Jeneary Comments About New Speaker Pat Grassley
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa House Republicans have chosen Rep. Pat Grassley to head their leadership teams as Speaker-Select of the Iowa House.
The grandson of U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley was chosen by the GOP House caucus on Monday. He takes over as speaker after a vote of the full House in January. State Representative Dr. Tom Jeneary of Le Mars believes Grassley will serve as a good speaker.
Grassley has served as the Appropriations Committee chairman which oversees the state’s budget. Jeneary says Pat Grassley hasn’t given any indication as of yet to his priority issues.
Current Speaker Linda Upmeyer announced last week she would step down as speaker but serve the remainder of her current House term through the end of 2020.
Grassley, a 36-year old farmer from New Hartford was first elected to the House in 2006. He operates a family farm with his father and grandfather, who also served in the Iowa House from 1959 to 1975.
Rep. Matt Windschitl of Missouri Valley was chosen majority leader and Rep. John Wills of Spirit Lake was selected as the new speaker pro tem.
10 Year Old ATV Fatal Victim Now Identified
(Sioux City) — The ten year old victim of the fatal ATV accident has now been identified. Woodbury County authorities say the victim was Bryce Clausen of Lawton. The crash and fatal injuries occurred when the victim was operating an ATV on private property and rolled the vehicle.
Iowa State Patrol Investigates Fatal UTV Accident In O’Brien County
(Sheldon) — The Iowa State Patrol and O’Brien County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a fatal traffic accident that happened on Sunday afternoon at approximately 5:20 p.m. According to the traffic accident report, 61 year old Jerome Schueller of Primghar died as a result of the collision of two vehicles meeting at an intersection. Schueller was driving a Polaris UTV and heading westbound on 380th Street, and the driver of the second vehicle, 40 year old Joshua Mahler of Sutherland was heading northbound on Roosevelt Avenue.
Waterloo Officials Approve Measure Telling Businesses To Not Ask Questions About Past Criminal Record For New Hires
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – Officials in Waterloo have approved a measure banning the city and many businesses from asking about applicants’ criminal records in early stages of the hiring process.
The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports the City Council on Monday night approved a so-called “ban-the-box” ordinance. It doesn’t let employers ask about an applicant’s criminal history until after making a conditional job offer.
The measure is intended to ensure people with criminal convictions get a fair chance of getting jobs.
Similar measures have been passed around the country, but Waterloo is the first city in Iowa to approve such an ordinance.
The measure applies to business with at least 15 employees and the city government.
It will be several weeks before the measure takes effect, and the
council is scheduled to discuss minor changes later this month.
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Iowa Man Is Sentenced To Prison For Killing Two People During Auto Accident
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A Nebraska judge has imprisoned an Iowa man for a crash in north Omaha that killed two other Iowa men. The Omaha World-Herald reports that 29-year-old Tony Kenkel, of Earling, Iowa, was sentenced Monday in Omaha to 19 years. Authorities say Kenkel was driving drunk on Oct. 13 last year when his pickup truck struck a car containing Joseph Daniels and Thomas Greise, who were fatally injured. Both were 21 and lived in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Wrongful Convicted Inmate Asks College Students To Help
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – A man who spent more than 25 years in prison for an Iowa murder that he didn’t commit is urging college students to help inmates who may be innocent.
Terry Harrington spoke to Coe College students Tuesday, recounting how he was wrongly convicted in the 1977 shooting death of a Council Bluffs security guard when he was a teenager.
Harrington had exhausted his appeals and was serving a life sentence at the Iowa State Penitentiary when he met a prison barber who believed in his innocence.
The barber obtained Council Bluffs police records that revealed
authorities had withheld evidence showing that another man had been a strong suspect but was ignored. Witnesses who had implicated Harrington recanted, saying they’d been coerced. The Iowa Supreme Court overturned Harrington’s conviction in 2003.
