State Representative Jeneary To Hold Town Hall Meetings
(Des Moines) — State House District 5 Representative, Republican, Dr. Tom Jeneary of Le Mars has announced he will be holding local town hall meetings today. Beginning this weekend, Representative Jeneary will appear in Akron and Le Mars. The Akron site will be held at Security National Bank Community Room located at 251 Reed Street, Akron, Iowa 51001. The town hall meeting will begin at 10:30 a.m.
State Representative Jeneary will hold his Le Mars town hall meeting, at Floyd Valley Healthcare in Conference Room 1 located at 714 Lincoln St. N.E. at Le Mars, Iowa 51031. That meeting will begin at 12:30 p.m. Next Saturday, Representative Jeneary will be at Correctionville at 10:00 a.m. and at Moville at 12:00 noon.
Political Party Caucuses Scheduled For Monday Evening
(Le Mars) — Political caucuses are often times thought of as the start of a political season. On Monday evening, both the Republicans and Democrats will gather for their caucuses. Although, political caucuses are most thought of during the presidential election campaigns, local political leaders say caucuses are important during the off-presidential years. Mark Sturgeon serves as the chairman of the Plymouth County Democratic party.
Don Kass is with the Plymouth County Republican party and generally echoes Sturgeon’s comments.
Kass says people selected to serve as a county convention delegate usually serve a two-year term. Sturgeon says each precinct will nominate their delegates to the county political convention.
Both county political leaders say the county caucus is where a political platform is first discussed and developed.
Due to the population growth from the Census data report, Plymouth County has had a reconfiguration of precinct boundaries. What was listed as 13 different precincts, is now down to 11 new precincts. Previous precincts 11, 12, and 13 were all part of the town of Le Mars. Under the new precinct maps, Le Mars precincts are now listed as precincts one…two…and three. As for the Plymouth County Democrats, the county caucus site is the Le Mars Community High School.
As for the county Republicans, Kass says they will have various locations throughout the county for their political caucuses.
Both Republican and Democrat caucuses will begin promptly at 7:00 p.m. Monday evening, February 7th.
Will Iowa Retain Its “First-In-The-Nation” Political Status?
(Le Mars) — There has been some discussion among political elites as to whether or not Iowa will be able to retain its “first-in-the-nation” status with presidential caucuses. Local political leaders from both major parties say they haven’t heard anything different, and are going with the premise that both the Republican and Democrat caucuses will retain its status of being the first political national event. Don Kass is with the Plymouth County Republican party.
Mark Sturgeon serves as the chairman of the Plymouth County Democratic party
MMC School District Receives State Awarded Childcare Grant
(Des Moines) — Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds along with the Iowa Department of Education announced today that 16 school districts across the state were awarded competitive planning grants, up to $10,000 each, to explore the development of blending child care and quality early learning programs in their communities. The MMC-RU school district is one of the recipients of the grants. The Blended Early Learning in Educational Foundations (BELIEF) grants will support school districts working with community partners in developing plans to start evidence-based, customized early child care and preschool programs for children under the age of five. The grants can be used to cover costs associated with training and planning, such as travel expenses, communication and outreach services, transportation costs associated with multiple service locations as well as the cost of substitute teachers, so team members can attend training and planning sessions. MMCRU School Superintendent Dan Barkel says the district is appreciative of receiving the grant.
Barkel says the $10,000 grant will be helpful in establishing the new daycare facilities and all the items needed for a daycare.
The Marcus-Merriden-Cleghorn school district was the only one in northwest Iowa to receive the state grant.
Museum To Hold “Love Themed” Event On Sunday
(Le Mars) — Plymouth County Historical Museum is getting into the Valentine’s spirit by holding an event entitled “Love Your Rockin Museum” which is scheduled for Sunday afternoon, February 6th at the museum. Museum administrator, Judy Bowman says the doors will open at 1:00 p.m. and visitors are able to see several “love stations”.
Bowman says the so-called “love stations” will be open for an hour. She says another station is the popular museum’s root beer floats.
Bowman says the museum will offer one other station leading up to the afternoon’s big event.
The museum official says all the previous events will lead up to featuring two local people who will perform love songs from operas.
Krekow and Dunstan are expected to perform for 45 minutes. Following the singing performances, Bowman says a meal will be served in the museum’s “Old Central gymnasium.”
The Plymouth County Historical Museum offers free admission, although donations are welcomed.
State Health Officials Report 20% Drop in COVID Hospitalizations
(Des Moines, IA) — The Iowa Department of Public Health is reporting a significant dropped in COVID-19 hospitalizations. State health officials says the number of hospital patients who’ve tested positive fell by 20 percent since last Friday to 741. Governor Kim Reynolds said Thursday the coronavirus is similar to the flu and other infectious illnesses and state agencies will start managing COVID-19 as “part of normal daily business.” The Public Health Disaster Proclamation the governor first issued in March of 2020 will end February 15th and the Iowa Department of Public Health will take down its online vaccine finder and no longer publish the number of Iowa nursing homes with COVID outbreaks. Interim director Kelly Garcia says similar agencies in more than half of states are making similar changes to manage COVID as they do other contagious viruses.
Iowa Supreme Court Upholds Convicted of Bank Robber Claiming Impartial Jury
(Des Moines, IA) — The Iowa Supreme Court is upholding the conviction of a Lee County man who claimed his jury pool was not impartial because it contained no African Americans. Kenneth Lilly was found guilty of aiding and abetting a bank robbery. He appealed saying the driver’s license and voting lists underrepresented African Americans in the jury pool, leading to an all-white jury. The Iowa Supreme Court ruling says Lilly asserts that low-income people register to vote and acquire driver’s licenses and I-D cards at lower rates than others in the community — but he offered no evidence or expert witnesses to establish this fact. It says speculation about the possible causes of underrepresentation will not substitute for a credible showing of evidence supporting those allegations.
Old Creamery Theatre in Amana Closes After More Than 50 Years
(Amana, IA) — A longtime venue for live theater performances in eastern Iowa is shutting its doors for good. After more than 50 years of staging shows, a letter posted on the Old Creamery Theatre website says the facility in Amana has permanently closed. The letter blames “financial pressures amid the COVID-19 pandemic.” What was billed as Iowa’s Premiere Professional Theatre Company shut down temporarily in March of 2020 and reopened for roadshows in the fall and winter of 2021. While there was some federal funding injected, it wasn’t enough to keep the theater afloat. The venue opened in 1971 in Garrison before moving to Amana.
Iowa Basketball Coach McCaffrey Tests Positive For COVID
(Iowa City, IA) — Iowa men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery will miss Sunday’s home game against border rival Minnesota. The University of Iowa athletics department says McCaffery tested positive for COVID-19 and has entered health and safety protocols. Assistant Billy Taylor will serve as interim head coach against the Golden Gophers. The Hawkeyes topped Minnesota 81-71 last month at Williams Arena. Iowa’s scheduled game Thursday night at Ohio State was postponed due to a winter storm.
Jeneary Journal
Greetings from the Statehouse,
Another busy week has concluded here at the statehouse. We are continuing to work hard to defend and promote the liberty of the people Iowa. I have an update on the eminent domain bill that I have introduced along with a Senator Jeff Taylor. The companion bill is currently in the Senate, and it will help the farmers in our community from having their land taken from them without their consent. The exact language of the legislation can be found in Senate File 2160. We are hoping to schedule a subcommittee on this bill next week. More on this as things continue to develop.
We are facing a workforce shortage in our state, and that is on full display in our schools. Unfortunately, schools across the state of Iowa are being pushed to their limit and are struggling to maintain resources and personnel. We have heard from school districts that teachers are stretched thin, substitute teachers are becoming hard to find, and bus drivers along with other support staff have become increasingly difficult to retain. There’s no one solution that will fix a problem that includes many unique complexities, so House Republicans are attacking it from multiple angles. Thankfully, there are some good ideas that are being proposed to help solve this problem.
In addition to increasing Supplement State Aid (SSA), which would increase funding per student. There are also other important pieces of legislation being introduced. Two bills are being introduced that we believe can help solve this problem. HSB 632 and its companion bill HF 2085 will aid people who are looking to make a career change. This will bring people with real life experience into our class rooms to help our students not only obtain an incredible education, but also provide them with mentors who have real world experience and connections to different fields.
I had the privilege this week to visit with the Le Mars school board who came down to visit. We were able to discuss solutions and continue to promote our schools in District 5. We also were visited by FFA students from MMCRU. These students represent the future of the state of Iowa. This makes it so much more important to continue these efforts to promote Iowa students.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Representative Tom Jeneary
Taylor Times
The Taylor Times by Senator Jeff Taylor 2-4-22
The pace picked up even more during Week Four of the 2022 session as we continue to work on bills and prepare legislation for floor debate.
Tuesday was FFA Day at the State Capitol. It was great to meet students from Le Mars Community High School. My Senate district currently includes eastern Plymouth County townships and next year will include the northern half of the county, including Le Mars. I also talked with FFA students from Sioux Central High School near Sioux Rapids. It was wonderful seeing so many blue corduroy jackets in the building!
Property Rights of Iowa Landowners
This week I introduced a bill to remove from the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) the power to grant eminent domain for projects of private companies (Senate File 2160). The bill is in response to complaints from family farmers and local governments in northwest Iowa about two proposed carbon dioxide (CO2) pipelines—the companies are Summit and Navigator—and the threat of eminent domain being used to seize private property from landowners in the form of easements.
I’ve listened to concerns expressed at county Farm Bureau meetings and I’ve read letters of opposition to eminent domain sent to IUB by the Boards of Supervisors of most of the counties I represent (Sioux, O’Brien, Plymouth). Your voices have been heard and I am trying to help.
The Takings Clause of both the U.S. Constitution (Article V) and the Iowa Constitution (Article I, Section 18), which address eminent domain, use the specific language of “public use” in regard to this power. Unfortunately, in 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its Kelo v. City of New London ruling, incorrectly interpreted the Constitution by conflating and confusing the concept of “public use” with the broader concept of “public purpose.” In this way, the majority of the justices—the five most liberal members of the Court—approved the use of eminent domain as a tool for private companies rather than reserving it only for governments in direct service of the public.
It was the four conservative justices who correctly disagreed with this erroneous ruling. In their dissent, they warned, “Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random. The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms. As for the victims, the government now has license to transfer property from those with fewer resources to those with more.” This result is inherently unfair and it violates the actual words of our federal and state constitutions.
Grassroots members of the Republican Party of Iowa agree with the aim of SF 2160. Our 2020 platform is crystal clear: “We oppose federal or state government taking private property away from the owner for the use of another private party. Eminent domain should be used only for public use.”
Although the Kelo case was incorrectly decided, the Court’s majority stated, “[N]othing in our opinion precludes any State from placing further restrictions on its exercise of the takings power.” The Iowa Legislature has the authority, based on these words and (more importantly) the Tenth Amendment, to remove the private-company “carve out” for the Iowa Utilities Board that was put into place when a 2006 state law, in response to Kelo, put new restrictions on eminent domain in Iowa.
My bill is not motivated by opposition to two specific carbon capture hazardous liquid pipelines. It is based on age-old respect for private property, literal interpretation of our constitutions, and the principle that profit for the few should not outweigh the rights of the many.
Regardless of the economic or environmental merits of these specific pipeline projects—including benefit to the ethanol industry and trickle-down benefit to corn growers—there is neither constitutional nor ethical justification for government to use its coercive power to seize private land or force an easement primarily for the benefit of wealthy, well-connected business owners. If you agree, I encourage you to contact state legislators. There is similar legislation pending in the Iowa House.
Empowering Parents in their Children’s Education
Education issues were prominent in the Iowa Senate this week. A number of bills moved through the legislative process to improve schools in our state.
A common theme in education policy over the past five years has been empowering parents in their children’s education. Last year it meant giving all parents the option to send their children to school in person full time, and ensuring that the open enrollment law would mean true open enrollment for all Iowa students.
This year empowering parents means making sure they have access to the materials and content their children are being taught and the ability to address sexually explicit or even pornographic material in their schools. Senate Study Bill 3079 (a Parents’ Bill of Rights) establishes defined and consistent rules for school districts to follow in regard to curriculum and books assigned or available to students. It enshrines in Iowa law the fundamental right of parents to be in charge of educational and developmental decisions for their children. I was a member of the subcommittee that approved the bill on Wednesday, after significant public input, and the full Education Committee passed it the following day.
I serve as the vice chair of the Education Committee, and also serve on the Judiciary, Labor and Business Relations, Natural Resources and Environment, and Ways and Means committees. Additionally, I serve on the Justice System Appropriations Subcommittee.
