As severe weather descends on Siouxland Tuesday afternoon, there have been some power outages in parts of Sioux City.
MidAmerican Energy workers sought to get the power on for the impacted people.
The National Weather Service has expanded a blizzard warning to include all of Northwest Iowa with the exception of Lyon county, and those blizzard designations are also set for many counties in Northeast Nebraska and Southeast South Dakota.
Officials in some towns, such as South Sioux City, Spencer, and Storm Lake, are declaring snow emergencies that run from Tuesday evening through Wednesday or even Thursday.
The daylong rain is supposed to switch late Tuesday to snow, then the potential for many hours of 55 miles per hour winds could create dangerous conditions.
*Additionally, Iowa people who administer gene-based vaccines, like the COVID-19 vaccination, would face criminal charges under a bill that has advanced in a state Senate subcommittee.
If passed, a misdemeanor charge, with a $500 fine, would apply to anyone who provides or administers a gene-based vaccine.
State Senator Dennis Guth, a Republican from Klemme, voted to advance the bill, after reading an email from a constituent who claims she was injured from an mRNA vaccine.
That vaccine has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which continues to monitor it for safety issues.
Numerous medical experts testified on Monday that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe and is vital to saving lives.
Jonathan Crosbie, a doctor who teaches at Des Moines University, testified against the bill, saying the COVID vaccine is safe and has saved many lives. He says legislation like this will deter medical students from wanting to work in Iowa.
“I will tell you this right now, our students want no part of practicing here with bills like this on the table, you are chasing them off,” Crosbie said.
If the bill does not make it through a full committee this week, it will likely be done for the year.
*Additionally in the Iowa Legislature, a bill that would require local police to partner with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials on immigration enforcement won’t advance ahead of a key deadline coming on Friday, likely leaving it dead for the legislative session.
Immigrant rights advocates strongly opposed the bill, saying it would lead to racial profiling and undermine police relationships with immigrant communities.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison, said he decided to not advance the bill because of concerns from law enforcement groups.
“The main one that I heard that sort of hit home with me was the concern about manpower. If they were mandated to do this, and they didn’t have the manpower, how that could impact other aspects of public safety,” Holt said.
Holt says he’s hoping to advance a new immigration-related bill. It says law enforcement officers could be charged with a felony if they refuse to cooperate with federal requests that enable ICE to arrest people being released from jail.
*In other news, the search for a new city manager for Sioux City is continuing, and it appears it could take four more months to pinpoint a candidate.
The Sioux City Council members in their Monday meeting approved hiring a consultant for $25,000 to carry out an employee search. The firm hired is MGT Impact Solutions, which is based in Florida.
The timeline shared in a city memo specifies 14 weeks of work by the consulting firm.
Current City manager Bob Padmore is a month away from retiring, after working for the city in varying roles for 25 years. He has served as city manager since 2014.
*In other news, the University of Iowa is ending three of its identity-based residential communities. That severing comes after orders from the U.S. Department of Education.
University officials say three of its Living Learning Communities will no longer be offered starting next school year. Those three are the only Living Learning Communities organized by identity, which are All-In, Unidos, and Young, Black and Gifted.
Daniela Pintor-Mendoza is president of the university’s Latino Student Union, and said ending those Learning Communities is a failure to students who want to be supported at the college.
Pintor-Mendoza said this was in response to a letter issued by the Department of Education, targeting DEI programs and race-based initiatives.
