Newscast 6.14.2024: 1 of Iowa college people stabbed in China has returned; Iowa gas prices fall again for third week; More members leave Sioux City inclusion committee on heels of employee firing

By Bret Hayworth

Published June 14, 2024 at 2:00 PM CDT

David Zabner works at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa.

One of the Cornell College professors attacked in China has made it back to the United States.

Some family members gathered at Cedar Rapids Airport for an emotional reunion on Thursday evening. After days in a hospital in China, David Zabner was back in the United States.

“It’s so good to be here,” he said.

Zabner was one of four educators from Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, who were attacked while leaving a park in China.

Police say a 55-year-old man was arrested in the incident. The assailant allegedly bumped into Zabner’s group and responded by stabbing them.

The other three victims have not been publicly identified. Their current state of health is unknown.

*Additionally, the Inclusive Sioux City Advisory Committee has lost two members in the last two months, following the time that the city's first cultural inclusion liaison employee was put on suspension and then fired on May 28.

The Sioux City Journal has reported that committee member Jim Jung resigned on June 1, after the firing of city worker Semehar Ghebrekidan.

"I've been on day one with the Inclusive Committee, and I think the ship has gotten off course with the firing of the liaison. I fully support her," Jung said of Ghebrekidan. "I think there's some differences in ideas with the committee and the council and the city manager."

The other committee member to resign was LaShawna Moyle, who was chairwoman of the committee.

The Inclusive Sioux City Advisory Committee now has nine members, with three openings on the 12-person pane.

*Gas prices in Iowa have fallen for three straight weeks.

In pricing data from AAA, the average price for self-serve unleaded has dropped this week by 8 cents to $3.15 per gallon.

Over those three weeks of reduced gas prices, the price first fell by three cents the last week of May, then 4 cents last week, and now 8 cents, for a combined 15 cents over the period.

Many Sioux City and surrounding town stations are selling unleaded this week in the range from $2.92 to $3.22.

Compared to one year ago, the current $3.15 average price is down 22 cents. The national average unleaded gas price is $3.79.

*Additionally, South Dakotans by a wide margin support a constitutional amendment that would change the way the state conducts primary elections, according to a scientific poll of 500 registered voters co-sponsored by South Dakota News Watch.

If passed, Amendment H would establish “top-two” primaries for governor, Congress and state legislative and county races rather than political parties conducting separate primary contests. All registered voters would be eligible to weigh in on which two candidates advance to the general election.

The poll showed that 55 percent of respondents favored the plan to change the state’s election format, with 33 percent opposed and 12 percent undecided. That’s a jump in support from a similarly structured November 2023 survey, which showed 49 percent support for the measure.

The issue has gained prominence in the wake of historically low voter turnout, which was 17 percent in South Dakota’s June 4 primary elections. There were 44 Republican primary contests, but people did not turn out.