Sioux City officials on Thursday began the process of interviewing three finalists for the open city manager position.
First up at city hall was a session with Eric Swanson, Interim City Manager of Phoenix, Oregon.
Swanson said that the workforce should reflect the community.
“You're talking about different groups that are part of that if they see a police office reflects their race then it gives them an idea you know maybe some day I could be that person.”, Swanson said.
The other two finalists -- Craig Clark, with the Austin Port Authority in Minnesota, and Andrew Barden, City Administrator for Winterset, Iowa -- have their interviews Friday.
The process includes both closed interviews, then open forums for city residents to pose questions.
The Sioux City Council members are working to pinpoint the successor for former longtime City Manager Bob Padmore, who retired in April.
*A baby born at a University of Iowa Health Care hospital has been awarded the Guinness World Record for the most premature baby to survive birth.
Nash Keen was born last year at 21 weeks, beating the previous record of by one day.
His doctors say he has exceeded expectations. In the beginning, they told his family that he had a zero percent chance of survival.
Director of neonatology Patrick McNamara says Keen’s survival opens a new frontier in his field.
“Nash is resilient. What we have learned, and not just necessarily with Nash, is that survival is possible at 21 weeks’ gestation, but not just survival—meaningful survival,” he said.
Keen was resuscitated at birth. Doctors were able to support him using advanced ultrasound technology that allowed them to examine Keen’s blood supply to his heart and lungs.
McNamara says the hospital is looking to help other medical centers in the country improve outcomes using the technology.
*Additionally, ACLU Nebraska representatives say the case of a man detained by ICE after an immigration raid in Omaha shows a “cruel” policy change, and raises due process questions.
ACLU said it’s not naming the man because he’s still involved in immigration proceedings. The Omaha man was among about 70 workers detained in a June 10 raid at Glenn Valley Foods.
He was taken to the Lincoln County jail in North Platte. An Omaha immigration judge ruled he was not a flight or safety risk, and the man posted a $10,000 bond on July 10.
ACLU Executive Director Mindy Rush Chipman said ICE refused to release him for another 11 days, before acknowledging an “oversight” and letting him go.
She said the case appears to reflect a new ICE policy that people who enter the country without permission are not eligible to bond out. Rush Chipman said dozens of people detained by ICE in Nebraska remain in custody even after having bond set.
ICE did not respond to a request for comment from Nebraska Public Media.
*In other news, two satellites built by researchers at the University of Iowa lifted off Wednesday.
A crowd at a viewing party hosted by the university erupted into cheers when the rocket finally lifted off.
Over the next year, the two satellites will circle the earth together, collecting data on how solar energy impacts the Earth’s magnetic field.
The university received $115 million dollars in funding from NASA for the project, known as TRACERS. Associate professor of physics Allison Jaynes says it was a relief to finally see a successful launch.
“It's always this big adrenaline rush after you’ve been working on something for years of your life and you’ve seen it from concept all the way through to design to build and then to launch. And to know that it could all come down to this one moment, whether it’s successful or not,” Jaynes said.
