(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled in the first review of whether state lawmakers have immunity when it comes to releasing information on their discussions. The League of Latin American Citizens of Iowa (LULAC) served subpoenas on several legislators seeking copies of communications they had related to changes in the state voting law. LULAC wants the information for its lawsuit that claims the changes were unconstitutional and meant to discriminate against some voters.

Lawmakers argued they are protected by a legislative privilege under the Iowa Constitution. The Iowa Supreme Court says an individual legislator’s intent is not relevant to LULAC’s claims at this point in the case.

The state Judicial Building.

The Supreme Court says legislators do have a privilege to not reveal the information in this case, but stop short of saying the legislative privilege is absolute.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Officials with SWIPCO (the Southwest Iowa Planning Council), report five new members have been added to the SWIPCO/SWITA team.

• Amy Jones joins the team as a Payroll & Benefits Specialist. Jones has an extended background in accounting and human resources.
• Brandie McFarland joins SWIPCO as a Human Resource Specialist. She will work alongside Human Resource Coordinator Daurine Petersen to assist with many HR duties including on-boarding new employees, driver training, and compliance.
• Holly Jackson joins the organization as a Community Development Specialist, Planner. She will work with communities throughout the SWIPCO region on zoning and coding ordinances.
• Southwest Iowa Transit Agency (SWITA) welcomes Gina Gentile as a Transit Scheduler. Gina will join the team that connects area residents to the transportation they need.
• Southwest Iowa Transit Agency (SWITA) welcomes Adam Kisner as Maintenance Assistant. Adam will help to keep the SWITA fleet of vehicles clean and maintained along with ensuring offices and facilities are kept in top shape. He will also run routes as a driver and help transport vehicles. SWITA serves eight counties in Southwest Iowa with a fleet of 100 vehicles. Transportation provided includes work routes, student transportation, day habilitation routes for disabled individuals, medical transport, and a range of other services.

Holly Jackson

Gina Gentile

Brandie McFarland

Amy Jones

Adam Kisner

DES MOINES, Iowa — The 81st birthday of a famous battleship bearing the state’s name was celebrated today (Friday) at the Iowa statehouse with a first-of-its-kind honor.
The award was presented Thursday to Jeff Lamberti, a former state lawmaker. It’s called the USS Iowa Lamberti Service Award, meant to promote ideals of service, preservation of history, and love of Iowa.

Jeff Lamberti

In 2007, Lamberti spearheaded efforts to save the USS Iowa. He helped secure donors and galvanized lawmakers to spend money on continuing its legacy. Lamberti is the owner and president of the indoor football team Iowa Barnstormers.

The USS Iowa, which is now a museum in Los Angeles, is the city’s fourth most visited museum, according to pacificbattleship.com.

USS Iowa (BB-61) port-side view (Pacificbattleship.com)

(Radio Iowa)- The governor has proclaimed this (Friday) as the Day of Kindness in Iowa, as residents are encouraged to intentionally do something nice for someone, even if it’s a small act. Kara Matheson, a vice president at the West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce, says they launched this project a few years ago as a way to make a positive impact on the community and it’s grown into a statewide event. The chamber’s holding what it’s calling the Socks of Love campaign. “We call upon the community, businesses, schools, families, and everyone in between to come out to the West Des Moines Chamber and bring any amount of new socks that they would like to donate,” Matheson says, “and then we are going to pass them along to West Des Moines Human Services to be distributed from there.”

While most Iowans can’t make the drive to West Des Moines today to donate socks, they -can- hop online and make a donation of as little as ten dollars to have several pairs of socks delivered to the effort. Last year was the debut year for the socks campaign. “We were hoping for around 100 pairs of socks in our first year, and the community really showed up and we actually ended up with 865 pairs of socks,” Matheson says, “which was incredible.” Matheson is hoping people will take this day to heart and try to do something more than pay for the hot beverage of the person behind you in the drive-through lane.

Several members of the West Des Moines Chamber with the 2023 haul of socks

“The sole purpose of Day of Kindness is to encourage the public to do any simple act of kindness,” Matheson says. “You hear of those Pay It Forward lines at coffee, but any act, even writing a kind note, giving a nice compliment to a stranger, these little acts of kindness truly go a long ways.” She says studies show acts of kindness benefit not only the receiver, but also the giver.

(Creston, Iowa) – Creston Police report the arrest at around 9:30-p.m. Thursday, of 28-year-old Chelsey Mae Madison, of Creston. Madison was taken into custody at the Creston/Union County Law Enforcement Center on a charge of Operating While Under the Influence1st offense.  She was taken to the Union County Jail and later posted a $1,000 cash or approved surety bond, before being released.