Five players have been kicked off the Creston-Orient Macksburg football team after a photo surfaced on social media showing the Creston teens with white hoods over their heads, standing by a burning cross. One teen was waving a confederate flag. Another had a gun. Drake University law professor Mark Kende says as offensive as the photo may be, the school could be over-reaching with its disciplinary action.

“Those kinds of hateful speeches are, because of U.S. Supreme Court decisions, actually considered to be protected speech,” Kende says. Kende says, as he understands it, the students were not on school property and they were not targeting a specific person.

In this screen shot image taken from Twitter, five men wearing white hoods wave a Confederate flag next to a burning cross. The principal of Creston Community High School in southern Iowa says the school has disciplined several students who appeared in the photo, which circulated on social media, after officials became aware of it on Wednesday morning, Sept. 6, 2017. (Twitter via AP)

The school has an anti-bullying policy that includes “internet-based communications” and the photo was shared on social media. Professor Kende acknowledges school’s punishment may be justified if the teenagers violated behavior guidelines for students, plus many schools require students in extra-curricular activities to follow codes of conduct.

“But, certainly, there’s a problem in terms of free speech with regard to the discipline that would have to be resolved,” Kende says. “It may be that this is something that these students can, in fact, under some code of conduct be subjected to. But, it’s not clear. What is clear is what they did, under U.S. Supreme Court precedent, would be a form of freedom of expression, so that’s the problem for the school district.” The Creston News Advertiser has reported the five boys were kicked-off the football team.

“The coach is sort of no different, in some ways, than the school district or the board or whoever makes the decision…and potentially, could be viewed as infringing on their speech rights,” Kende says. The school’s principal told W-H-O Television the photo is reminiscent of a “dark past” of “bigotry and hatred” that “does not represent the culture” of the Creston community.

(Radio Iowa)

(Update 5-a.m., 9/8) — MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) – Authorities have released the names of two people killed when their vehicle crashed during a police chase in Mason City. The Iowa State Patrol identified the driver as Jerrick Rinnels and his passenger as Jessica Herker. Both lived in Mason City.

The patrol says the incident began a little before 1 p.m. Thursday as a traffic stop that led to the short chase. Patrol Sgt. Dana Knutson says the vehicle went out of hit a tree and rolled.

A man who was arrested Thursday afternoon in Fremont County was no stranger to authorities. Sheriff Kevin Aistrope reports when Deputies arrested 23-year old Joseph William Michael Haughton, of Hamburg, at around 4:07-p.m., it was the seventh time he’d been arrested since January, 2017, and the second time this week.

Haughton was previously arrested by the Clarinda Police Department on 09/06/2017. On Thursday, he was taken into custody on a Fremont County warrant for Violating a Protection Order.

Joseph Haughton

Deputies attempted to place Haughton in custody at his residence in Hamburg, when he resisted arrest and was quickly detained without further incident. Haughton was placed under arrest for Interference with Official Acts as well as the active warrant. Haughton was being held at the Fremont County Jail without bond.

One person was transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital following an accident Thursday evening, in Atlantic. Atlantic Police Sgt. Dustin Pieken told KJAN News the female driver of a Chevy Equinox, later identified as Virginia Thomas, was traveling south on Hickory Street next to Rancho Grande, and had pulled around a parked semi that was in the southbound lane while delivering produce to the restaurant. When she came to the intersection with 7th Street, Thomas pulled out into the intersection, and was struck by a westbound Buick LeSabre driven by Beth Tarr. The accident happened at around 7:37-p.m.

Tarr was transported to CCMH by Medivac for treatment of injuries that were unknown, but did not appear to be life threatening. Thomas also was taken to CCMH by private vehicle for unknown injuries.

Both vehicles were towed from the scene. Thomas was cited for Failure to Stop/Yield at a Stop Sign.

Iowa Republicans Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley are among the 17 members of the U.S. Senate who voted “NO” this afternoon on a package that temporarily lifts the so-called “debt ceiling” and delivers the first installment of federal aid to hurricane victims in Texas. President Trump agreed to the plan advanced by Democrats that linked hurricane aid to raising the upper limit on how much the federal government can borrow. Ernst wasn’t pleased.

“We are $20 trillion in debt,” Ernst says, “and, as congress, it just seems to be business as usual.” Ernst says she would have preferred a senate vote on the “clean” bill that passed in the U.S. House yesterday that’s just about hurricane relief funds. “We’re lumping things together here in the United States Senate that I think should be addressed entirely separately,” Ernst says. Ernst has been in the U.S. Senate since January of 2015 and she was a “no” on a previous vote to raise the debt ceiling in October of 2015.

Ernst says it’s for the rest of congress to realize it’s time to stop bumping up the federal government’s debt limit.  “I think it’s a bad way of doing business,” Ernst said. “I’m speaking for myself, not the entire GOP.” In addition, Ernst says it’s time for honesty with the taxpayers and she says there “could be” and “should be” cuts elsewhere in the federal budget to off-set the hurricane relief.

“We know that the spending is important to help with this emergency situation. We need to do it,” Ernst said. “I agree we need to do it, but you can’t tell me that the initial dollars couldn’t be found elsewhere in the existing budget.” Ernst made her comments this (Thursday) morning during a telephone news conference with Iowa reporters.

(Radio Iowa)

ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) — Prosecutors have charged an Iowa man with second-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of another Iowa man in central Minnesota. Twenty-two-year-old Robin Hanson of Deloit, Iowa, appeared in Stearns County court Thursday. The judge set bail at $1 million with no conditions or $400,000 with conditions.

Hanson is accused of stabbing another Deloit man, 22-year-old Andre Reaves, in the chest with a knife after an argument. The stabbing happened Tuesday at a home in St. Cloud. Reaves died at a hospital. He and the suspect had traveled together to St. Cloud for the weekend.

The complaint says Hanson initially said he was asleep when he heard arguing and then saw blood. Authorities say Hanson later acknowledged fighting with Reaves and placing his knife in his car. Hanson remains in jail.

Officials with the City of Adair say a boil order placed into effect Tuesday evening due to a water main break, has been cancelled. Water quality tests came back with no contamination shown. Therefore, the boil order is no longer necessary.