From the Associated Press (11:20 a.m.):
AMES, Iowa (AP) – Two Iowa State University crew club members were participating in their first practice on the water when they drowned in March after their boat capsized in strong winds, according to newly released investigative findings. The pandemic had kept the club off the water for 18 months and investigators concluded in information released Wednesday that team members’ excitement for a chance to return likely clouded their judgment about safety. The Ames Tribune reports that 20-year-old Yaakov Ben-David and 19-year-old Derek Nanni died in the capsizing on Little Wall Lake, about 20 miles north of the university’s campus in Ames. Three other members made it to shore, two of them with help from bystanders.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A state agency will release a second set of maps revising Iowa’s four congressional districts and legislative boundaries as redistricting moves to the next phase of the process. The Iowa Legislature is scheduled to meet in special session Oct. 28 to consider the maps released Thursday. The Iowa Senate on Oct. 5 rejected the first redistricting plan drawn by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency. Lawmakers can only accept or reject the first or second plans. If the second plans are rejected, the LSA will have 35 days to draw a third set of maps, which could be amended with majority Republicans leading that process. If the second maps are rejected, it would be the first time in 40 years that the Legislature took the process to the third set of maps.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A state audit has found that Iowa’s privatized Medicaid system has illegally denied services or care to program recipients, and both private insurance companies managing the system have violated terms of their contracts with the state. Auditor Rob Sand on Wednesday released the report from his investigation that examined cases from 2013 through 2019. He says his investigators found a massive increase in illegal denials of care under privatized Medicaid. Iowa Medicaid Director Elizabeth Matney rejected the report’s conclusions, arguing Sand was making an “apples to oranges comparison” that mischaracterized the current program.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Police arrested a Des Moines man on murder charges in the shooting death of an Omaha woman at a Des Moines bar. Police on Wednesday charged 33-year-old Wichang Gach Chawech with first-degree murder and attempted murder in connection with the Oct. 10 shooting at the High Dive Bar. Two people were injured in the shooting and on Tuesday, 26-year-old Nyamal Deng died at a hospital. A 27-year-old man was treated for his injury and released from the hospital. Chawech was held at the Polk County Jail. The death was the eight homicide in Des Moines this year.
DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) – A judge has issued a temporary restraining order limiting how striking workers at the Deere & Co. plant in Davenport should conduct themselves. The injunction issued Wednesday says only four picketers can be near gates of the Davenport Works plant, it bans the use of chairs and barrel fires by picketers and it prohibits them from harassing people entering and leaving the plant. Deere spokeswoman Jen Hartmann said the company sought the injunction to maintain a safe environment for those entering the plant and for the picketers. The strike began Oct. 14 after after union members overwhelmingly rejected a proposed contract. The union has three days to respond to the court with its compliance plan.
ADEL, Iowa (AP) – Unemployed Iowans would be required to meet weekly with state case managers, conduct twice as many weekly work searches and undergo audits to prove they’re actively looking for work under a new proposal announced by Gov. Kim Reynolds. An Iowa Workforce Development spokesman says unemployment payments could be frozen if jobless workers fail to meet the new criteria. More than 86,500 job openings are posted on a state workforce development website while nearly 68,000 Iowans remain unemployed. Reynolds noted Wednesday that the state would spend $30 million in federal funds to provide grants to help manufacturers retain existing workers and recruit new employees.
