June 20, 2020

Iowa House Democrats advised to get COVID-19 tests after session

https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2020/06/19/iowa-house-democrats-advised-to-get-covid-19-tests-after-session/

It seems that a Republican House member from Storm Lake (a hot spot for the virus) missed the last nine days of the session, but Iowa House majority leaders said there was no problem. Here is an exchange on the last night of the session that just ended. Whitver is Senate Majority Leader, R-Polk County.

Whitver replied, “I don’t know of anybody in the building that has exposure to coronavirus. There may be, but nobody has brought that to my attention over the last eleven days we’ve been here. So, any guidance from the Department of Public Health is if no one here has had it, there’s nothing to report.”

Mathis followed up: “Do you feel that leadership should find out for us?”

“Certainly, if there’s something to share with the body, we would share it, yeah,” Whitver said..

In the last exchange on the Senate floor before lawmakers went home for the year, Democratic State Senator Liz Mathis had some questions for the majority leader. “There has been a rumor about a House member leaving due to a family member having COVID,” Mathis said. (Multiple sources brought the same rumor to my attention last week.)

Mathis wondered whether Whitver could provide any information “that we should be hearing about someone in the building maybe having exposure.”

When the legislature came back into session, Republican House and Senate leaders issued protocols, including limiting the number of people on the floor and recommending wearing masks. Democratic leaders wanted stricter protocols. The Republicans flouted the less-strict protocols they had issued in many ways, most publicly by few wearing masks, whereas the Democrats wore them.

The article is well worth the read. Never let it be said that Republicans in the Iowa Legislature carry out their work honorably. Disgusting!

June 2, 2020

Newly sworn in Waterloo police chief at protest hours later

https://kwwl.com/2020/06/02/waterloo-police-chiefs-first-night-on-the-job-spent-at-protest-focuses-on-accountability/?fbclid=IwAR3bF1UVvQmoe5Lx11cLCerxTr-sjpDzggyWRxEBSggGXF6liHWhiOOMGCEW

The crowd often seemed receptive to his being there, many of them saying that no cop had ever interacted with them like this. Being the city's first African American to lead its police force, Fitzgerald tried to connect with those who said they'd been hurt by police.

It was an interesting night, though ...

At one point, a truck flying a white supremacist flag drove by the park, inciting protesters before speeding away. Fitzgerald was asked how he planned to deal with those kinds of issues.

Organizers informed the crowd that police had stopped the driver of that truck a few blocks away. While feelings and sentiments aren't something police can enforce, Fitzgerald noted that the driving of the driver was enforceable.

It wasn't a perfect night in Waterloo, but I think this bodes well for Waterloo and the Cedar Valley as a whole.