Iowa State Patrol has confirmed it is investigating the two bomb threats made against Senator Joni Ernst’s “Roast and Ride” over the weekend. The threats came in via phone about an hour before Ernst was set to take the stage…the event was delayed for about 45 minutes because of the threats.
It’s not over until the governor signs the budget…and so far, he hasn’t he told this morning’s press conference. He wants to make sure the money’s there and that his priorities outlined at the beginning of the session are still met.
Congressman David Young went on his second police ride-a-long earlier today, this time with Clive police officer Coleman. Young says the pair had a fairly uneventful ride, but discussed several topics such as body cameras. The congressman previously went on a ride-a-long in Indianola.
Iowa State University’s Jamie Pollard has appointed a new head basketball coach for the Cyclones. Steve Prohm from Murray State will lead the team this season. A formal press conference is slated for tomorrow morning.
Fourth of July will be a little less explosive than some Iowans hoped this year…Fireworks will remain illegal in Iowa…at least until the next legislative session. State lawmakers wrapped up on Friday without coming to an agreement on the sale of home-launched fireworks, even though both houses had passed bills supporting them.
Doctors at the University of Iowa may be close to a treatment – or possibly a vaccine – for Type 2 Diabetes. They’ve already shown it to be effective in lab rabbits. They hope to try it on people by the end of this year.
Microsoft and both the Iowa Republican and Democratic parties will be testing out a new app reporting system in the coming months. The cloud-based reporting system will be used at the February Iowa Caucus…and allows precincts to report results in a more accurate and secure fashion than writing and calling them in. Microsoft says it can handle this amount of data during Caucus night.
A few presidential hopefuls are returning to Iowa later this week. Democrats Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley are holding several events throughout the state on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday…in Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Iowa City, Marshalltown, and Waterloo.
More than 5 dozen people are losing their jobs at Des Moines’ Mercy Hospital system the end of this month. The system is shifting billing functions to outside contractors in Texas. The cuts take effect July 1st.
At least 10 businesses in Iowa can now use drones. Most of the businesses plan to use the technology to monitor crops and help showcase real estate. Some experts say agriculture is one of the biggest markets that will benefit from drones…nationwide, the FAA has approved nearly 500 applications to use drones.
