A new program to help people who are homeless with legal issues will soon be launched in Iowa. Sioux City is the place the pilot program will start.
The City of Sioux City received a $25,000 dollar grant from the Iowa Finance Authority on Tuesday to launch a homeless court.
Neighborhood Services Director Jill Wanderschied says the program is modeled after others across the country, where people can potentially have their minor crimes dismissed. Those might include loitering or public intoxication charges, and the fines attached to them.
“Sometimes that is a barrier to not only securing housing, but (also) employment, all sorts of other things, and so we really feel like it could have an impact on those that are unhoused in our community,” Wanderscheid said.
She said there are about 300 people waiting for housing in Sioux City. The Iowa Finance Authority also provided another $50,000 dollar grant to help with street outreach.
If the program is successful in Sioux City, there’s a chance it will expand to other parts of the state.
*The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission on a 2-1 vote denied the application by Summit Carbon Solutions to build a carbon pipeline through the state.
The Iowa-based company filed an application in November but requested an indefinite extension after South Dakota passed a law banning eminent domain to obtain land for CO-2 pipelines.
The commission not only refused to act on the extension, it ended up denying Summit’s entire application for the project, saying it’s not viable.
Summit said the decision is disappointing, but the company is committed to South Dakota, so it will refile an application. A PUC commissioner said Tuesday that the prior application doesn’t include a distinct pipeline routing, construction timelines or even the cost.
*Big changes took place for the municipal government of North Sioux City on Tuesday evening.
Eight people held a short meeting as the last session of the city council format took place. On the heels of that, the first meeting of the North Sioux City Commission took place.
That new commission format includes four commissioners and a mayor.
In a third piece that took place Tuesday evening, the final canvassing of the April 8 voting was carried out. That canvassing confirmed that the original count flipped the outcome of one commission race.
In the original count for a commission spot with a one-year term, David Wilch led Vincent Tucker, 401 to 399. The recount reversed the winner, as Tucker got 400 votes, compared to the 398 of Wilch.
Chris Bogenrief is the new mayor. Along with Tucker, the other new commissioners are Julie Burhoop, Jessica Strain, and Lynn Hoffman. Hoffman is the only person who formerly was a council member who now serves on the new commission.
*In other news, four international students at the University of Iowa are suing the government for terminating their student statuses.
The graduate students say the federal government unlawfully terminated their F-1 statuses without any explanation and are challenging the actions under the Fifth Amendment.
They said they received an email from the University of Iowa saying Immigration Customs and Enforcement had terminated their SEVIS records, the information system within the Department of Homeland Security.
The students were later notified that their visas had been revoked.
The lawsuit says the students have not committed serious criminal offenses and are in good academic standing. Three are chemical engineering students and one is an epidemiologist for the state. Half of the students are from China, and the other half are from India.
They're asking for their statuses to be restored. Inside Higher Ed says there are 28 lawsuits across the country challenging the terminations.
*At another college in Iowa, a Drake University scholarship program aimed at students of color is the subject of a complaint submitted to the U.S. Department of Education’s Civil Rights Office.
The Equal Protection Project argues that Drake’s program discriminates against students based on race because it is open to students of color, but not to white students.
The project’s president, William Jacobson, says scholarships must be based on factors other than race. Jacobson says there are other ways to diversify student populations that don’t rely on race.
The group has filed similar complaints against higher education institutions nationwide, including the University of Northern Iowa.
