(Creston, Iowa) – Officials with the Creston Police Department, today (Thursday), said a woman reported on Tuesday, that her vehicle had been struck in the 300 block of N. Russell Street. The damage was estimated at $8,000. And, a woman residing in the 100 block of N. Division Street, in Creston, reported Wednesday afternoon, that her vehicle keys were stolen from her residence. The loss was estimated at $50.

Police in Red Oak, Wednesday night, arrested 43-year-old David Francis Hughes, Jr., of Red Oak. Hughes was taken into custody at around 10:40-p.m., for Domestic Abuse Assault/1st offense. He was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail.

(Radio Iowa) – Lawmakers’ decisions on the state budget and other high profile issues are apparently on hold. Governor Kim Reynolds continues to lobby for state-funded scholarships for 10-thousand kids to enroll in private schools.   “That’s where I’m focusing all of my energy right now,” Reynolds says.

The Republican-led senate has passed the governor’s plan, but Reynolds does not yet have 51 Republican “yes” votes lined up in the Iowa House. The governor told reporters she’s fighting for every vote and isn’t interested in negotiating with legislators on other issues, like the bottle bill.

“I wish they’d focus on the kids. That’s what I’d wish they’d focus on. If I want to be honest, that’s what I’m talking to legislators about. It’s not the bottle bill,” Reynolds said. “I’m talking to legislators about the students and what I’m hearing from parents and what these kids are being subjected to. Let’s get back to the basics. Let’s teach math and reading and science.”

Reynolds says the National Assessment of Educational Progress shows public school students in Iowa are falling behind their peers in other states. Sixty-eight percent of fourth graders are reading at that grade level, which Reynolds says is unacceptable. “We need to do something different and, you know, this is a pilot program to see if it works and if it doesn’t, then we need to readjust, but we should not be afraid of trying something different,” Reynolds says. “It is not about the system. It’s about the kids!”

Members of the Iowa House and Senate get a daily allowance to cover expenses during the first 100 days of the legislative session. Those payments end next Tuesday. That yearly cut-off often triggers decision-making that leads to the conclusion of the legislature. Reynolds says state-funded scholarships for private school expenses will be at the top of her 2023 legislative agenda if they aren’t approved this year.  “I’m never going to give up on that,” Reynolds says.

Republicans who are reluctant to support the governor’s private school initiative say small public schools in rural Iowa have tight budgets now and could see another drop in state funding with a shift to more state support of private schools.

(Radio Iowa) – 2020 could wind up being the last time Iowa Democrats host the first event in their party’s presidential nominating process. The Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee has voted to have state parties apply to be among the first five contests in the 2024 presidential election. Applications for “early state” status are due June 3rd and Iowa Democratic Party chairman Ross Wilburn says Iowa Democrats look forward to enthusiastically making the case Iowa should host an early voting contest.

National party leaders have been encouraging states to hold primaries rather than caucuses. Having a set of early primaries in states that will be battleground or toss-up states in the General Election is a priority for key Democratic Party leaders, who say the diversity of a state’s population should also be a factor.

The Iowa Democratic Party’s chairman says there will be discussions about making the Iowa Caucuses more accessible and straightforward. A party panel assembled in 2016 to explore changes in how Iowa Democrats caucus ultimately kept the complicated system of calculating a winner in place.

Iowa Republicans essentially hold a Straw Poll on Caucus Night and Iowa G-O-P chairman Jeff Kaufmann says Republican leaders at the national level are poised to affirm the Iowa Republican Party’s Caucuses as first-in-the-nation in 2024.