(Radio Iowa) – An Iowan at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee is not only a delegate, he’s a historian who has written a book about William Jennings Bryan and Hubert Humphrey — Democrats who run for president. Jeff Taylor, a political science professor at Dordt University in Sioux Center, was also a delegate at the G-O-P’s national convention in 2012. “Not only do I get new stories from this one, but the students are probably going to be able to relate to this experience a little more just because it’s happening right now,” Taylor said, with a laugh. “This fall and next year and the following year this is still going to be fresh in their mind.”

Taylor, who has a seat on the convention floor with the rest of the Iowa delegates, says he’s been observing the teleprompter on stage to see how closely speakers follow the script. “Some of the aspects of a highly disciplined, highly regulated, highly disciplined convention where the speakers are supposed to be staying on task,” Taylor says. “…I saw that in 2012 and it’s still the practice. The people who run the convention don’t want surprises, they don’t want any gaffes said from the podium. They want a united front and all that.” Taylor says that message has filtered down to Iowa delegates, too.

“We were encouraged to, especially in speaking to the media, to not to be negative, to not say things that would put our state in a poor light and while I appreciated that encouragement, I don’t think it would happen anyway,” Taylor says. “It seems like in terms of party unity, it’s there.” Taylor says that unity was illustrated when Trump entered the convention arena on Monday night and the crowd cheered, applauded and repeated Trump’s “fight, fight, fight” mantra. “It was the first time that most of us had seen him since the assassination attempt,” Taylor says. “That was an emotional moment, I think, for a lot of us as delegates.”

Taylor has been a state senator since 2021. He’s running for a second term this year and has no opposition on the General Election ballot.

(Corning, Iowa) – The Adams County Sheriff’s Office today (Thursday), said a woman from Corning was arrested June 4th, on an active warrant. 22-year-old Ashlyn Pitman was booked into the Adams County Jail and later released.

Disclaimer: “Any potential criminal charges identified above are merely allegations, and any defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.”

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s unemployment held at two-point-eight percent in June. Iowa Workforce Development director, Beth Townsend, says there weren’t any big changes during the month. “A slight decrease in the labor force participation rate of two tenths of a point, but that was primarily due to retirements, and as most people know May and June are two pretty big months for people retiring,” she says. Townsend says there were some headwinds with the national economy, along with some layoffs and the natural disasters. “Iowa employers nonetheless added 300 net jobs in June so that was good. We saw the most gains in education and health care which gained 18-hundred jobs in June,” Townsend says. “We always like to see the healthcare industry being able to hire because they have the most need, and have had for a significant period of time even pre-pandemic.” There were some job losses as well.

“Not surprising we saw manufacturing shed about a thousand jobs this month, and that was the most of any other industry. Government lost 12-hundred jobs but that’s usually related to school bus drivers not working in the summer,” she says. Townsend says the manufacturing layoffs will start showing up in the unemployment numbers in the next two months. “We did have some John Deere layoffs in May, a little bit in June, but the larger layoffs were effective more in July and August, So, if they’re going to impact the numbers I would expect we’ll see that we’ll see that in July or August,” Townsend says.

The state unemployment rate has been below three percent since hitting that mark in January. The U-S unemployment rate increased to four-point-one percent in June.

(Radio Iowa) – New state rules regulating hemp products have gone into effect this week. Iowa Hemp Alliance spokesperson Theresa Harms says up to 80 percent of the products at the businesses who’ve joined the group are prohibited under the new regulations. “Producers and retailers of consumable hemp products will now be forced to dispose of a substantial portion of their inventory,” Harms says, “even though these products are currently permitted at the federal level.” Harms says the state regulations conflict with federal limits outlined in the 2018 Farm Bill and were not fully revealed to the public until this week.

In mid-May Governor Reynolds signed the law to limit the amount of T-H-C — the ingredient that causes the high — that can be in consumable hemp products sold in Iowa. The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services rules have a per serving limit is four milligrams of T-H-C. Hemp retailers say that limit is not in the law and they’ve sued. Scott Selix is the co-founder of a company that makes the hemp infused “Climbing Kites” beverage. Selix says 90 percent of his products are now illegal in Iowa, he’s had to pull them out of hundreds of Iowa stores — and the warning labels the agency will require in September weren’t revealed until Tuesday.

Hemp infused products (IPR photo)

“We would tell the department all of this if they would just respond. Every time we reach out and say: ‘Please don’t do this. Please listen to us.” They say: ‘No, there’s ongoing litigation,'” Selix says. “And we’re saying: ‘We’re only litigating because you’re not listening.'” Climbing Kites had been brewed in Des Moines, but Selix says operations have been moved to Illinois and Ohio to avoid the risk of arrest. “We are the fastest growing hemp manufacturing company in the country,” Selix says. “We’re an Iowa company. I own Iowa restaurants and breweries. I invest in real estate in Des Moines, but I can’t keep this company here.”

Four Democrats on the Legislature’s Administrative Rules Review Committee voted this week to delay the regulations, but majority Republicans on the panel agreed to let the state’s new hemp rules take effect immediately.