The former head of the Iowa Department of Human Services is suing Gov. Kim Reynolds over his firing in 2019. When Reynolds fired Jerry Foxhoven, she initially said only that she wanted the department to go in a new direction. Foxhoven contends in the lawsuit filed last week that he was fired after he raised questions about why a Reynolds’ aide was being partially paid with Medicaid funds. The governor’s spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The city of Cedar Rapids has lifted the precautionary drinking water advisory that had been in place for all customers in the NE quadrant of the city. Final results of bacteria sampling and chlorine monitoring received Saturday revealed all testing parameters are within normal limits, so the water is safe for personal consumption.
A 19-year-old Waterloo man was sentenced to five years in federal prison Friday for stealing a semiautomatic firearm with a 16-round magazine from the Fleet Farm store in Cedar Falls. Dalyn Jamil Culp admitted he stole a pistol on February 27, 2020, and left the store. Police were able to find photographs on Culp’s cell phone where he was wearing pants that matched the pants worn by the suspect in the surveillance video obtained from Fleet Farm. Culp must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the five-year prison term. There is no parole in the federal system. Culp is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
A 57-year-old Waterloo man has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for threatening Democrat U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York. Federal prosecutors said Kenneth Dean Brown threatened Nadler in a 2019 telephone call. Brown entered a plea of guilty last December to transmitting a threatening communication in interstate commerce. He will be under supervised release for three years after his prison term. Brown admitted that he called Nadler’s office and said the congressman was going to be assassinated. Nadler was an impeachment manager in former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment in late 2019.
The Waterloo School Board will hold a public meeting today and then vote on whether to move forward with a $140,000 demolition project of the 99-year old Sloane Wallace Stadium at 1115 West Fifth St. Waterloo Schools Superintendent Jane Lindaman said the project has been in the works for years and is part of a part of a promise to Irving Elementary School parents and students to provide a bigger playground and more green space. Since field turf was installed at Memorial Stadium, the current home to East and West football, track and soccer teams, use of Sloane Wallace has dwindled to maybe once or twice a year. Built in 1922 as part of a $1.37 million construction project that included a new West High, Sloane Wallace Stadium was the premier facility in Iowa at the time, with more than 4,000 permanent steel seats. In 1934, it became one of the first stadiums in the Midwest to have lights for night games.
A top administrator in the Iowa Senate threatened retribution against an official who oversees workplace safety after inspectors said they would make public their concerns about COVID-19 risks at the Capitol. Notes show Charlie Smithson, the secretary of the Senate, criticized Iowa Labor Commissioner Rod Roberts for “not knowing better” and told inspectors at an April 2 meeting that the issue would be raised at his next confirmation hearing. Gov. Kim Reynolds appointed Roberts as labor commissioner in 2019. If reappointed in 2023, he would need support from 34 of 50 senators to serve another six-year term. In response, Smithson says he “expressed frustration in a stupid way” and noted that he has no influence over the confirmation process.
Two people riding a motorcycle died after a collision north of Knoxville. It happened just north of the intersection of Highway 14 and Highway G44 around 1:30 p.m. Saturday. Officials say two vehicles were driving north on Highway 14 when one vehicle stopped to turn into a driveway and the second vehicle struck it from behind. That collision pushed the first vehicle into the path of an oncoming motorcycle in the southbound lane of Highway 14. A man and a woman on the motorcycle each died from the impact.
