(Radio Iowa) – Protesters calling for the defunding of the police department disrupted the Des Moines City Council meeting last (Monday) night for the second week in a row. Demonstrators demanded attention to issues like racial profiling and marijuana enforcement. Laural Clinton is part of the racial justice team with Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement. Clinton says, “It’s not always pretty when you complain, but it’s also not pretty when you’re not heard.”

Several people were removed from the council chambers for interrupting the meeting to oppose a contract for police de-escalation training. One person was later arrested. The protesters repeated demands that Police Chief Dana Wingert and City Manager Scott Sanders be fired. Mayor Frank Cownie confronted the protesters, one of whom stood on her chair and held up a sign.
The council passed a resolution praising the city manager and police chief’s work to reduce racial bias in policing and city services. According to the resolution, the council has no intention of firing either man. Council member Joe Gatto supports the measure which passed unanimously. Gatto says, “It’s high time in the Des Moines Police Department and other, zoning officers and everyone else that works for the city, it’s high time that we stepped up as a council and be supportive of what they’re trying to do.”

The resolution also points to equity policies and police training as signs of progress. Since returning in-person, the city council has adopted stricter rules of conduct.

(By Grant Gerlock, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) – Iowans who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 for months are still required to wear masks on public transportation, including on planes, trains and buses. Some Republicans in the U-S Senate are calling on the C-D-C to drop that mask requirement, which extends to airports, train stations and bus stations. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley wasn’t part of the initial group but says he agrees with their reasoning. Grassley says, “When you get 70% of the people having one shot and things are slowing down dramatically, I think it’s reached the point where it’s kind of ridiculous to be wearing masks.”

Grassley, who tested positive for COVID late last year but was not afflicted with symptoms, says he’s fully vaccinated and he will continue to comply with the federal guidelines. “As long as they have the rule, I’m going to wear a mask,” Grassley says. “I’m not going to fight with the airlines or the airports so I wear my mask and I’m going to do what I can to make sure things are civil in the process.”

The state health department says 45-percent of Iowans are fully vaccinated for coronavirus, while 64-percent of Iowans have gotten at least one shot. The C-D-C reports about 42-percent of all Americans are fully vaccinated and 54-percent have had at least one shot. It’s very unlikely President Biden’s goal of 70-percent vaccinated by July 4th will be reached.

Red Oak Police Chief Justin Rhamy reports Red Oak/Montgomery County First Responders “and all of our friends in SW IA, will be joining forces on Aug. 3rd along with 38 million others in celebrating National Night Out.” Rhamy says “This is the 38th year of the National event (the 5th year in Red Oak), and there will be more than 10 other Iowa cities officially registered for the event.” It takes place at Fountain Square Park in Red Oak, August 3rd, from 6-until 8-p.m.

The Chief says “Red Oak/Montgomery Co. is proud to state that the theme of the evening is Public Safety-Safety of the Public.” First Responders who have confirmed their plans to be on hand include those from:

• The Red Oak P-D
• Red Oak Fire Department
• Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office
• Montgomery County Communications/Corrections
• Montgomery County EMA
• Villisca Fire & Rescue
• Elliott First Responders
• Grant Fire
• The Iowa State Patrol, Iowa DOT Motor Vehicle Enforcement
• Secret Service
• The IA National Guard
• BNSF (Railroad) Police
• Iowa DNR
• Montgomery County Conservation
• and LifeNet.

Surrounding counties/cities have been contacted, according to Rhamy, and first responder invites have been extended. He says “We always have a great showing of cooperation and support from our neighbors, as we all truly work together.” The Safety of the Public aspect, will focus on:

• Fire Safety (Local FD, Elks)
• Farm Safety (AgriVision, IA Corn Growers)
• Health related (MCMH, MOCO Public Health, Zion, Boystown, MOCO Child Abuse Council, Blank Children’s Hosp, Kiwanis, State Farm, Red Oak Comm Schools, Tracy Vannausdle Driver Ed), and others.

LifeNet will land. The Prescott Car Club will be there also. Throughout the Park and around the square, there will be FREE food (Elks, Rainbow, Eagles, Walnut Creek Acres, HyVee, Fareway, United Group, Rotary, Grand Theater, and others), info booths and handouts, displays, games, SuperHeroes, vintage police and fire vehicles, (Prescott car club, racecars, photo booth, tribute vehicles and displays, and monster trucks. To date we have over 96 total partners helping with food/displays/ vehicles/ exhibits/events/and other participating factors and many more expected by August.

There will be a funnel cake trailer, a balloon artist, an Iowa State Patrol K9 presentation is in the works, and it’s possible a small auction will be held for similar events to be held in the future. There will be a Treasure Hunt Event ongoing that evening sponsored by the Red Oak Express. The Chief invites you to please join them at beautiful Fountain Square Park for a FUN and FREEEEEEEEE, evening. A Reminder to residents of Red Oak: The Square area and one block in each direction will be shut down at 4:00 pm August 3rd, to allow for set up and all of the partners to get prepared for the night. As a sign of support please turn your porchlight on for the evening. The National theme is to take back the night, take back our neighborhoods and communities.

(Radio Iowa) – The eastern Iowa City of Eldon is still recovering from a flash flood that struck Thursday night, and that swept out a concrete pier along with collapsing a 40-foot section of sewer pipe. Eldon Mayor Jerry Lee Potts says between seven-and-a-half to 11 inches of rain fell in a two-hour period, and there were very few people that weren’t affected. Potts says “…It was a lot deeper than people realize and it was rushing. If you see some of the damages down there, you’ll see how intense…Tubes washed out from under the roads.” The mayor says this flood is worse than the flooding that hit Eldon 28 years ago.

“City Hall had three foot more water than we had in the flood of ’93. It wiped out the whole basement underneath there,” Potts says. “There’s been numerous homes throughout the community, a lot larger amount of damages than in ’93 because it was a flash flood and it came too fast, too quick and they just couldn’t get away.” Given the amount of water that quickly swept through, they’re fortunate there were no fatalities. He says there is a report that a semi was submerged and several homes are total losses. The mayor says it’s tough to get around town right now. “The waters have receded and where there’s more shops and stuff, we’ve got those barricaded off for safety reasons,” Potts says. “We’ll be working throughout the week getting those repairs done, so we can get some of those opened back up.”

The Department of Natural Resources is cautioning residents to keep children and pets away from the area until at least 24 to 48 hours after repairs are completed. If you’d like to volunteer to help with the cleanup in Eldon, call Wapello County Emergency Management at 641-814-8333.