(Radio Iowa) – There was a two-fer at the Capitol to celebrate Tuesday’s palindrome date. Representative Dustin Hite of New Sharon presented this closing argument on a piece of legislation.

The bill about procedures in criminal courts was not controversial and passed unanimously — but not before Representative John Wills of Spirit Lake put in his two cents worth.

That’s Representative Rick Olson of Des Moines. His two bits were that it was a simple bill and Hite had described it accurately. Yesterday’s date was a palindrome worldwide, for counties that list the month first and for those that put the date first in the numeric sequence.

The last universal palindrome date was more than a decade ago, on the 11th of November — or 11-11-11.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today (Wednesday) in a case that could lead the court to overturn a 2018 ruling on abortion. Last year, Republican Governor Kim Reynolds signed a law that requires a 24-hour waiting period for abortions, but the law never went into effect due to a legal challenge. That challenged cited a 2018 ruling from the Iowa Supreme Court. The court ruled back then that Iowa women had a fundamental right to an abortion under the STATE constitution.

The make-up of the court has changed significantly since 2018, though. A majority of the justices have been appointed by Governor Kim Reynolds and her attorneys will argue today that the state’s highest court should overturn its previous ruling.

The U.S. Supreme Court will issue a ruling on abortion restrictions this summer. If the nation’s highest court upholds that Mississippi law, Roe v Wade — the 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide — could be overturned. It means the legal fights over abortion would then be waged in state courts.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Police in Council Bluffs report four men and a woman were arrested Tuesday for their alleged role in a home invasion. Authorities say at around 12:23 pm., officers responded to a reported home invasion in the area of 118 South 7th street, in Council Bluffs. Officers were informed that four men broke into an apartment belonging to woman, and assaulted a man who was in the home. They then allegedly stole property from inside the residence.

Jess Willard Pfarr

Gage L. Rose

Kendrick G. Arredondo-Beltran

Frank T. Stewart, Jr.

Officers were told that the four males fled the area in a white 4-door Pontiac sedan driven by a female. The vehicle and its occupants were located in the 2400 block of 9th Avenue and detained without incident. All occupants of the vehicle were transported to Criminal Investigations to speak to detectives and later all were charged and booked into corrections on Robbery 2nd and Burglary 2nd charges.

The suspects were identified as:

• 20-year-old Kendrick G. Arredondo-Beltran, of Bellevue, NE.
• 29-year-old Jess Willard Pfarr, of Council Bluffs
• 20-year-old Gage L. Rose, of Council Bluffs
• 30-year-old Frank T. Stewart, Jr., of Council Bluffs
• and the owner of the white Pontiac, Valerie M. Claar, of Council Bluffs. (Photo not available)

The male victim was treated at the scene and released with minor injuries from the assault. No other citizens were injured during the home invasion. Anyone with any information that was in the area at the time of the incident is encouraged to contact this Division at 712-328-4728 or they may call Crime Stoppers at 712-328-7867.

(Radio Iowa) – A southeast Iowa school board has approved a shift to a four-day school week, starting in August. Joel Pedersen is the superintendent of the Cardinal Community School District, which is based in Eldon. “I’m certainly excited,” Pedersen says. “I’m also understanding of some of the concerns that are still there and we need to work through those.” The school board vote was unanimous, with one board member absent.

Pedersen says while he understands some families are apprehensive about the adjusted schedule, school staff were surveyed and 95 percent support the move to a four-day week. “We want to be there,” Pedersen says. “We don’t want it to be something that derails some of the positives of the four-day school week because we think we haven’t even tapped all the opportunities.” Pedersen believes the new schedule will help with teacher retention.

“Different generations value different things,” Pedersen says. “You look at some of the younger teachers. They talk a lot about time and time being more important than necessarily money.” Cardinal will be the fourth school district in Iowa to have a four-day school week when the 2022-23 school year begins. WACO, Mormon Trail, and Moulten-Udell are the other three. Pedersen predicts the shortened week will be more widespread in the future.

“I think you’ll see this move across Iowa,” Pedersen says. “I think you’re going to see lots and lots of schools across Iowa do this.” Before the pandemic, 662 U.S. school districts were on four-days-a-week schedules and that number has increased, particularly in rural areas of the country.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Senate has unanimously voted to deregulate businesses that offer what’s advertised as a less painful way to shape eyebrows. It’s called threading. A piece of cotton thread is wound through the eyebrow and then pulled to remove individual hairs. In Iowa, a person has to get a state license to do that.

“Under current law, threading is a practice of cosmetology that requires 2100 hours before licensure or esthetics that requires 600 hours before licensure, ” Senator Chris Cournoyer, a Republican from LeClaire said. “Even under these requirements, threading is not a practice with specific coursework or training. This bill deregulates threading and allows the free market to regulate the performance of this service.”

A West Des Moines business called the Perfect Brow Bar sued the state of Iowa in January over the licensing requirements. Eyebrow threading dates back thousands of years was part of the pre-marriage rituals for women in some cultures. Threading businesses have been popping up in shopping malls and it’s being offered in salons and spas as an alternative to waxing and tweezing eyebrows.