From the Associated Press (11:20 a.m.):
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Legislature begins the 2022 session with talk of approving tax cuts, rewriting unemployment laws to push people back to work and creating a parents bill of rights that could determine how schools decide which books are appropriate for libraries. The 150 lawmakers and staff return to the Capitol on Monday with no mask, vaccine or test requirements as COVID-19 continues rapid spread throughout the state. Lawmakers could decide how to deal with potential federal vaccine mandates, which now are tied up in the courts. A group of people opposed to vaccine requirements rallied inside the Capitol on Monday morning before lawmakers began the session.
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – One person died Saturday after a shooting at a Waterloo convenience store. Waterloo Police said officers found the victim with several gunshot wounds around 10 p.m. Saturday at the Prime Mart at 508 Broadway Street. Paramedics arrived and provided emergency treatment but the victim died at the convenience store. The victim’s name was not immediately released. Investigators are searching for any witnesses to the shooting. In November, a different shooting at the same convenience store injured two people. No arrests have been made in that case.
RIVERSIDE, Iowa (AP) – Firefighters who responded to a house fire in the eastern Iowa city of Riverside found the bodies of two people inside. The fire was reported just before 1 a.m. Saturday at a home in Riverside. The Washington County Communications Center says that when firefighters arrived they found smoke and flames coming from the structure. Firefighters recovered two bodies, which were taken to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Ankeny. Riverside is a community of 1,100 people about 13 miles south of Iowa City.
GENESEO, Ill. (AP) – An Illinois family has solved the mystery of what happened to their missing cat that likes to sit on horses. The Quad-City Times reports that Ann Kandis said the cat, named Noodles, jumped into the trunk of her father’s car in November 2018 while he was at the family’s farm in Geneseo. Her father drove off, but stopped along the road when he heard a noise. He opened the trunk and the cat jumped out. The family posted “lost cat” notices and searched along the road but couldn’t find Noodles. Kandis had given up on finding Noodles until she stumbled across a Facebook message showing a cat sitting on a horse. Kandis messaged the woman on Christmas Eve and she still had Noodles.
