Iowa

Lake Red Rock was formed by flooding that entire basin, including six towns. I read somewhere that they didn't even clear out the buildings and roads. There's probably still stuff down there in the bottom of the lake.

Edit: other link was having issues, this should work

Three Libertarian candidates in Iowa running for the U.S. House will not be listed on ballots this November after a panel ruled they failed to comply with state law, a decision that could affect the outcome of at least one tightly contested race

The state’s objection committee, composed of one Democratic and two Republican elected officials, ruled 2-1 Wednesday in favor of Iowans who challenged the candidates’ legitimacy.

Democrat on the panel who opposed the candidates’ removal, State Auditor Rob Sand, accused his colleagues of political bias, saying in a statement that the decision was “a wrong-headed plot by Iowa’s uniparty to limit voters’ choices.”

One of Iowa's four congressional races was decided by a razor-thin margin in 2022. Republican Zach Nunn, who was challenging incumbent Democrat Cindy Axne, won by less than a percentage point. There was not a third-party candidate.

An advocate for seniors is calling on the state auditor’s office to investigate the state’s failure to collect $10.7 million in fees owed by corporate nursing home owners.

According to documents obtained through the state’s open records law, one for-profit company based in West Des Moines operates 18 care facilities that collectively owe the state $3.6 million in unpaid fees. The company’s top two executives, meanwhile, have made $293,000 in political donations to Statehouse leaders, the governor and industry lobbyists.

Hale said an investigation by the Iowa auditor of sate is warranted, in part to make sure nursing facilities that claim to be increasing staff pay are doing so.

Auditor of State Rob Sand said his office has publicly reported DHHS’ failure “to collect these fees as required by law. However, the auditor’s office isn’t an enforcement agency. We have no legal authority to force DHHS to collect the fees or impose penalties on the facilities that don’t pay them.”

Very fascinating find!

The educators from Cornell College, a private liberal arts college in Mount Vernon, Iowa, were wounded “in a serious incident” on Monday, while participating in a partnership program with Beihua University in the city of Jilin, in northeastern China, according to the college.

user listed as the mod @jimrob4@midwest.social was last active 8 months ago.

This ain't exactly the most active community on here and there's yet to be any vitriol on here that'd need moderating but it's at least something to be aware of.

edit: I humbly accept my new status as the regent of the mighty @jimrob4@midwest.social, my reign of terror will be legendary and act as a warning to all those who would dare question

After two days of rain (and snow), it’s nice to see some blue sky!

First thing: Many parts of the school system are done by regional Area Education agencies (AEAs), things like special education, curriculum, media, etc. (heres the link to their website if you want to learn more iowaaea.org). Their boards are elected by school districts.

A version of the changes proposed by Governor Reynolds has already passed the Iowa house (hf2612). The part of the bill I'm focusing on here is how it allows for school districts to use state and federal $ that goes to AEAs and use it for themselves.

The thing that got me to start writing this post was a section of the most recent Iowa press. Todd Abrahamson, superintendent of the Okoboji Community School District and one of the few school superintendents in the state in favor of the proposed changes, when asked about what Okoboji would do with the money said (in more diplomatic language, 8:50) that Okoboji would poach staff from the AEAs to work exclusively for Okoboji and not for other districts.

Okoboji is a relatively wealthy tourism town, and is covered by the Prarie Lakes Area Education Agency in Northwest Iowa. Okoboji is an island of wealth in an otherwise especially rural and economically depressed area of the state where school districts just don't have resources to offer many kinds of resources on their own.

There's other things in the bill as well, shifting parts of curriculum more into the private sector. Also it would put the AEAs under the direct control of the state government.

What could possibly go wrong?