Several presidential candidates and likely contenders continue to add events in Iowa this weekend and the upcoming week. Governor Chris Christie is speaking in Ames on June 11th before his Polk County event in West Des Moines. And you’ll be able to meet candidate Ben Carson at the downtown Des Moines Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning before he heads over to Senator Joni Ernst’s “Roast and Ride” in Boone.
Even as more cases of the bird flu show up in Iowa, USDA is giving the thumbs down to the current version of the bird flu vaccine. The department is saying it’s only 60 percent effective with chickens…but Joel Harris of Ames-based Harris Vaccines said the bird flu vaccine they’ve created is effective. Harris said he’s confident the lab can produce mass quantities of the vaccine to combat the bird flu affecting Iowa and the Midwest.
Medical marijuana proponents are frustrated as it becomes clear that the legislature plans to pack up for the year without changing medical pot regulations. The proposed law would have expanded legal medicinal uses of marijuana and would have authorized its limited production and distribution.
The University of Iowa just landed at the top of another list. College Magazine has named the school number one for English majors, noting its annual Iowa Writer’s Workshop that features Pulitzer-Prize winning authors.
No word yet on who will replace ISU head basketball coach Fred Hoiberg. The Ames-native announced on Tuesday that he’ll be coaching the Chicago Bulls, and ISU’s Jamie Pollard put out a statement afterwards, saying he won’t give away any details into who’s being considered for the position until the new coach is introduced.
Any Iowa woman who wants to get an abortion would have to be offered an ultrasound image before undergoing the procedure under a bill that sailed through both houses last night. Women would also have to be given information about alternatives to abortion. Pro-lifers says the bill is a major victory, but pro-choice advocates say the measure has little practical effect.
The Greater Des Moines partnership is trying to drum up support for the area’s first bus rapid transit service. They’re pulling together government and business leaders to come up with a way to install the train-like service so the area will be in a position to apply for a federal grant next year.
Farm income may have dropped in Iowa, but other parts of the state economy seem to be filling in the gap. The state collected nearly 970-million dollars in gross tax receipts last month. In fact, Iowans paid nearly 22 percent more in personal state income taxes, which points to a growth in wages.
It’s not clear if Governor Branstad’s administration will reject or accept the state legislature’s decision to keep open one of the two mental health facilities that the governor has said he wanted closed. The Health and Human Services budget was passed late last night that allows the Mount Pleasant facility to stay open another year and keep Clarinda open through December with the hopes of finding a private provider to run it starting next year.
Students applying to the University of Iowa next month will have to add a criminal background check to their application. The criminal questions are being tapered into the new single application that can be used to apply to more than one of the state’s universities at once.
