Here First

The Iowa Attorney General's office is opening a new unit to solve cold cases. A Libertarian candidate is in the running for Iowa's first congressional district. And the Des Moines City Council is planning its first comprehensive housing strategy.

A federal judge in Des Moines has temporarily blocked enforcement of Iowa's immigration law making "illegal reentry" a state crime that was supposed to go in effect on July 1. The USDA says there are now seven Iowa dairies with bird flu. The Glenwood Resource Center is one of two state-run facilities for people with severe disabilities, and it's going to close on June 30.

The latest on the bird flu outbreaks in Iowa. Bruegger's Bagel employees protest in Iowa City. And some state-owned beaches are under a swimming not recommended advisory for high levels of E. Coli.

The Board of Regents has raised tuition at Iowa’s three public universities for this fall, after the Legislature gave the schools less funding than they’d asked for. A Cornell College professor stabbed in China earlier this week is back in Iowa. And officials in Dubuque say they’re keeping an eye on a bear that’s been seen in the area this week.

Bird flu has been detected on a third dairy farm in northwest Iowa. The Iowa Board of Regents says it won’t divest its investments in Israel and companies doing business with that country. And a popular northwest Iowa bar will move later this year because of structural problems with its current building.

A federal appeals court will now decide the fate of Iowa’s ban on books with sexual content in school libraries. A panel of judges heard arguments in the case yesterday. John Deere will pay more than $1 million to job applicants the Labor Department says were discriminated against. And China says the attack on four Cornell College instructors in that country appears to be an isolated incident.

A federal judge says he’ll decide by July 1 whether an Iowa law making “illegal reentry” by immigrants a state crime can be enforced. A federal appeals court in Minnesota hears arguments today in a lawsuit challenging Iowa’s education law that’s led to hundreds of books being pulled from library shelves. And, state officials are monitoring both livestock and people after a couple of outbreaks of avian flu in Iowa dairy herds.

Iowa’s “illegal reentry” immigration law has a hearing in federal court this morning. Last night the Catholic bishop of Des Moines led a prayer vigil in opposition to the law. A new report says Iowa’s ranking has dropped a bit when it comes to child well-being. And, the state has another reported case of avian flu in a dairy herd.

U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson and her Republican colleagues plan to introduce a bill next year they say will enact stricter controls on the southern U.S. border. The Sierra Club says water use by Iowa’s ethanol plants will skyrocket if a carbon capture pipeline is built. And, some parents in Sioux City are upset their school district has cut summer school this year.

Iowa is reporting its first case of avian influenza in a dairy herd. It affects about 4,500 animals at a farm in O’Brien County. Pork producers say they expect the next farm bill to address a law in California that bans the sale of pork from breeding pigs raised in pens that don’t meet state minimum standards. And, Osceola should have enough drinking water for the summer, now that a rainy spring has nearly-refilled its only reservoir.