(Radio Iowa) – Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott says rival Ron DeSantis should be asked to clarify his position on Florida’s new black history curriculum. “As a country founded upon freedom, the greatest deprivation of freedom was slavery,” Scott said. “There was no silver lining in…slavery.” The curriculum includes a line that says slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.

Vice President Kamala Harris has said the new curriculum is an attempt to replace history with lies. DeSantis criticized Harris during remarks in Iowa yesterday (Thursday). DeSantis said the curriculum for Florida schools is a 200 page document that has very vivid details about the injustices of slavery. “Anyone that actually read that and listens to Kamala would know that she’s lying,” DeSantis says. “And that particular provision about the skills, that was in spite of slavery, not because of.”

Scott, the first black Republican Senator from the south in more than a century, told reporters in Ankeny last (Thursday) night slavery was about separating families and mutilating humans. “I would hope that every person in our country and certainly running for president would appreciate that and people have bad days, sometimes they regret what they say and we should ask them again to clarify their positions,” Scott said. “…As a guy who believes in Genesis 1:26, you know, the Bible’s very clear. He gave us a lot of authority, but not over each other as humans. Men and women were created to be free.”

Scott and DeSantis will be among the 13 presidential candidates to speak tonight (Friday) at the Iowa Republican Party’s fundraiser in Des Moines. It will be former President Donald Trump’s first in-person appearance at a multi-candidate event in Iowa since he announced his third campaign for the presidency last November. Vice President Harris will also be in Des Moines today (Friday) to talk with local activists about the legal challenge to Iowa’s new fetal heartbeat law that would ban most abortions in the state.

(Bloomfield, Iowa) – Officials with the Bloomfield Police Department said Thursday July 27), that a Bloomfield Police officer was placed on critical incident leave, following an incident that occurred in Bloomfield Wednesday night.

Authorities say that at about 9:25 p.m. the Davis County Law Center received a report of an erratic driver. At approximately 9:32 p.m., a Bloomfield Police Department officer located the vehicle in Bloomfield and initiated a traffic stop. During the traffic investigation, an individual who was not in the vehicle at the time of the traffic stop arrived at the scene.

During the investigation the officer discharged his duty weapon striking one subject. The individual was provided medical aid and is currently being treated at a hospital. The officer was treated and released for injuries sustained during the incident.

The Bloomfield Police Department requested the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation’s assistance to investigate the incident. This is an ongoing investigation. No further information is available from the Bloomfield Police Department.

Additional information may be released by the Iowa DCI at a later time.

(Burlington, Iowa) – (UPDATE 12:37-p.m., 7/28: Found SAFE! Amber Alert Canceled) – The Burlington Police Department is investigating the facts and circumstances pertaining to the disappearance on Wednesday, of 14-year old Caydence Roberts. Authorities had issued an Amber Alert, but early this (Friday) afternoon canceled it, saying the girl was found alive, in Burlington. They thank the public for sharing the Amber Alert through social media, as well the broadcast media.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Lottery already set a record for sales in the fiscal year that ended June 30th, with sales of 481-point-five million dollars. Iowa Lottery C-E-O started the fiscal year with concerns as the flagship scratch ticket sales had dropped. “Boy, not only did we see scratch ticket sales bounce back over the last fiscal year, but we saw all product categories actually see a year-over-year sales increase,” he says. Strawn says some big lotto ticket jackpots were one factor in pushing them to a record.

“I think there’s a combination of factors. One, there were changes made to those national lotto games like Powerball a number of years ago to create faster, more rapidly growing jackpots,” Strawn says. “So I think that helps generate accelerated sales in games like Powerball, which we certainly saw this last fiscal year. But I think from a strategic standpoint in Iowa, more I was centric and experiential promotions.” He says the promotions at the Iowa Speedway Kinnick and Jack Trice stadiums and the Knoxville Nationals help boost interest.

Strawn says the economy and high gas prices had impacted scratch ticket sales in the previous fiscal year. And they also took an overall look at them to try and improve their sales. “We did some analysis, and actually made some data-driven decisions in slightly changing the scratch ticket portfolio — understanding that not all scratch ticket players are alike,” he says “For example, Iowa is among the states where crossword, or bingo those extended play, scratch games sell very well. So we made sure that we were, we’re leaning hard into meeting players where they want to be with that game.”

Strawn says players like variety in game styles and play, and that’s why you see some two dozen scratch ticket offerings, where it used to be only six or eight different types of scratch tickets available. Strawn says more ticket vending machines in high-traffic stores also helped make it easier for customers. “What you’ve seen with the increase in self-service lottery machines at retail is a response to not just what we’re hearing from players who want that convenience, but the retailers themselves. I think anybody that spends two minutes talking to any business in the state will hear about challenges they have related to the workforce. So we’re trying to help our retailers out with that as well,” Strawn says.

The preliminary figures released show that the Iowa Lottery generated a record 108-point-two million dollars in proceeds to the state for the fiscal year that ended June 30th. Prizes paid to players were a record 305-point-three million dollars.