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NEWS 2.29.22

Sioux City Police investigating a shooting that happened Tuesday morning near 18th and Jackson. The victim, a 16-year-old boy suffered life-threatening injuries during the incident around 10 a.m. Police say it appears the attack was unprovoked after the shooter confronted the teen and started fighting with him before pulling out a gun. The suspect got away and is considered to be armed and dangerous.

A 10-year-old South Dakota boy who died while saving his younger sister in the Big Sioux River will posthumously receive the Carnegie Medal, North America’s highest honor for civilian heroism. Ricky Lee Sneve was on a fishing trip with his stepfather and siblings on the Big Sioux in Hudson last June. Ricky’s 5-year-old sister fell into the water and Ricky dove in after her and was able to push her to the river bank. Authorities say Ricky was caught in an undertow in deeper water. Ricky was carried about 50 feet out and became submerged.

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller narrowly survived a ballot challenge today and made it onto the ballot for the June Democratic primary election.

He had to collect at least 77 signatures in 18 counties. Conservative attorney Alan Ostergren explained several signatures were being challenged because they didn’t include apartment or dorm room numbers in their address, and some because they had the wrong date.

The three-member State Objection Panel struck many of the challenged signatures but kept some. Miller satisfied the petition requirements with just one signature to spare.

Miller was asked why he didn’t get more signatures to ensure he’d get on the ballot.

"Well, we did some bag some extras, quite a few extras. It required 2500 signatures, we had 4100. It required 18 counties. We had 21. And we had excess in a number of counties. We followed the advice of getting extras, but admittedly, it was pretty close.” 

Miller is a member of the panel and had to recuse himself, and Lieutenant Governor Adam Gregg replaced him.

Republicans in the Iowa Senate have passed a bill that would allow grocery and convenience stores to refuse bottle and can returns starting next July.

The bill would increase the handling fee that goes to redemption centers from one cent to three cents and allow for mobile redemption centers. It would allow beverage wholesalers to keep the deposits from unredeemed containers while also reducing the beer excise tax.

Republican Senator Jason Schultz of Schleswig says this is an attempt to save the bottle bill.

“Yes, we are going to eliminate the grocery stores. But that’s because the consumers and the grocers told us, ‘get these dirty cans out of our food retailers.’ So we were listening to the consumer there.”

Schultz says the increased handling fee will encourage more redemption centers to open. But Democrats opposed the bill, saying it’ll kill Iowa’s bottle and can return system. Democrats say it’ll no longer be convenient for Iowans to return their bottles and cans, and so they won’t participate in the system at all. The bill now goes to the House, which has its own proposal for changing the bottle bill.

A South Dakota House committee is recommending that the state’s attorney general face no impeachment charges for his actions surrounding a 2020 fatal car crash. Gov. Kristi Noem had pushed for Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, a fellow Republican, to be removed from office. But a Republican-controlled House committee issued a report Monday and found his actions did not merit impeachment. Individual House lawmakers may still bring impeachment charges against Ravnsborg, but the committee’s decision was a major setback for those trying to remove him from office. Ravnsborg struck and killed a man walking near a rural highway in September of 2020.

The Sioux City Community School District plans to hire an interim superintendent to take over when Dr. Paul Gausman leaves for Lincoln Community Schools at the end of June.

The Sioux City Journal reports the district is hiring an Omaha firm to help with the search at a cost of $15,000. The interim leader will be appointed at a later date allowing for more time for the community and staff to give input on the candidates for the position.

For more click here: https://siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/education/sioux-city-school-district-to-bring-on-interim-superintendent-hires-recruiting-firm/article_800ad4f0-f375-5720-8cd9-c28e694e9d0a.html

Nearly 1.5 million more chickens and turkeys are being slaughtered after Iowa agriculture officials confirmed two more cases of bird flu. Most of those birds are on an egg-laying farm in Guthrie County in central Iowa. About 28,000 of them are turkeys that were being raised on a farm in Hamilton County. The state agriculture department said officials are in the process of depopulating both flocks to help limit the spread of avian influenza. More than 15 million chickens and turkeys nationwide have been killed this year because of the illness.

A Nebraska state lawmaker has apologized after he publicly cited a persistent but debunked rumor alleging that schools are placing litter boxes in school bathrooms to accommodate children who self-identify as cats. Sen. Bruce Bostelman, a conservative Republican, repeated the false claim during a public, televised debate on a bill intended to help school children who have behavioral problems. His comments quickly went viral, with one Twitter video garnering more than 300,000 views as of Monday afternoon, and drew an onslaught of online criticism and ridicule. Hours after his remarks, Bostelman backtracked and acknowledged that the story wasn’t true.

The next U.S. Olympic swimming team will be decided in a football stadium. USA Swimming announced that its trials for the 2024 Paris Games will be held at Lucas Oil Stadium, the massive home of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts. The decision marks the end of Omaha’s long run as host of the event. The last four U.S. trials were held in the Nebraska city’s downtown arena, which seated about 14,500 fans after the temporary pool was installed. USA Swimming is going for a much bigger show in Indy, which will have seating for up to 35,000.