrollment. Des Moines Public Schools had the largest decrease followed by Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Iowa City, Council Bluffs, Waterloo, Sioux City, Dubuque, Burlington and West Des Moines.
Police are investigating the vandalism of a synagogue in Davenport that occurred on the first day of Hanukkah. Someone spray-painted a New Testament biblical citation at an entrance to Temple Emanuel last Thursday afternoon. The citation “John 8:44” was painted in red on a wall near the temple doors. The verse recounts Jesus telling his critics that they are the spawn of the devil. The rabbi at the temple says the vandalism and its message are particularly hurtful coming at the opening of the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights. Police have not announced any arrests or suspects in the vandalism.
The UNI women’s basketball team upset #21 South Dakota State at the McLeod Center Saturday in a game you heard on KXEL, 65-48. The Panthers host in-state rival Iowa State tomorrow; we go on the air with pregame at 6:15, tipoff at 6:30, and fans are not allowed to attend due to COVID-19. Meanwhile, the Waterloo Black Hawks dropped a pair of contests on their home ice over the weekend, falling to Green Bay Friday 2-1, and to Sioux City Saturday by a count of 5-3.
