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Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds is being asked to explain her reasons for asking the head of the state department of human services to resign recently. Reynolds refuses to discuss her reasons for asking former DHS Director Jerry Foxhoven to resign.
Democratic Sen. Tony Bisignano pays a 2017 state law requires the state to explain the reason for demanding a state employee's resignation. Foxhoven, who managed the state's largest agency that oversees the $5 billion Medicaid program, declined to comment.
Last week, The Associated Press reported on the former agency director's love of the late rapper Tupac Shakur and that he was fired only days after sending an email to 4,300 state workers asking them to mark Shakur's birthday. The state said emails had nothing to do with the firing.
Ongoing rainy weather has added another unwelcome footnote to the 2019 records for the water-logged Missouri River.
As of midmonth, more runoff has flowed into the upper Missouri River than did in all of 2018.
In the short term, that means flows coming out of Gavins Point Dam, the southernmost dam feeding water into the lower basin, aren’t going to drop anytime soon. John Leighow, chief of readiness and contingency operations with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Northwestern District, says recent dry weather has allowed their teams access to more levees for assessment. He adds the amount of money that’s been spent to temporarily fix damaged levees is growing.
