More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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Democrat Presidential hopeful Cory Booker will ring in the New Year with five events in Iowa, including in Union and Page Counties. On Tuesday, Dec. 31st, the New Jersey Senator will hold a “Noon Year’s Eve” house party at the home of Rep. Heather Matson, in Ankeny, followed a couple of hours later by a house party in Johnston. On Wednesday, Sen. Booker will hold a “Meet and Greet” in Creston, at Adams Street Espresso, beginning at Noon (doors open at 11:30-a.m.), and he’ll be at the Depot Restaurant & Lounge in Shenandoah for a Meet and Greet, beginning at 3:30-p.m., Wednesday (doors open at 3-p.m.).

He rounds out the year in Dallas County, with a “Conversation with Cory,” in Perry. The public is asked to reserve their spot at those events via the Booker campaign website.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:05-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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(Radio Iowa) — Democratic presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar visited Emmet, Kossuth and Humboldt Counties Friday, then spoke to a crowd of about 500 people in Des Moines Friday night. “I made this promise to visit all 99 counties before I may knew just how far apart some of them really were, but the point of this is you should learn something about me: I kept my promise,” Klobuchar said, to applause and cheers. “More than that, it was a statement of purpose for me and that is believe we need someone for president who’s going to be the president for not half of America, but all of America.”

Klobuchar says her record in passing bills as a U.S. Senator shows she can do the “unglamorous work” of striking compromises to advance key policies, but she also emphasizes the need for the next president to make a rhetorical shift. “Just imagine if we had a president who works to heal this country instead of harming it,” Klobuchar said. “…A president sets more than policy for this country, but also the tone, the civility for this country.”

Klobuchar drew cheers when she mentioned the Affordable Care Act and called for a “return to sanity” in U.S. foreign policy. She delivered a 30-minute speech, sketching out some of her ideas for addressing mental health care needs and the high cost of prescription drugs. “Real plans, not pipe dreams,” Klobuchar said. She closed by telling the crowd she’s a progressive with a practical streak. There will be other 2020 presidential candidates will be campaigning in Iowa this weekend and through New Year’s Eve.

Sheriff’s deputies in Montgomery County were called to the 2000 block of 145th Street in Elliott, early this (Saturday) morning, for a reported physical domestic assault. Upon further investigation, 40-year old Joshua Lynn Franzen was taken into custody, and charged with Domestic Assault/1st offense. He was transported to the Montgomery County Jail, and held without bond.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa woman charged in a string of racially-motivated attacks this month managed to avoid prison in recent years after arrests for previous violent crimes and threats. Nicole Poole is charged with intentionally driving her SUV into a Hispanic girl and a black boy near Des Moines-area schools in separate hit-and-run crashes on Dec. 9. She’s also charged with using racial epithets that day at a gas station. In 2017, Poole was charged with stabbing her then-boyfriend while she was on probation. But a felony charge was dismissed after the alleged victim refused to cooperate. Charges alleging she assaulted and harassed another boyfriend in 2018 were dismissed after he also declined to cooperate.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — In the last presidential election, Iowa swung fiercely to Donald Trump. Heading into 2020, the question is whether it will swing away from him. Few states have changed politically with the head-snapping speed of Iowa. It backed Democrat Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. Then four years later Trump carried Iowa by a larger percentage of the vote than in Texas. Some Democrats are seeing signs of a shift their way. If Iowa’s rightward drift has indeed stalled, it could be a foreboding sign for Trump in other upper Midwestern states he carried by much smaller margins and would need to win again.

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — Newly released documents show that Mason City Community School District settled a gender discrimination lawsuit filed by a former official for more $170,000. The Globe-Gazette reports that the district issued its former human resources director Jodie Anderson $31,500 in wage differential payment and $73,500 for damages. Another $70,000 was issued to cover court and attorneys’ fees. Anderson filed the lawsuit in July 2018, alleging that men employed by the district were being paid more than women for the same categories of work. The settlement was announced Monday, but the amount wasn’t disclosed until Friday in documents obtained by the non-profit Iowa Freedom of Information Council.

SHELLSBURG, Iowa (AP) — A dive team has recovered the body of a man who fell through the ice of an eastern Iowa pond while fishing. Television station KCRG reports that divers pulled the body of 47-year-old Shannan Lee Hughes, of Vinton, from the water Friday. Hughes is believed to have fallen through the ice Thursday while fishing on a private pond near Shellsburg. A passerby reported seeing Hughes fishing out on the ice. The bystander later noticed Hughes had vanished and a hole on the ice and called 911. Searchers found Hughes’ car near the pond, but no sign of him.

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) – Newly released documents show that Mason City Community School District settled a gender discrimination lawsuit filed by a former official for more $170,000. The Globe-Gazette reports that the district issued its former human resources director Jodie Anderson $31,500 in wage differential payment and $73,500 for damages.

Another $70,000 was issued to cover court and attorneys’ fees. Anderson filed the lawsuit in July 2018, alleging that men employed by the district were being paid more than women for the same categories of work. The settlement was announced Monday, but the amount wasn’t disclosed until Friday in documents obtained by the non-profit Iowa Freedom of Information Council.

(Radio Iowa) — There’s been a significant decline in the number of students enrolled in Iowa colleges and universities, COMMUNITY colleges and trade schools. In the fall of 2011, there were more than 363-thousand students enrolled at an Iowa institution — seeking a degree or training beyond high school. By the fall of 2018, that had dropped by 38 percent — to 225-thousand students. Jay Pennington of the Iowa Department of Education says that high point in 2011 was after the Great Recession.

“Any time you see those downward trends, typically higher education becomes a destination for many as they leave the workforce or perhaps decide to go back to get another degree, you do tend to see significant increases in higher ed enrollment,” Pennington says. Total enrollment in Iowa’s 15 area community colleges has declined over the decade, too. An upward trend in Iowa’s high education is the number of Iowa high school students who are taking community college classes.

“We, as a state, are leaders nationally in concurrent enrollment,” Pennington says. “Between 2011 and 2018-19, we see significant increases both in the number of students enrolling in those opportunities, but also the number of courses that students are taking.” Last fall, more than 37-thousand Iowa high school students were taking college classes, too. The number of students in the UNITED STATES enrolled in college THIS FALL dipped below 18 million for the first time this decade.

SHELLSBURG, Iowa (AP) — A dive team has recovered the body of a man who fell through the ice of an eastern Iowa pond while fishing. Television station KCRG reports that divers pulled the body of 47-year-old Shannan Lee Hughes, of Vinton, from the water Friday. Hughes is believed to have fallen through the ice Thursday while fishing on a private pond near Shellsburg.

A passerby reported seeing Hughes fishing out on the ice. The bystander later noticed Hughes had vanished and a hole on the ice and called 911. Searchers found Hughes’ car near the pond, but no sign of him.

SALT LAKE CITY, UT (AP) (In an update to our earlier reports on KJAN) – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says a 66-year-old man who was serving a mission was killed in a Christmas day car crash in Iowa. Church spokesman Daniel Woodruff said in a statement today (Friday), that Craig L. Meyocks died Wednesday. The crash occurred in a rural part of the state about 40 miles  south of Iowa City, when a man tried to cross the highway and smashed into the Meyocks’ car.

The couple had been serving as senior missionaries in the Illinois Nauvoo mission since March 2019. They are from Dammeron Valley, Utah.