The Sioux City School Board has pinpointed the two final candidates for the school superintendent position, and the community forums with those two people will take place on Thursday, February 6.
A news release said those sessions will be in the early evening at the downtown Sioux City School District administrative building.
The school board is working to pick a successor for Superintendent Rod Earleywine, who is departing after three years in June. More than 20 people applied for the post, then seven people were interviewed in closed session over two days earlier this week.
The district will release details about the two finalists prior to the community forums. The Sioux City School District educates roughly 14,500 students.
*Additionally, a new study this week aims to understand the experience a woman has between when she is diagnosed with breast cancer and when she starts treatment.
The University of Iowa study plans to follow women from the point of their diagnosis up to their surgery.
Loreen Herwaldt is a professor of internal medicine at the University of Iowa. She says there’s almost no research on this period. And many times, it’s not straightforward from diagnosis to treatment.. So Herwaldt welcomes the expanded research.
“Oftentimes they're detours that, you know, oh, you need an additional test, or we just discovered this, and that can be, I think, very anxiety inducing,” Herwaldt said.
Herwaldt says the goal is to help improve patients’ experience during this stressful time. According to the Iowa Cancer Registry, an estimated 3,000 Iowans were diagnosed with new cases of breast cancer last year.
*Additionally, South Dakota tourism saw an uptick in 2024.
Data from the state Department of Tourism shows South Dakota welcomed 14.9 million visitors last year, up 1.4 percent from the previous year.
That’s a record high for the state, according to the report.
Those visitors spent over $5 billion, up nearly 3 percent from 2023.
South Dakota Secretary of Tourism Jim Hagen said he is thrilled with the tourism industry growth, adding, “These accomplishments reflect our ongoing efforts to market South Dakota across the globe.”
*In other news, Iowa House Judiciary Committee Chairman Steven Holt says one of his priorities this legislative session is passing an anti-SLAPP law.
SLAPPs, or Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, are lawsuits intended to censor and intimidate critics.
Holt says an anti-SLAPP law would make it easier for defendants to quickly dismiss a meritless lawsuit and have their legal fees paid by whoever brought the suit.
“If in fact, it’s clear that you’re just trying to silence somebody because they’re telling a truth and you don’t like the truth, then it would provide for that expedited relief. I think it’s something that’s very, very important, and I hope that we can get it passed this year,” Holt said.
Attorneys for Iowa pollster Ann Selzer have accused President Donald Trump and others of filing SLAPP lawsuits over an election poll that showed Trump trailing in the 2024 presidential race.
Thirty-four states have anti-SLAPP laws.
*Governor Kim Reynolds’ bill to provide paid parental leave to state employees cleared its first hurdle in the Iowa Senate this week.
The bill would give four weeks of paid leave to a parent who gives birth and one week to the non-birthing parent. Adoptive parents would get four weeks.
State workers currently have to save up vacation time to get paid while caring for a new child.
Molly Widen, the state treasurer’s chief of staff, says she had to start working four weeks after giving birth to premature twins. And she worked from the neonatal intensive care unit where her daughter was staying.
“Four weeks of leave—it would have been incredible because it would’ve meant with the time that I did cobble together from sick leave and vacation, that I could’ve spent time at home with my kids before having to come back to work,” Widen said.
A three-member Senate panel advanced the bill. But Republican Senator Jason Schultz says he wants to learn more about the cost to taxpayers.
