(Des Moines) – Governor Kim Reynolds today (Friday) signed a proclamation convening a special legislative session on Thursday, October 28, 2021. The purpose of the special session will be to consider and enact a plan of legislative and congressional redistricting in accordance with the framework set forth in chapter 42 of the Iowa Code.

Gov. Kim Reynolds (RI Photo)

A copy of the proclamation can be found here. 

(Radio Iowa) – A federal district court judge has granted a preliminary injunction that lets Iowa school district mask mandates remain in place. Governor Reynolds is appealing the ruling to a three-judge panel on a federal appeals court based in St. Louis. A state law that took effect just before the last school year ended prohibits schools from requiring that students, staff and visitors wear masks on school grounds.

A group of disability rights advocates, including parents of some Iowa students, filed a lawsuit arguing the law discriminates against students who’re at greater risk of contracting Covid. Last month, a federal judge based in Iowa issued a temporary order that has blocked the state from enforcing the ban on school mask mandates, and this new order extends that.

In his ruling, Judge Robert Pratt cited the potential for irreparable harm to some children if masking requirements are forbidden in schools. In a written statement, Governor Kim Reynolds said she’ll never stop fighting for the rights of parents to decide what is best for their children and to uphold state laws — including the one that bars schools from having mask mandates.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA – Officials with the U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa, Friday (today), said that on Wednesday, October 6, 2021, 43-year-old Myron Lee Brandon, of Pacific Junction, was found guilty in federal court of two counts of kidnapping and two counts of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. The verdict came after a three-day trial. Sentencing has been set for March 2, 2022 in Council Bluffs.

According to evidence presented at trial, on June 21, 2003, Brandon was in downtown Omaha, Nebraska, and offered a ride to two teenage girls. One female was fifteen years old and the other fourteen. The girls were expecting to be transported to a location in Omaha, but Brandon drove to a location near Pacific Junction, Iowa. On a rural road outside Pacific Junction, Brandon brandished a knife before sexually assaulting both victims and used a cigarette to burn each of them on the breast area. The victims escaped from Brandon and managed to walk to Interstate 29 where they were picked up by a motorist and taken to safety.

Law enforcement began an investigation on June 22, 2003, that included a medical exam and collection of evidence from each victim. After an extensive investigation failed to identify a suspect, the evidence that had been collected was stored until a suspect was identified.

In 2015, the Iowa Attorney General’s Office created the Sex Assault Kit Initiative, a program that submits old case evidence to a laboratory to determine if DNA evidence is present to help identify suspects. In July of 2018, the sexual assault kits collected from the victims were placed in this program. In February of 2020, Brandon was identified as a suspect, and further DNA evidence collected from Brandon confirmed he was the person who sexually assaulted the victims.

It was the first jury trial in the State of Iowa using DNA evidence processed by the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative. The first conviction in a Sexual Assault Kit Initiative case occurred in 2019 in Dallas County, Iowa.  Acting U.S. Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The investigation was conducted by the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, Council Bluffs Police Department, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, and the Omaha Police Department, with the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Iowa Attorney General’s Office.