The Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy was established in 1990 to coordinate the state’s drug-fighting efforts and the person appointed to head the agency is often called the state’s drug “czar.”

While Republican presidential candidates have called for getting rid of all the “czars” in President Obama’s administration, it is Democrats in the state senate who are pressing to get rid of the “czar” over drug policy at the state level.  Senator Jeff Danielson, a Democrat from Cedar Falls, says shifting the responsibilities to the Departmsnts of Public Health and Public Safety is more efficient.

“We cut middle  management and overhead,” Danielson says. “And  we still allow the Iowa Department of Public Health and the Department of Public Safety to have some staff left over to help with continuity of those programs.”

The change would save the state budget close to a third of a million dollars.

Republicans in the U.S. House are trying to get rid of “czars” in the Obama Administration, including the nation’s “drug czar” who is head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. A spokesman for Republican Governor Branstad says Branstad hasn’t seen the proposal to get rid of the state drug czar and can’t comment on the idea.

“It almost seems political to me,” Dotzler says. “The Regents ususally operate in a very measured and deliberate manner and I’m confused about why they would want to hold a phone call vote over this important issue.”

UNI’s president is proposing a series of steps to deal with budget realities at the Cedar Falls school, including an end to some academic programs as well as closure of the university’s laboratory school where about 350 K-12 students are enrolled. Dotzler says he would have preferred giving the public time to weigh in on the closure and to have a vote on the matter at a regularly scheduled public meeting of the Board of Regents.

“It’s extremely important to how the University of Northern Iowa is viewed,” Dotzler says. “We are trying to be, up there in the university, the premiere education university in the United States and losing their (research and development) component at Price Lab, I think, would undermine the reputation of the university.”

But Representative Scott Raecker, a Republican from Urbandale who is chairman of the House Appropriations Commtitee, says it appears to him the board that governs UNI has the authority to make this decision.

“The legislature does not need to take any affirmative action to codify or support the Regents decision,” Raecker says. “The legislature could take action to keep it open.”

However, the top two Republicans in the legislature have all issued written statements of support for the closure. House Speaker Kraig Paulsen praised the decision as the kind of belt-tightening Iowans expect at the public universities, while Senate Republican Leader Jerry Behn called it the kind of decision that will lead to the long-term fiscal health of UNI.

A group of legislators from the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area issued a joint statement, as did Congressman Bruce Braley, a Democrat from Waterloo.  You may read those statements below.

From Black Hawk County Legislators Rep. Bob Kressig, Rep. Deborah Berry, Rep. Anesa Kajtazovic, Sen. Jeff Danielson, and Sen. Bill Dotzler:

“We’re deeply disappointed in the Board of Regents’ decision today to close the Price Lab School.  Their decision was made without any input from parents, students, teachers, or others in our community.  This lack of transparency in an era of open government is alarming.

There’s no plan in place to help the students and families currently enrolled at Price Lab or provide the quality training for students at UNI who are training to be teachers.

With so many unanswered questions, there was no reason to rush this decision and close Price Lab.  We’ve heard from hundreds of Iowans about the closing and they deserved to be heard before this decision was made.

We’re going to review every legislative option we have and work to keep the school open.”

Washington, DC – Rep. Bruce Braley (IA-01) released the following statement after the Iowa Board of Regents voted to close the Malcolm Price Laboratory School in Cedar Falls by June 30th:

“It’s a sad day when state funding cuts force a choice between keeping a university functional and keeping a special school like Price Lab open. 

“At a time when politicians talk endlessly about education reform, closing a top-notch, nationally recognized school that actually walks the walk on educational innovation is the wrong thing to do. 
 
“Iowa’s economic success depends on our ability to properly educate a new generation of teachers and innovators.  There is no innovation without education.  We should be investing in and improving education for our kids – not closing our best schools.”

After falling in the opening round a year ago the Bulldogs advance to the semifinals. The Bulldogs won despite hitting on only five of 21 free throws. Senior center Dani Cook led AR-WE-VA with 18 points and 15 rebounds. The Rockets rallied from a 10 point deficit in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 50 but Bedord made the plays down the stretch to get the win.

After getting to the 1A championship game a year ago the Rockets end this season with a record of 21-5.

After three straight overtimes wins to get to the tournament the last thing LeMars Gehlen expected was blowout victory. The Jays outscored second ranked North Butler 15-2 in the second quarter and cruised to a 52-34 win.

Gehlen limited North Butler to just 29% shooting to come away with a victory in their first trip to the tournament. After losing the first game of the season North Butler saw its 21 game winning streak come to an end.

The Board of Regents held a special meeting via telephone, and Regent Bob Downer of Iowa City asked that they get an opinion from the Attorney General on whether they had the authority to close the school.

“Rather than looking at the possibility of having to back up in the event that such an opinion would be contrary to such an action that the board had taken,” Downer said. Downer’s motion to seek the legal opinion did not get a second.

All board members voted in favor of closing the school on June 30th with Downer abstaining. The school has been used for 50 years to train teachers and study teaching methods. Regent David Miles of West Des Moines, said he voted to close the school because U.N.I. President Ben Allen said it would allow the university to move ahead with a better way of training teachers.

“I know there are lots of folks (who) disagree with this recommendation, but no one should doubt Ben’s motives, or suggest that he has come to these recommendations with anything other than his most earnest consideration of what’s best for U.N.I., our students and the people of Iowa,” Miles said.

Regents president Craig Lang of Brooklyn, said he was not worried about the board’s authority to close the school. “Our general counsel has told us he believes that we have the authority, and I’m going by that,” Lang said. Lang had read a statement acknowledging the controversial nature of the closing before opening discussion of the issue.

“We have read your e-mails, listened to your phone calls, and watched in the news and social media, your many efforts in response to President Allen’s announcement last week. Your outpouring of strength and concern is of great testament to the university,” Lang said.   See Lang’s full remarks here: Lang Lab School PDF

Lang was asked after the meeting why the regents felt it was necessary to move ahead right away with the closing. He replied that it was an important timing issue. President Allen also addressed the question, and said the timing of his recommendation was based on having alternative places for the K-through-12 students at the school to go. “The timing of my recommendation was around that particular deadline,” Allen said.

Allen said he decided to ask that the school be closed at the end of this school year instead of phasing it out because students might have left and made it difficult to keep the school running. “This was a difficult decision, I tried to be as deliberate as possible, careful as possible,” Allen said. “And the timing of this you could argue is not the optimal, and I would a agree with that, but the timing is such, given the decision that I had to make, it was about the only time I could make it,” Allen said

Allen said the lab school program costs about $3.5-million, and the cost of the new training program could be about the same. He said the savings will come in not having to renovate the Price Lab buildings — renovations that a consultant said could cost some $30-million.

The regents asked Allen to make a report to them at their April meeting on the progress for putting together a new plan for training teachers in place of the lab school.

Listen to the regents meeting  here: connect.extension.iastate.edu/p8b68hg0rby/

She’d purchased it at a McDonalds in Sioux City, Iowa. Last week, Rebecca Speight put the nugget on eBay to raise money to send kids from her church to camp. The bidding went over $10,000, but then eBay stopped the bidding, saying it was illegal to sell expired food.

Later, officials with the website reconsidered and reversed themselves, as the profile of Washington is considered a high-profile item. It’s re-listed now and bidding is already back over $4,000.

“During the day, the warmer air pushes in and our precipitation will change from the mix over to rain for pretty much all of the state by Tuesday afternoon,” Boksa said. “But we do introduce some instability in the atmosphere, so we’re looking at the potential for thunderstorms as well Tuesday afternoon and into the evening hours.”

A couple of the storms could also produce small hail. The precipitation is expected to change back to snow Tuesday night into Wednesday, but only light accumulations are possible – mainly across northern Iowa. “It’s mainly north of Highway 20 where we’re looking for an inch or two at most,” Boksa said.

 A Winter Weather Advisory is posted for far northwest Iowa Tuesday through noon on Wednesday. Strong winds are expected on Wednesday. More rain and/or snow is possible across the state Thursday and Friday. High temperatures throughout the week are expected to be in the 30s and 40s.

After the 2010 Census Iowa lost one of its five congressional districts and Republican Congressman Tom Latham of Clive and Democratic Congressman Leonard Boswell of Des Moines are running against one another in the new third district. That district now leans Republican.

The district covers 16 counties in southwest Iowa and includes the city of Des Moines. The latest statistics indicate nearly 35 percent of voters in the district are registered Republicans, while about 33-and-a-half percent are registered Democrats. The rest are independents.

The other two Democratic congressmen from Iowa — Bruce Braley of Waterloo and Dave Loebsack of Iowa City — are running in districts which have a Democratic voter registration edge.

Republican Congressman Steve King has been representing a district that has a significant GOP edge. The new fourth congressional district has about 47,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats. Former Iowa First Lady Christie Vilsack is challenging King’s bid for a sixth term.

Here is the latest voter registration data from the Iowa Secretary of State’s office:

First Congressional District:

Democrats 165,686

Republicans 139,705

No party (independents) 188,500

Second Congressional District:

Democrats 175,890

Republicans 144,288

No Party (independents) 185,711

Third Congressional District:

Republicans 165,595

Democrats 159,595

No Party (independents) 150,705

Fourth Congressional District:

Republicans 179,681

Democrats 132,576

No Party (independents) 179,133

They pounded on the door trying to see if anyone was home. When firefighters arrived,they entered the burning home and found 43-year-old Kerry Bye in a back bedroom. Efforts to revive Bye were unsuccessful. The fire department report said the main concentration of the fire was in the living room and there was major heat and smoke damage throughout the entire house.

The report also said there did not appear to be working smoke alarms in the home.

Her husband, 62-year-old Robert Bradshaw, Jr., was killed in the crash. Pamela Bradshaw was taken by helicopter to University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City. There’s no word on her condition. Both occupants of the vehicle were wearing seat belts.

He says females are fertile only one day a year and the lack of nutrients in bamboo means they expend all their energy eating. “Giant panda need to forage a huge area to fill up their tummy,” Shao says. “By the time they are done, they are tired. They don’t have any interest for sex.”

He says agricultural research being done in Iowa may be able to help. Scientists are working on genetically-modified bamboo that would provide pandas with more energy. He says genetic similarities between pigs and pandas make Iowa the perfect place to help the endangered species.

There are currently about 1,600 pandas in the world, none in the Midwest. “There no guarantee that we will get them but I am trying,” he says. “If we succeed in developing this technology that can help the giant panda, chances are that we can get a pair here.”

Shao is moving forward on plans to bring pandas to Iowa. He hopes to get support from local businesses like the Principal Financial Group.