Ag Secretary Candidate Tim Gannon Visits Le Mars
(Le Mars) — The Democratic candidate seeking the position of Iowa’s Secretary of Agriculture made a campaign stop in Le Mars this morning. Tim Gannon says he wants to put profitability back in the farmers’ hands.
Gannon says he would also like to see the waivers given to oil refineries be thrown out, which he says has hurt rural Iowa because of the decrease in ethanol and biofuels production.
Gannon says he would like to see more funding go to Iowa State University for research on corn and soybeans to develop more new industrial uses from Iowa’s grains and oilseeds.
The Democratic candidate offers an example of how corn and soybeans can be processed and converted for new uses.
Gannon says if Iowa was to utilize more uses from corn and soybeans, it would mean additional jobs, and be better for the environment.
Gannon farms with his father in central Iowa, and is a former aide to Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, and followed Vilsack to the nation’s capital when Vilsack was appointed as U-S Department of Agriculture Secretary.
Judicial Branch Tracking Appointments
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Judicial Branch has started tracking legal deadlines for judge appointments amid uncertainty over whether Gov. Kim Reynolds made two picks on time.
The governor has 30 days to appoint a judge once finalists have been submitted by a nominating commission. After that, the authority falls to the chief justice.
The requirement has come into focus after the liberal blog Bleeding Heartland reported that Reynolds informed Judge Jason Besler of his appointment days after the deadline. An attorney has filed a complaint alleging Besler is unlawfully holding office.
Now questions are being raised about the June 21 appointment of Judge Michael Jacobsen.
A nominating commission signed a letter addressed to Reynolds 35 days earlier, on May 17, recommending Jacobsen and another attorney. But the letter apparently was never sent, and the commission chair waited until May 22 to email the names to the governor’s office. Jacobsen was appointed 30 days later.
Davis says the court system is now formally tracking submission dates, which it didn’t do previously.
Mystery Illness Detected In Nebraska and Iowa
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Officials say a rare illness that can paralyze children has been confirmed in two Iowa cases and is suspected in one Nebraska case.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says at least 62 cases of acute flaccid myelitis have been confirmed in 22 states this year.
Dr. Mark Rupp is an infectious disease specialist for Nebraska Medicine in Omaha, and he says it’s “a mysterious disease, very rare and there’s a lot that we don’t understand about this.”
Iowa state medical director Caitlin Pedati says both Iowa patients were younger than 18 and were treated and then released from hospitals in western and central Iowa.
Health officials in Nebraska’s Douglas County say they’re investigating a possible case that could take up to three weeks to confirm.
State’s Family Planning Numbers Are Down
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa Department of Human Services figures show that the state’s family planning program is providing far fewer services like contraception a year after state lawmakers excluded Planned Parenthood clinics from receiving state funding.
The Des Moines Register reports that the program covered 970 family planning services from April through June. That’s a 73 percent decrease from the roughly 3,600 services covered by the program during those months in 2017.
The department’s data show the number of patients enrolled in the program has dropped from almost 8,600 in June 2017 to less than 4,200 in June 2018.
The program aims to help poor and moderate-income level residents obtain contraception. Legislators decided in 2017 to ban agencies that provide abortions from participating in the program. The state lost $3 million annually in federal Medicaid funds.
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Deadly Deere Disease Detected In Minnesota
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Deer from a private herd on a Minnesota farm have contracted a deadly virus that until now has not yet been seen in the state.
Minnesota Board of Animal Health officials say the virus was confirmed in seven deer on a Goodhue County farm and six have died. The virus, called epizootic hemorrhagic disease, or EHD, is carried by biting flies and causes rapid death from internal bleeding. No vaccine is available for infected animals.
State wildlife officials say there’s no indication the virus is present in the wild deer population. And, although it’s the first time the virus has been detected in deer in Minnesota, it has been present in the Dakotas, Wisconsin and Iowa.
The Star Tribune reports there are no known health risks to humans.
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