Emails Show Finance Authority Director Wanted To Meet With Reynolds Days Before Being Fired
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Emails show that Iowa Finance Authority Director David Jamison requested a friendly get-together with longtime ally Gov. Kim Reynolds, just days before she fired him for alleged sexual harassment.
The records released Friday underscore how swiftly Reynolds acted to terminate Jamison, with whom she’d had a working relationship dating back two decades, once her staff learned of the allegations.
But they don’t shed light on the nature of Jamison’s alleged misconduct, which the governor’s office has refused to share with the public despite mounting
calls to do so.
Reynolds fired Jamison on March 24, citing “credible” allegations of sexual harassment against him by state employees. Jamison had written to the governor’s scheduler on March 19 requesting a meal or coffee meeting “to sit and visit” with his longtime colleague.
Renewable Fuel Distributors Worry That Trump May Reduce RFS Levels
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa ethanol and biodiesel producers are warning President Donald Trump that imposing restrictions on biofuels production “would be viewed as a declaration of war on rural America.”
The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, representing refineries in the nation’s largest biofuels producing state, called on Sens. Charles Grassley and Joni Ernst on Friday to reach out to Trump. The refiners use corn, soybeans and animal fat to make biofuels and want the senators to tell Trump limiting biofuel
production is a “complete abdication of his repeated promises” to protect biofuels.
The group says it’s heard that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt plans to push Trump on Monday for a proposal that would cut biofuel demand.
Farm states, already stinging from Trump’s tariff fight with China, are alarmed he could further hurt ag markets.
Florida Man Wanted For Murder, Arrested In Northeast Iowa
NASHUA, Iowa (AP) – Police arrested a Miami man in northeast Iowa after a high-speed chase and then learned he faces a murder charge in Florida.
The Iowa State Patrol says a trooper tried to stop a speeding vehicle Thursday morning near Nashua. The vehicle fled at speeds up to 100 mph and headed toward oncoming traffic.
The state patrol says officers stopped the vehicle after stretching a barrier across the road to deflate the tires.
Police arrested the driver, 21-year-old Devon Cooke, on charges including drunken driving, eluding police and assault on a police officer. Authorities also determined he was wanted on a 2nd degree murder charge in Dade County, Florida.
Cooke was held in the Chickasaw County Jail.
Online court records didn’t list an attorney who could comment on the charges.
Volunteers Needed To Help Clean Up Parks
(Des Moines) — The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is placing a call for volunteers to help prepare several Iowa state parks for the summer season. Todd Coffelt (KOFF-elt),
the DNR’s State Parks Bureau chief, says spring cleanup events are scheduled through this month and next (April and May) at nearly a dozen parks across the state.
“One of the easiest things people will be able to help with is trash,” Coffelt said. “The other thing – they’ll be picking up branches from trees that’ve fallen on the ground.” Other work could involve painting and clipping back limbs and plants. The DNR hosted a similar volunteer event at the end of
September, as many of the state park campgrounds were closing.
“Just in the timing of the two events, we kind of have a kickoff for the spring and a wrapup for the fall,” Coffelt said. The list of state park volunteer events – with locations, dates, and times – can be found on the Iowa DNR’s website.
…..
https://www.iowadnr.gov/About-DNR/DNR-News-Releases/ArticleID/1807/Volunteers-
invited-to-state-park-spring-clean-up-events
——————————
Montana Governor Visits Iowa To Test “Presidential Waters”
HELENA, Mont. (AP) – Montana Gov. Steve Bullock is on a two-day tour of Iowa as he campaigns for the state’s Democratic attorney general and tests the waters for a possible 2020 presidential run.
Bullock headlined a fundraiser for Attorney General Tom Miller’s re- election campaign on Thursday and on Friday is speaking to Polk County Democrats in the state’s largest county.
In between, Bullock’s schedule is packed with meals and meetings with local elected officials and party leaders in central Iowa.
Matt McKenna is a political consultant who is working with Bullock’s Big Sky Values PAC. McKenna says the purpose of Bullock’s trip is to support Miller, and declined to say whether the governor also is laying the groundwork for a presidential bid.
Several potential candidates are already making appearances in Iowa, the first state on the presidential primary election calendar.
