IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Emails show that the director of the Iowa Department of Human Services had an obsession with the late rapper Tupac Shakur during a 2-year tenure before the governor requested his resignation last month. Jerry Foxhoven hosted weekly “Tupac Fridays” to listen to music in his office. He sent Tupac lyrics about love and change to inspire employees and he marked his own 65th birthday with Tupac-themed cookies.

While some employees praised his Tupac fixation, one complained to lawmakers last year. Reynolds surprised Foxhoven by telling him to resign one day after Foxhoven had emailed his employees asking them to celebrate Tupac’s birthday.

A Reynolds spokesman says “a lot of factors” went into the decision to seek Foxhoven’s resignation.

BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — A July 30 trial starting date has been scheduled for two men accused of beating to death a man at a Burlington apartment complex. Des Moines County District Court records say Majestic Malone and Markell Price have pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and kidnapping. They’re accused of killing Edward Breuer on March 17.
A trial date has not yet been set for a third defendant, Stanley Baldwin, who’s charged with willful injury.

Court documents say Malone and Price forced Breuer inside an apartment after Baldwin accused Breuer of breaking into it. Neighbors in the same complex said Breuer had been visiting them earlier that evening. The documents say Malone and Price carried Breuer back out of the apartment several minutes later and laid him face down in the dirt before Price poured a can of soda over Breuer’s head.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A group of nurses working at Iowa prisons and other state-run facilities who have not been paid overtime for two years have sued the state and Gov. Kim Reynolds.
The five women filing suit say the state is violating federal and state laws. They are seeking class-action status on behalf of as many as 700 registered nurses working for state agencies.
The state court lawsuit filed June 28 seeks an order requiring the state to pay overtime going forward, past unpaid compensation and other damages and costs.

The women said Monday the state refuses to pay registered nurses for overtime even though their jobs require them to work beyond 40 hours a week and other nurses working with them are paid overtime. A spokesman says the governor declines to comment.

RAGBRAI 2019 is just a few days away. Atlantic Police Chief Dave Erickson says his department has been working to prepare for the overflow of vehicle and bicycle traffic that will be visiting our town. He says “This will be a very busy 24 hours for our department and we will be working hard to keep traffic moving smoothly through town,” but warns that “Residents can expect delays all throughout town on Sunday July 21st and the morning of July 22nd. If you live along the official route through town, expect more delays. When possible try to back in to residential driveways ahead of time to make it easier and safer to access the street when needed.”

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Erickson says “We will have officers or volunteers at many intersections on both days helping direct traffic. Our goal is to keep things moving through town as smoothly as we can. With 15 thousand+ extra people expected to be visiting our town, an expectation and understanding that travel will be congested and take longer than normal will be appreciated!”

Listed below are areas that citizens can expect road closures, no parking, and congested intersections.

Members of the Exira/EHK School Board, Monday, voted to share wrestling with Audubon, and the services of Transportation Director Steve Humphrey with IKM-Manning. The wrestling agreement has also been approved by the Audubon School Board.  In other business, the Exira-EHK Board approved the appointments of Tami Jacobsen as Board Secretary, and Karli North, Treasurer/SBO. They also approved the hiring of social studies teacher Alex Hanson to replace Ian Hunt. Hunt resigned to return to his home school district.

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is doing his best to straddle a very thin line as to whether President Trump’s tweet on Sunday about four Democratic women in Congress was racist. Grassley was asked about the president’s tweet, which said the four black, Muslim or Hispanic women should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” Grassley did not specifically call the comment racist, but did address the topic. “Racism is wrong,” Grassley says. “I think the American people deserve more civility in their politics. I hope I promote civility. If I haven’t, I ought to be called out for it.”

Democrats in the U-S House say they’ll pass a resolution condemning the president’s tweet as racist. Grassley, a Republican, is remaining on the fence. “Democratic elected officials should avoid name-calling,” Grassley says. “Everybody ought to be treated respectfully. That’s true of these members of Congress and that’s true of the president.”

Reports say Iowa’s other U-S Senator, Republican Joni Ernst, when asked Monday if she thought Trump’s comment was racist, said, “Yeah, I do.” Later, Ernst was asked by a C-N-N reporter to repeat her statement as to whether the comment was racist. She responded, “Uh, yeah. They’re American citizens,” and called the president’s comment “not constructive” and “not helpful.” The president’s tweet targeted New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar, Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib and Representative Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts. Omar is the only one of the four who was born outside the U-S. She came here as a refugee from Somalia as a child.

(Radio Iowa) — A northwest Iowa man is charged with reckless discharge of a firearm after a bullet hit a woman in the next room at a Super 8 motel in Willmar, Minnesota. Officers learned that 34-year-old Joey Schipper of Sheldon, Iowa, had a negligent discharge of a small caliber handgun. The round traveled through the wall and into an adjacent room, at which time it struck a 68-year-old woman from Backus in the leg. The woman was a motel guest. She was transported to Rice Memorial Hospital ER by ambulance. Her injury is non-life threatening.

DYERSVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Officials say expansion by a Dubuque-based insurance broker is expected to bring more than 25 jobs to Dyersville. The Telegraph Herald reports that Cottingham & Butler announced Monday that it will begin operating this fall in leased space that’s under construction.

Cottingham & Butler’s Andy Butler says company officials have considered new locations as a way to accommodate current and future employees who live outside Dubuque. He says the new location is a way “to reach out to them and access an even larger talent pool.”

Cottingham & Butler employs 950 workers across 19 locations. About 650 work in the Dubuque area.