DES MOINES, Iowa —  Eastern Iowa Democrat Representative Ras Smith, Tuesday (today), officially announced his bid to become Governor. He becomes the first person to announce they will challenge Governor Kim Reynolds in advance of the the 2022 mid-term elections. Smith currently represents Iowa House District 62 at the statehouse, which covers the northern part of Waterloo. He’s held that position since 2017 and has run unopposed since the 2016 elections.

Iowa Dem. Rep. Ras Smith, from Waterloo,

State Rep. Smith is expected to make a formal announcement Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.

The Creston Police Department reports two separate arrests took place, Monday. At around 10:30 am, 34-year-old Jeffrey Drake, of Afton, was arrested at the Union County Law Enforcement Center on a Union County Warrant for Failure to Appear on the original charge of Driving While Barred. Drake was being held in the Adams County Jail while awaiting bond hearing. And, at around 12:39-p.m., Monday, 41-year-old Sheri Watters, of Creston, was arrested on a Union County Warrant for Failure to Appear on the original charge of Assault Causing Bodily Injury. She was being held in the Adams County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – After last year’s pandemic-related cancellations, all of Iowa’s 100 county fairs are a go in 2021 and five will be held this month. “Not to beat a dead horse about last year, but it was tough. This year, everybody’s back,” says Tom Barnes, executive director of the Association of Iowa Fairs. “…We’re hearing a lot of positive talk about people wanting to get back involved, be at the fair, help with the fair.” Barnes says the “curve ball” of last year’s pandemic prompted fair managers to improvise. For example, many staged competitions for the livestock 4-H and FFA members raised last year. “I believe the count was 85 or 86 fairs in Iowa did not happen at all, but did some sort of youth show-and-go type of event,” Barnes says. “…Early fairs in June was basically the guinea pigs of trying to make that happen and our later fairs learned by what the early fairs did correctly and did not do correctly.”

Barnes is also secretary of the Howard County Fair, which starts next week. Barnes says after years of emphasizing concerns about the spread of diseases among livestock, county fairs are being proactive about the human side as well. “We still have the sprayers and the hand sanitizers and all that. We’ll be utilizing that kind of stuff here during our fair, spacing things out as best as we possibility can, but what’s really helped the fairs be able to kick off this year is the vaccination,” Barnes says. “…There were skeptics three or four months ago. Whether you believe in the vaccination or not, it did change the public’s perception of getting back into a norm.”

The Wapello and Worth County fairs start this Wednesday, June 16. The Linn, Jefferson and Howard County Fairs begin on June 23. There are 99 counties in Iowa, but 100 counties fairs since Pottawattamie County holds two — one in Council Bluffs and the other in Avoca.

(Radio Iowa) – House Democrats have elected a new leader and she is the first woman to serve in the post. The 41 Democrats who serve in the Iowa House met last (Monday) night and elected Representative Jennifer Konfrst of Windsor Heights as House Minority Leader. Konfrst replaces Representative Todd Prichard of Charles City, who announced on June 2nd that he was stepping down after serving in the position for three legislative sessions.

IA House Rep. Jennifer Konfrst

Konfrst was first elected to the House in 2018, reelected in 2020 and she was the second-ranking Democrat in the Iowa House this past session. Konfrst has been a full time professor at Drake University since 2013, teaching course in political communication and public relations.  Konfrst released a written statement Monday night and will hold an online news conference later this (Tuesday) morning.