U.S.S. Sioux City Is Now Commissioned Into the Navy Fleet
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The U.S. Navy says it has commissioned the USS Sioux City into service.
The Navy said in a news release that the combat ship was placed into active service on Saturday at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
It’s the nation’s sixth littoral combat Ship. The vessel has an
aluminum skin, high-tech computer capabilities and can reach a speed of 40 knots.
The Navy says the ship’s name was chosen to honor the residents of Sioux City, Iowa.
Plans for the USS Sioux City were announced in 2012. It was built at as shipyard in Marinette, Wisconsin.
Democrats Elect Prichard For State House Leadership Role
(Des Moines) — Democrats who’ll be serving in the Iowa House next year met Saturday and elected State Representative Todd Prichard of Charles City as their new leader.
Prichard was re-elected to a fourth term in the Iowa House this month. He’s replacing Mark Smith of Marshalltown as House Minority Leader. Smith did not seek reelection AS A LEADER after Democrats picked up suburban seats in the Des Moines area that were held by Republicans, but failed to win enough races to regain majority control of the Iowa House. Republicans have held a majority of seats in the Iowa House since 2011. Prichard rejects the idea he’s been elected to help Democrats rebuild the party in rural Iowa.
Prichard put 40-thousand miles on his car traveling the state before abandoning his campaign for governor in the fall of 2017 and seeking reelection to the House instead. Prichard says he’ll ask his fellow House Democrats to travel the state, too.
Prichard, who is an attorney, is also a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves, with tours of duty in Kuwait, Iraq and Egypt. Prichard is among four men and two women who were elected to leadership roles for Democrats in the Iowa House next year.
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State School Board Association Set Legislative Priorities
(Des Moines) — School board members from across Iowa talked about their priorities for the upcoming legislative session at the Association of School Boards annual convention in Des Moines last week. I-A-S-B lobbyist Emily Piper says one priority is extending the one cent infrastructure tax.
Another is making the funding that offsets transportation costs for some districts permanent. Piper says large rural districts have faced mounting transportation costs.
She says making the money permanent would help in budgeting.
Piper says getting an equal amount of money from the state for each student in every district is another concern.
Mental health issues are another concern that Piper says the school boards are looking at trying to solve.
Upping the amount of overall state aid rounds out the priorities of the I- A-S-B members. Piper says schools were thankful to be spared from recent budget cuts.
Piper says the school districts and school boards have had good
conversations with lawmakers and she is hopeful that they will be able to see these priorities become reality when the legislature meets again for the next session.
State 4-H Leader Fired
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Government documents and emails show that Iowa’s top 4-H leader was fired earlier this year after a proposed policy discouraging discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender was withdrawn.
The Des Moines Register reports that it reviewed more than 500 pages of communication that show Iowa 4-H director John-Paul Chaisson-Cárdenas was fired after he fought pressure to drop the policy.
Just days after Iowa officials posted a draft of the policy in
April, an official with the federal department that administers 4-H, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, sent an email urging that the policy be dropped.
Iowa 4-H officials were also pressured to drop the policy by
Christian conservative leaders and one group threatened to file a lawsuit.
Chaisson-Cárdenas resisted because he was adamant that 4-H should be for all kids.
Chaisson-Cárdenas was disciplined after the criticism for the way
the policy was handled and later fired in August. He maintains that he followed proper procedure.
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