TOWN HALL MEETINGS THIS MORNING
Two Plymouth County legislators will hold town hall meetings this morning in their districts. 13th District Rep. Travis Sitzmann will be in Cherokee County, at the Fifty Nine Grind in Marcus from 9-30 to 11 a.m.
3rd District State Representative Tom Jeneary will also hold a town hall meeting today, at the Orange City Public Library at 10 a.m.
FEENSTRA VISITS SIOUX CITY
Around 20 million dollars of farm related funding that had been frozen by the Trump Administration is being released. Congressman Randy Feenstra says the money is for previously approved contracts that had been frozen by the Trump Administration’s move to overhaul the federal government.
The new U-S-D-A Secretary, Brooke Rollins, explained the details in a statement on the department of agriculture’s website.
Feenstra says he has spoken with Rollins regarding increase in bird flu cases here in Iowa, including many affecting poultry producers in Feenstra’s 4th Congressional District:
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Inspection Service on Wednesday confirmed eight more detections of H5N1 avian flu in mammals, including rats for the first time, and also mice on affected farms.
Feenstra spoke with local Sioux City business leaders and media Friday morning.
CORN MURAL DISPLAY
This weekend will be the last time the public can see Sioux City’s most famous art landmark before it is temporarily removed.
Grant Wood’s corn room mural, which was painted in 1926 and has been on permanent display since 2007, will undergo a year-long conservation process.
Art Center curator Christopher Atkins says the last time it was treated was 40 years ago:
The Corn Room was originally commissioned by Eugene Eppley for the Martin Hotel in Sioux City nearly 100 years ago:
Atkins says the mural conservation process should be finished in time for a centennial celebration of them:
Eppley commissioned three corn room murals, which Wood painted in 1926-27 for hotels in Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, and Sioux City.
Together, they epitomize Wood’s early vision of agriculture as the backbone of this region. Wood was born in Anamosa, Iowa and is best known for American Gothic , which he painted in 1930.
GOVERNOR BANS USE OF MORE CHINESE APPS IN STATE GOVERNMENT
Governor Kim Reynolds has issued an executive order that bans state agencies from using Chinese owned apps marketed as an alternative to TikTok. In late 2023, Reynolds banned state agencies from having TikTok accounts and it cannot be loaded on any state-owned device. She’s now extended the ban to include RedNote and Lemon8. The apps feature photos and short videos and have become the most downloaded apps in the U-S since TikTok was banned in the U-S. Reynolds says like TikTok, both apps collect a lot of data from users and, since both companies are headquartered in China, they are compelled to support, assist and cooperate with the Chinese Communist Party. Reynolds has also forbid the use of a new artificial intelligence product in state government. DeepSeek was developed in China and Reynolds says it, too, poses a security risk to Iowa.
IOWA’S 1857 CONSTITUTION HAS NEW PROTECTION, IN A NEW CASE
Iowa’s Constitution was drafted and ratified in 1857 and the original document is now better protected. Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate is the official custodian of the original Iowa Constitution.
The Iowa Constitution had been on display in Pate’s Iowa Capitol office, inside a wooden and glass case made in the 1980s. The document now sits atop a new structure that has internal humidity and temperature controls. Clear acrylic panels screen out harmful U-V rays that could damage the 168 year old paper the constitution is printed on. Pate hosted an unveiling of the display case — and the Constitution inside it — yesterday. “I’m proud to present, for the first time, the new home for Iowa’s 1857 Constitution,” Pate said, to applause. Pate’s office in the Iowa Capitol is open Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. ’til 4:30 in the afternoon, and he’s inviting Iowans to stop by for a look at Iowa’s founding document. “Just like you might feel moved seeing a handwritten letter between your grandparents or some old photos of your ancestors, seeing the actual document can help these pieces of history feel even more real and more meaningful,” Pate said. The case has a couple of lower drawers for displaying other historical documents. One contains the land records of the Iowa farms President Abraham Lincoln owned.
