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Iowa school districts to receive COVID-19 funds

Millions of dollars of coronavirus relief funds are coming to Iowa.  This money is from the second round of federal COVID-19 relief approved by Congress last month.  Amounts for area schools range from $4.2 million for Ottumwa, $1.6 million for Oskaloosa, $405,000 for Pella, $315,400 for Sigourney, $457,000 for Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont, $197,000 for North Mahaska and $237,000 for Tri-County.  The amount each school district receives is based on the percentage of low-income students in each district.

There’s a complete list of what each Iowa school district will receive in this round of federal coronavirus relief at: https://educateiowa.gov/documents/pk-12/2021/01/crssa-act-esser-fund-ii-allocations?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

Iowa lawmakers open session with limited virus rules

Iowa lawmakers began their legislative session on Monday (1/11) with no mask requirements, and many members opted not to wear face coverings even as rates of coronavirus infections rise in the Des Moines area and much of the state.

Republicans, who hold majorities in both the House and Senate, chose not to mandate masks or even require that members disclose if they have been infected by the virus. During opening ceremonies, most Republicans didn’t wear masks while all Democrats were protected by a mask or face shield.

“There’s nothing we can do to stop a member from coming on the floor of the House to take a vote even if they did have a positive case or they chose they were not going to wear a mask,” said House Speaker Pat Grassley.

Grassley and Senate Majority leader Jack Whitver said they’ve taken measures to allow for social distancing and have suggested to their members that masks be worn when they can’t remain apart.

Whitver said subcommittee meetings, which often resulted in small meeting rooms packed with lobbyists, citizens, reporters and lawmakers, will be held on Zoom, and full committees will meet in the Senate chamber.

“So, the thought that someone’s going to test positive and then just continue to come to the Capitol and try to spread it to people, I don’t think that’s an accurate perception of what would likely happen at the Capitol,” Whitver said.

Grassley said all meetings will be at the Capitol but only in rooms with space for more distant seating and with all meetings streamed on the internet.

Democrats criticized the protocols and said they would require members to wear masks. Most will not be in the Capitol for routine work, opting to be at a remote location in state buildings around the Capitol where distancing is possible, Democratic leaders said.

“I’m concerned and want to avoid turning the Legislature into super spreader event,” said House Democratic Leader Todd Prichard.

While most Republicans didn’t wear masks in the chambers, more than 200 people gathered in the Capitol rotunda without masks to voice their opposition to rules intended to slow the spread of the virus, which has killed over 4,000 people in Iowa.

The protesters arrived more than an hour before the session began and delivered speeches in a space between the House and Senate chambers.

They chanted “freedom” and many held signs that said “coercion is not consent,” “Iowa businesses are not public health police” and “mandates belong in socialist countries.”

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has resisted requiring masks since the outbreak began in the spring but now requires them in many public indoor spaces where people cannot socially distance. Those rules don’t apply to the Legislature, which Reynolds notes is a separate branch of government and one she argues should set its own guidelines.

Reynolds, a strong supporter of President Donald Trump, has said it’s best to avoid mandates and leave it to individual citizens to take necessary precautions. She has taken pride in her efforts to keep most businesses open and said her approach has been a difficult balance between protecting lives and livelihoods.

During the pandemic 4,139 Iowans have died, and deaths and virus activity are again increasing.

The seven-day rolling average of the positivity rate in Iowa jumped over the past two weeks from 34% on Dec. 27 to nearly 43% on Jan. 10, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers. The seven-day rolling average of daily deaths in Iowa was up from 22 deaths per day on Dec. 27 to 27 deaths per day on Jan. 10.

The state posted an additional death on Monday. The total confirmed positive case count rose to 296,866.

State public health data shows Polk County, home to the state Capitol, has a 15.19% coronavirus positivity rate. It is one of 58 counties over 15%, a level that signifies significant community spread of the virus.

Security was heightened at the building with Iowa State Patrol officers stationed outside public entrances and throughout the building. A spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, It was unclear if it was due to expectations of possible violent outbreaks similar to those at the U.S. Capitol last week or because of the large protest at the building.

Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard Talks Solo Project & Brian Kelley Relationship

Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley recently announced they both were going to be trying their hand at solo projects, but assured fans they were not breaking up. Well, now Tyler is talking about their decision.

“We’ve stayed in really good communication about it and we both feel a lot of freedom, a lot of creative juices flowing, a lot of inspiration, and so it’s fun,” he tells “Entertainment Tonight.” “We’re still gonna be doing a lot together and playing for the fans and singing the hits, but it’s been fun to venture out and have a little bit of individuality as we go.”

Tyler says the pair decided to announce their solo projects via a Zoom on Instagram so fans would see they still have a very good relationship, despite rumors to the contrary.

“I told BK, I’m like, ‘Dude, we gotta make a video for the people ’cause we hadn’t told them anything and everybody’s confused and wondering what was going on,” he says. “So we gotta control the message and tell them the truth and let’s get that thing out there.’ So I was happy we did that.”

Source: Entertainment Tonight

This day in Country Music History

  • Today in 1992, Garth Brooks rose to #1 on the Billboard country singles chart with “Unanswered Prayers”
  • Today in 1993, Marty Stuart earned his first-ever gold album for “This One’s Gonna Hurt You.”
  • Today in 1993, the video, “Reba In Concert,” was certified platinum.
  • Today in 1996, Tim Rushlow of Little Texas became the proud father of daughter, Bailey Nicole.
  • Today in 1998, Shania Twain inducted the Mamas & the Papas into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York.
  • Today in 1999, “The Very Best Of John Denver” was certified gold and platinum.
  • Today in 2006, Sugarland’s appearance on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” was marked by the absence of original member Kristen Hall. It was seen as a sign of her departure, which the group announced days later.
  • Today in 2009, Lady Antebellum’s “I Run To You” was released.
  • Today in 2014, a Yoplait ad featuring Eddie Rabbitt’s “I Love A Rainy Night” had its first airing on TV.
  • Today in 2017, Little Big Town’s Kimberly Schlapman and husband Stephen announce they’d adopted daughter, Dolly Grace Schlapman. She joined their other daughter, Daisy Pearl, who was born in 2007.
  • Today in 2018, Carrie Underwood’s “The Champion” hit the airwaves.
  • Today in 2018, Florida Georgia Line earned a gold single from the RIAA for “Smooth” and Justin Moore’s single, “Somebody Else Will,” also went gold.
  • Today in 2019, Chris Stapleton sang “Whiskey River” to launch the A&E taping of “Willie: Life & Songs Of An American Outlaw” at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. The lineup includedEric Church, George Strait, Emmylou Harris, Sturgill Simpson, Lyle Lovett, Alison Krauss and Jamey Johnson.
  • Today in 2019, Tom T. Hall and John Prine were announced as 2019 inductees in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, part of a class that included Cat Stevens, Missy Elliott and Jack Tempchin.
  • Today in 2020, Tanya Tucker welcomed surprise guest Billy Ray Cyrus to duet on “Old Town Road” in a concert at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. Tucker’s guests also included Billy Joe Shaver, Lee Ann Womack, Johnny Rodriguez, Dennis Quaid, Jamey Johnson and Margo Price, who joins Tucker on “Love Me Like You Used To.”

Trump faces ‘incitement of insurrection’ impeachment charge

By LISA MASCARO, DARLENE SUPERVILLE and MARY CLARE JALONICK

WASHINGTON (AP) — As the House prepares for impeachment, President Donald Trump faces a single charge — “incitement of insurrection” — over the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol, according to a draft of the articles obtained by The Associated Press.

Lawmakers are set to introduce the legislation Monday, with voting mid-week. Pelosi’s leadership team also will seek a quick vote on a resolution calling on Vice President Mike Pence and Cabinet officials to invoke the 25th Amendment.

The four-page impeachment bill draws from Trump’s own false statements about his election defeat to Democrat Joe Biden; his pressure on state officials in Georgia to “find” him more votes; and his White House rally ahead of the Capitol siege, in which he encouraged thousands of supporters to “fight like hell” before they stormed the building on Wednesday.

A violent and largely white mob of Trump supporters overpowered police, broke through security lines and windows and rampaged through the Capitol, forcing lawmakers to scatter as they were finalizing Biden’s victory over Trump in the Electoral College.

“President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government,” the legislation said.

The bill from Reps. David Cicilline of Rhode Island, Ted Lieu of California, Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Jerrold Nadler of New York, said Trump threatened “the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power” and “betrayed” trust.

“He will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office,” they wrote.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Ca., said Monday on CBS, “We need to move forward with alacrity.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the House will proceed with legislation to impeach Trump as she pushes the vice president and the Cabinet to invoke constitutional authority to force him out, warning that Trump is a threat to democracy after the deadly assault on the Capitol.

A Republican senator, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, joined Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska over the weekend in calling for Trump to “resign and go away as soon as possible.”

Lawmakers warned of the damage the president could still do before Joe Biden is inaugurated Jan. 20. Trump, holed up at the White House, was increasingly isolated after a mob rioted in the Capitol in support of his false claims of election fraud. Judges across the country, including some nominated by Trump, repeatedly dismissed cases and Attorney General William Barr, a Trump ally, said there was no sign of any widespread fraud.

“We will act with urgency, because this President represents an imminent threat,” Pelosi said in a letter late Sunday to colleagues emphasizing the need for quick action.

“The horror of the ongoing assault on our democracy perpetrated by this President is intensified and so is the immediate need for action.”

During an interview on “60 Minutes” aired Sunday, Pelosi invoked the Watergate era when Republicans in the Senate told President Richard Nixon, “It’s over.”

“That’s what has to happen now,” she said.

Pence has given no indication he would act on the 25th Amendment. If he does not, the House would move toward impeachment.

Toomey said he doubted impeachment could be done before Biden is inaugurated, even though a growing number of lawmakers say that step is necessary to ensure Trump can never hold elected office again.

“I think the president has disqualified himself from ever, certainly, serving in office again,” Toomey said. “I don’t think he is electable in any way.”

Murkowski, long exasperated with the president, told the Anchorage Daily News on Friday that Trump simply “needs to get out.” A third, Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., did not go that far, but on Sunday he warned Trump to be “very careful” in his final days in office.

On impeachment, House Democrats would likely delay for 100 days sending articles of impeachment to the Senate for trial, to allow Biden to focus on other priorities.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said that instead of coming together, Democrats want to “talk about ridiculous things like ‘Let’s impeach a president’” with just days left in office.

Still, some Republicans might be supportive.

Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse said he would take a look at any articles that the House sent over. Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a frequent Trump critic, said he would “vote the right way” if the matter were put in front of him.

The Democratic effort to stamp Trump’s presidential record — for the second time — with the indelible mark of impeachment advanced rapidly after the riot.

Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I, a leader of the House effort to draft impeachment articles accusing Trump of inciting insurrection, said Sunday that his group had 200-plus co-sponsors.

Potentially complicating Pelosi’s decision about impeachment was what it meant for Biden and the beginning of his presidency. While reiterating that he had long viewed Trump as unfit for office, Biden on Friday sidestepped a question about impeachment, saying what Congress did “is for them to decide.”

___

Superville reported from Wilmington, Delaware. Associated Press writers Alexandra Jaffe, Alan Fram and Zeke Miller contributed to this report.

Weekend coronavirus update

14 people in Iowa died over the weekend from coronavirus.  None of those people are from the No Coast Network listening area.  The state’s death total for the pandemic as of Sunday (1/10) is 4138.  There were also another 2989 positive tests for COVID-19 in Iowa over the weekend, making the state’s pandemic total 296,441. 33 new positive tests for COVID were reported in Wapello County, 26 in Jasper County, 25 in Monroe County, 21 in both Mahaska and Marion Counties, 19 new positive tests in Poweshiek County and five in Keokuk County.

Three killed in crash involving stolen car

Three people died in a crash early Monday (1/11) of a stolen car that reached speeds of more than 100 mph while fleeing police, officials said.

The crash happened in the Des Moines suburb of Clive, after a woman in nearby Urbandale reported a car carrying several males after she spotted one rummaging through her car, police said in a news release. Officers who later spotted the car discovered it had been reported stolen and attempted to stop it.

According to police, the car refused to stop, sped away and launched into the air as it crossed railroad tracks — flipping several times and hitting a utility pole and creek bank.

Police found five males, several of whom had been ejected from the car, at the scene. Three of them have died from their injuries and two have been taken to hospitals, police said.

Police did not immediately release the names of those killed and injured. The Iowa State Patrol is helping in the investigation.

Iowa man charged with taking part in Capitol riot

An Iowa man was jailed early Saturday on charges accusing him of taking part in the riot at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump.

Des Moines Police Sgt. Paul Parizek said officers assisted the FBI in arresting 41-year-old Doug Jensen on Friday night at his home on the south side of the city.

Jensen was booked into the Polk County Jail early Saturday on five federal charges, including trespassing and disorderly conduct counts, according to news releases from the FBI’s field office in Omaha, Nebraska and the county sheriff’s office.

Sgt. Ryan Evans of the county sheriff’s office said Jensen was being held without bond and that he didn’t know if he had an attorney. In a seven-second, expletive-laced TikTok video posted Thursday under the username @dougjensen, a man who appears to be Jensen suggests he’s being made a “poster boy” for what happened and ends by saying, “Don’t believe the news.”

The FBI and sheriff’s office referred further inquiries about the case to the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington.

Video posted online during the storming of the Capitol on Wednesday showed a man who appears to be Jensen, who is white, pursuing a Black officer up an interior flight of stairs. A mob of people trails several steps behind. At several points, the officer says “get back,” to no avail. The rioting has raised serious questions about security at the Capitol and the treatment of the mainly white mob compared to the often aggressive tactics used last year at protests over the killings or shootings of Black people by police.

The mob ransacked the building, forcing lawmakers who were voting to affirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory into hiding for hours.

Photos taken by The Associated Press also showed the man who appears to be Jensen wearing a stocking cap and a QAnon T-shirt over a hooded sweatshirt. QAnon promotes a false conspiracy theory that Trump is leading a secret campaign against “deep state” enemies and pedophiles.

The man’s brother, William Routh, 54, of Clarksville, Arkansas, said his brother insisted that he didn’t break into the building but was let inside and then shown around, even posing for pictures with officers. He said the video of his brother charging up the stairs also was staged.

“Doug has never lied to me,” Routh said. “He has been a good man his whole life. He is a family man. But he is like the rest of a lot of people that are patriots. We have been being told for the last what seven, eight months that if the Democrats get control we are losing our country. OK. That scares a lot of people.”

Jensen declined to comment Thursday when a reporter with KCCI-TV reached out to him through Facebook.

Evans, of the sheriff’s office, said Jensen had a past charge for operating a vehicle while impaired.

Jensen’s employer, Forrest & Associate Masonry in Des Moines, announced Friday that he had been fired. The company’s president & CEO, Richard Felice, told KCCI-TV that the company doesn’t agree with his actions.

Singer Songwriter Ed Bruce Dies At 81

Country Singer and songwriter Ed Bruce, best known for writing the classic tune “Mama Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys,” died Friday from natural causes. He was 81.

Bruce co-wrote the tune, which was made famous in 1978 by Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennngs, with his then wife Patsy Bruce. He also wrote such hits as Tanya Tucker’s “The Man That Turned My Mama On” and “Texas (When I Die),” and Crystal Gayle’s “Restless.” He’s also known for his 1982 hit “You’re the Best Break This Old Heart Ever Had” and “My First Taste Of Texas,” among his 14 top 20 hits.

Bruce also had an acting career, and starred opposite James Garner in the TV series “Bret Maverick.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJC22eSXeXA

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