There’s a fifth Democrat seeking the nomination for president. Former Virginia senator Jim Webb announced on his campaign website that he’s running for president…noting that he wants to bring focus to the election. Webb was last in Iowa on several stops last month…where he talked about his positive bipartisan track record while in Congress.
Some relief is at hand for laid-off John Deer workers. Iowa Workforce Development is getting $3 million from the feds to retrain them. Hundreds of Ankeny workers were affected by the layoffs earlier this year.
The latest Quinnipiac University poll of Iowa Democratic voters shows Hillary Clinton’s lead on Bernie Sanders is waning. The last poll in May showed Clinton had 60 percent of the vote with Sanders coming in at 15 percent. Today’s numbers show Clinton still at number one…but with 52 percent and Sanders jumping to 33 percent. Sanders has 8 stops in Iowa over the next three days…including walking in Waukee’s 4th of July parade.
An Iowa state patrol trooper is getting major props for being the first ever in the state to complete more than 500 drug evaluations during his career. Trooper Marc Griggs has been on the force for 22 years and will be recognized for his major accomplishment today in a news conference.
Folks who are flying over the holiday weekend might want to keep an eye on their bags. More than 900 complaints over the last five years have been filed against security workers at airports serving thousands of Iowans daily. The charges involved items lost, stolen or damaged in their luggage. TSA validated one of every three claims.
If you’re a state worker, you’re going to have to tell a private contractor what medications you’re taking and what medical services you’re having done under a new state policy. The Colorado company was hired to track the sick days of more than 21-thousand workers.
A Minnesota real estate firm is planning to build a senior housing development in West Des Moines. Real Estate Equities Development aims to break ground on the 55 unit housing complex in the next two months….it’ll be on South 60th street just south of Mills Civic Parkway.
Faking AIDS research will cost a former ISU researcher 4-and-a-half years in jail and $7 million in restitution. Dong-Pyou Han’s defense team said he just didn’t want to disappoint his mentor when he dummied his vaccine research results, but the judge used him as an example to discourage future hoaxes.
Some state agencies have been spending tens of millions of dollars on information technology contractors…that’s the upshot of a state audit. They specifically looked at the Department of Corrections, the Department of Administrative services, and the Department of Revenue. The report found cost overruns, excessive use of contractors, large hourly payments and questionable relationships between contractors and departments.
An ISU professor is spending the fourth of July in Cuba this weekend to study the country’s political and cultural environment. Rose Caraway was one of the first Americans to get into Cuba after December’s announcement that the US and Cuba were restoring diplomatic ties. Caraway says she wants to create a study abroad program between the two countries.
