(Des Moines, Iowa) – The Iowa House of Representatives passed 13 bills with 11 having bi-partisan or unanimous support. Republican Representative Thomas Moore, from Griswold, in his weekly report, highlighted the Parent Empowerment Bill. The Iowa House of Representatives he says, passed SF496 which contains many education proposals. The House amended this legislation, sending it back to the Senate for their consideration. It does the following and has a number of requirements:

Among the requirements, is: Full access to an online library;  The identity of parent/guardian who requests removal must be kept confidential, and Students are no longer allowed on book review committees. Moore said there are sections of the bill that pertain to Parents Rights Language, Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Survey Language, and Special Education/Home School Language.

With regard to the Special Education section of the bill…

Other amendments to SF496…

If a student requests an accommodation for a gender identity different than their sex at birth, the bill says the teacher must report that to the their administrator and the administrator contacts the parent/guardian.

Rep. Tom Moore (R-Griswold)

Representative Thomas Moore can be reached at tom.moore@legis.iowa.gov and (712) 789-9954. If you would like to set up an in-person meeting or would like to visit the capitol please let him know.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Police in Glenwood report a Nebraska man was arrested Thursday on a repeat OWI offense. 36-year-old Benjamin Muitu, of Bellevue, NE, was taken into custody for OWI/3rd Offense. His bond was set at $5,000.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – If you have documents you no longer need and are not comfortable with throwing in the trash, bring them to the Spring Shred Day and Scouting for Food Drive this Saturday, April 8th, in Atlantic. Ken Moorman, with Friends of the Atlantic Public Library, says the two-in-one event will make it easy for you to get rid of old papers, and it serves a good cause. Shred Day is an annual event.

Moorman says Boy Scout Troop #54 will coordinate traffic control and take your boxes, bags or bundles of paper. No Commercial paper, please.

Once they take your paper, you’ll move your vehicle forward and have an opportunity to make a donation to the Scouting For Food Drive, with your cash or non-perishable items be delivered to the Atlantic Food Pantry.

Non-perishable food donations include…

The Shred Day and Food Drive takes place Saturday, April8th, from 9-to 11-a.m., outside the Atlantic Public Library.

(Radio Iowa) – G-O-P leaders in the legislature are considering a formal response to a recent Iowa Supreme Court ruling critical of so-called “logrolling” in the lawmaking process. The justices concluded proposals that didn’t have majority support were attached to a bill during a vote taken well after midnight in the Iowa Senate, violating the constitutional requirement that each bill address a single subject. Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver says the ruling raises concerns. “That decision will now make its way back through the court system and we will definitely want to get involved with a brief from our standpoint on legislative intent,” Whitver says.

The ruling also accused a state senator of misrepresenting the contents of the bill to sway votes. Whitver says assigning a single reason for every yes vote on a bill is questionable. “I believe legislative intent is whatever is on the paper and to ask why a legislator votes for a bill — there could be 20 different reasons or 30 different reasons,” Whitver says, “and so to say: ‘This is the legislature’s intent’ is problematic. Whatever’s on the paper is the intent of the bill.”

A spokesperson for House Speaker Pat Grassley says leaders are reviewing options and the House is interested in doing something to respond to the ruling, but no decision has been made. Last month’s Iowa Supreme Court decision centered aroud a 2020 Iowa law that was changed by language added to a bill on another subject. The justices ruled the law had unfairly prevented out of state companies from bidding to build transmission lines in Iowa and the case was sent back to a district court.

(Creston, Iowa) – Officials with the Creston Police Department report two people were arrested on separate OWI charges this (Friday) morning. At midnight, 51-year-old Pedro Quintanilla-Flores, of Lenox, was arrested at 509 W. Taylor St. He was charged with Operating While Under the Influence (OWI) – 1^st Offense, and Driving While License Suspended. Quintanilla-Flores was being held in the Union County Jail on a $1,300 bond.

And, at around 2:15-a.m., Creston Police arrested 30-year-old Abel Estuardo Vargas Blanco, of Richmond, Virginia, at Elm and Freemont Streets, in Creston. He was charged with OWI/1st offense. Blanco was taken to Union County Jail and released after posted at $1,000 bond.

(Oskaloosa, Iowa) – Officials with the Iowa Department of Public Safety, Thursday, said a man suspected of shooting a man in Oskaloosa, Tuesday night, was arrested Thursday, in Missouri.  22-year-old Gavin Jones was taken into custody in connection with an incident whereby another man was shot in the leg. Jones faces a charge of Willful Injury causing serious injury.

Gavin Jones (latest booking photo)

Original story follows…

“On Tuesday, April 4, 2023, at 10:16 p.m., officers with the Oskaloosa Police Department were dispatched to 709 D Avenue West on the report of a shooting. Responding officers found an adult male with a gunshot wound. Officers and EMS rendered aid at the scene. The man was transported to a Des Moines area hospital, where he remains.

As a result of the overnight investigation, officers with the Oskaloosa Police Department and agents with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation are seeking help from the public to locate 22-year-old Gavin Jones. Authorities say “This incident appears to be isolated, and there is no known ongoing threat to the public.”

Gavin Jones (photo issued in the 1st press release by the DPS)

(Radio Iowa) – This week’s NASA announcement naming the four astronauts who will crew the Artemis Two mission to the Moon is being called “historic” by a physics and astronomy professor at the University of Iowa. Professor Allison Jaynes says she was thrilled to see astronaut Christina Koch assigned to the lunar mission, the first in more than 50 years. “Having her to be one of the first people to revisit the Moon is very substantial because we are living in a society where we’re still talking about and arguing about these issues of equality,” Jaynes says, “and so having her be selected, and Victor Glover as well, is an incredible decision.”

Glover will be the first black astronaut to orbit the Moon. All previous Moon missions were crewed entirely by white men. Artemis Two will fly around the Moon late next year or early in 2025, while later missions aim to -land- on the Moon’s surface, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished since 1972. Sally Ride became the first American woman in space aboard the Shuttle Challenger in 1983, and women have played an increasingly important role in the program over the decades. Still, Jaynes says there are glass ceilings in space, too.

Artemis 2 crew

“You might say cowboys are the ones we think of when we think of astronauts,” Jaynes says. “Women still aren’t the image of an astronaut. When you say ‘astronaut’ to a bunch of schoolchildren, they will assume a man, they will assume a male astronaut. So this spaceflight, it’s really going to change the way that students and children and everyone around the world views astronauts.”

Iowa native Peggy Whitson, who retired from the astronaut corps in 2018, is among the most accomplished space travelers. Whitson, who was born in Mount Ayr and raised on a farm near Beaconsfield, spent 665 days in space — a record for any American astronaut. She was the International Space Station’s first science officer and its first woman commander. In addition to the space endurance record, Whiston logged more EVAs — or spacewalks — than any other woman.