DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Two teenage students were killed and a man was seriously injured in what police called a targeted shooting at an alternative educational program for at-risk youth in Des Moines. Police said Monday that an 18-year-old man has been charged with murder and that the shooting was “definitely targeted.” Preston Walls is charged with two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder in the Monday shooting at Starts Right Here. Two teenagers — an 18-year-old male and a 16-year-old male — were killed in the attack. The program’s founder, 49-year-old William Holmes — who goes by the stage name Will Keeps — was injured. Police say Walls and the two students had gang affiliations and were in opposing gangs.
DES MOINES, Iowa (KXEL) — The governor’s school choice plan passed both the Iowa House and Senate and Governor Kim Reynolds will sign it later today. In the bill, any family with a K-12 student who wants to switch from public to private school during the next school year would receive roughly $7,600 from the state—the full amount of taxpayer money the state invests in every student. That money usually goes to a student’s public school district. But under Reynolds’ plan, families who switch to private schools would get that money instead. The House version of the governor’s school choice plan was exempt from the traditional budgetary process, which would have required consideration in the House Appropriations or Ways and Means Committees. The vote was 55-45 in the House, with all Democrats and 9 Republicans voting no Monday night; the Senate tally was 31-18, with the bill passing at 12:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa officials have agreed to provide a beef processing company with $1.5 million in tax breaks to help finance a $48 million expansion that will double its production. The Iowa Economic Development Authority Board on Friday approved providing the Upper Iowa Beef plant in Lime Springs with about $863,000 in tax credits for job creation and nearly $650,000 in refunds of sales and other taxes. The Des Moines Register reports that Upper Iowa Beef, which purchases cattle from about 400 producers in northeast Iowa, expects the project will create 172 jobs.
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it will study whether to toughen regulation of large livestock farms that pollute waterways. The agency hasn’t revised its rules dealing with the nation’s largest hog, poultry and cattle operations since 2008. Farm manure and fertilizer runoff fouls lakes and streams. It’s a leading cause of harmful algae blooms. EPA says it reconsidered its intention to leave existing rules in place after an environmental group filed a lawsuit. The agency says it will gather information on how bad the pollution is and what new methods might bring improvements.
