(Radio Iowa) - Some Democrats are calling for Congress to return from recess to enact emergency legislation that would pay for additional relief following the two recent hurricanes that caused significant damage in several southern states. 

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican, says he's confident there's sufficient funding in place to handle the disasters. Of the 20-billion dollars approved prior to the recess, Grassley says only two-percent has been spent. 

The adequacy of FEMA's response to the hurricanes is the subject of much "he said/she said" debate among the presidential candidates, but Grassley says he's "satisfied" with the agency, saying FEMA's response in Iowa to deadly tornadoes and historic flooding was up to par.

(Radio Iowa) - Some Democrats are calling for Congress to return from recess to enact emergency legislation that would pay for additional relief following the two recent hurricanes that caused significant damage in several southern states. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican, says he's confident there's sufficient funding in place to handle the disasters. Of the 20-billion dollars approved prior to the recess, Grassley says only two-percent has been spent. The adequacy of FEMA's response to the hurricanes is the subject of much "he said/she said" debate among the presidential candidates, but Grassley says he's "satisfied" with the agency, saying FEMA's response in Iowa to deadly tornadoes and historic flooding was up to par.

Grassley: Disaster funding is more than ample, satisfied with FEMA response

U.S. sales of ag tractors dropped by 19 percent in September of this year compared to September of a year ago. New data from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers says combine sales also fell during the month, dropping 41 percent compared to last year. The 100-plus horsepower tractor segment fell the most from last year, dropping almost 27 percent in September of 2024 compared to last year. 

U.S. sales of ag tractors dropped by 19 percent in September of this year compared to September of a year ago. New data from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers says combine sales also fell during the month, dropping 41 percent compared to last year. The 100-plus horsepower tractor segment fell the most from last year, dropping almost 27 percent in September of 2024 compared to last year.

Combine and tractor sales fall in September

Pure Prairie Poultry declared bankruptcy and shut down with little notice, affecting workers at a processing plant in Iowa and contract growers in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Farmers Union says this has left farmers in dire straits, with tens of thousands of birds to feed and no feed or compensation coming. The growers are reporting that they will have to euthanize thousands of birds because it’s too expensive to feed that many out of their own pockets. 

Pure Prairie Poultry declared bankruptcy and shut down with little notice, affecting workers at a processing plant in Iowa and contract growers in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Farmers Union says this has left farmers in dire straits, with tens of thousands of birds to feed and no feed or compensation coming. The growers are reporting that they will have to euthanize thousands of birds because it’s too expensive to feed that many out of their own pockets.

Poultry company abandons producers

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/shauneen-miranda/">SHAUNEEN MIRANDA</a> <a href="https://statesnewsroom.com/">States Newsroom</a>

As former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris sprint to the November finish line, one sprawling policy area has largely fallen out of the spotlight — education.

Though the respective GOP and Democratic presidential candidates have spent comparatively more time campaigning on issues such as immigration, foreign policy and the economy, their ideas surrounding K-12 and higher education vastly differ.

Trump’s education platform vows to “save American education,” with a focus on parental rights, universal school choice and a fight for “patriotic education” in schools.

“By increasing access to school choice, empowering parents to have a voice in their child’s education, and supporting good teachers, President Trump will improve academic excellence for all students,” Karoline Leavitt, Trump campaign national press secretary, said in a statement to States Newsroom.

Trump “believes students should be taught reading, writing, and math in the classroom — not gender, sex and race like the Biden Administration is pushing on our public school system,” Leavitt added.

Meanwhile, the Harris campaign has largely focused on the education investments brought by the Biden-Harris administration and building on those efforts if she is elected.

“Over the past four years, the Administration has made unprecedented investments in education, including the single-largest investment in K-12 education in history, which Vice President Harris cast the tie-breaking vote to pass,” Mia Ehrenberg, a campaign spokesperson, told States Newsroom.

Ehrenberg said that while Harris and her running mate, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, “will build on those investments and continue fighting until every student has the support and the resources they need to thrive, Republicans led by Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda want to cut billions from local K-12 schools and eliminate the Department of Education, undermining America’s students and schools.”

Harris has repeatedly knocked the Heritage Foundation’s&nbsp;<a href="https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf" target="_blank">Project 2025</a>&nbsp;— a sweeping conservative agenda that includes education policy proposals like eliminating Head Start, ending time-based and occupation-based student loan forgiveness and barring teachers from using a student’s preferred pronouns different from their “biological sex” without written permission from a parent or guardian.

Trump has fiercely disavowed Project 2025, although some former members of his administration crafted the blueprint.

Trump has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Zxfnqj_3XQ" target="_blank">called for shutting down</a>&nbsp;the U.S. Department of Education and said he wants to “move education back to the states.” The department is not the main funding source for K-12 schools, as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.urban.org/policy-centers/cross-center-initiatives/state-and-local-finance-initiative/state-and-local-backgrounders/elementary-and-secondary-education-expenditures" target="_blank">state and local governments</a>&nbsp;allocate much of those dollars.

In contrast, Harris said at the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/lets-fight-it-harris-vows-chart-new-way-forward-defeat-trump" target="_blank">Democratic National Convention</a>&nbsp;in August that “we are not going to let him eliminate the Department of Education that funds our public schools.”

Living wage for school staff; parental bill of rights

Trump’s education plan calls for creating a “new credentialing body to certify teachers who embrace patriotic values, and understand that their job is not to indoctrinate children, but to educate them.”

He also wants to implement funding boosts for schools that “abolish teacher tenure” for grades K-12 and adopt “merit pay,” establish the direct election of school principals by parents and “drastically cut” the number of school administrators.

In contrast, the&nbsp;<a href="https://democrats.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/FINAL-MASTER-PLATFORM.pdf" target="_blank">Democratic Party’s 2024 platform</a>&nbsp;calls for recruiting “more new teachers, paraprofessionals and school related personnel, and education support professionals, with the option for some to even start training in high school.”

The platform also aims to help “school-support staff to advance in their own careers with a living wage” and improve working conditions for teachers.

Trump also wants to give funding boosts to schools that adopt a “Parental Bill of Rights that includes complete curriculum transparency, and a form of universal school choice.”

He’s threatening to cut federal funding for schools that teach the primarily collegiate academic subject known as “critical race theory,” gender ideology or “other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children.”

The Democrats’ platform opposes “the use of private-school vouchers, tuition tax credits, opportunity scholarships, and other schemes that divert taxpayer-funded resources away from public education,” adding that “public tax dollars should never be used to discriminate.”

Earlier this year, the Biden-Harris administration&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/much-attacked-final-title-ix-rule-goes-effect-while-still-blocked-26-states" target="_blank">released a final rule for Title IX</a>&nbsp;extending federal protections for LGBTQ+ students.

The updated regulations took effect Aug. 1, but a slew of GOP-led states challenged the measure. The legal battles have created a policy patchwork and weakened the administration’s vision for the final rule.

The updated regulations&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/biden-administration-roll-back-betsy-devos-title-ix-rules" target="_blank">roll back Title IX changes</a>&nbsp;made under the Trump administration and then-Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

Trump vowed to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qU5EDho3qs" target="_blank">terminate the updated regulations</a>&nbsp;on his first day back in office if reelected.

Harris has repeatedly touted the administration’s record on student loan forgiveness, including nearly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/biden-harris-administration-approves-additional-12-billion-student-debt" target="_blank">$170 billion</a>&nbsp;in student debt relief for almost 5 million borrowers.

The administration’s most recent student loan repayment initiative came to a grinding halt in August after the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/bidens-newest-student-loan-repayment-plan-temporarily-blocked-supreme-court" target="_blank">U.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocked</a>&nbsp;the Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, plan.

Although little is mentioned about education in Harris’&nbsp;<a href="https://kamalaharris.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Policy_Book_Economic-Opportunity.pdf" target="_blank">extensive economic plan</a>, the proposal makes clear that the veep will “continue working to end the unreasonable burden of student loan debt and fight to make higher education more affordable, so that college can be a ticket to the middle class.”

She also plans to cut four-year degree requirements for half a million federal jobs.

Trump — who dubbed the Biden-Harris administration’s&nbsp;<a href="https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/transcript/donald-trump-speech-political-rally-racine-wisconsin-june-18-2024/" target="_blank">student loan forgiveness efforts</a>&nbsp;as “not even legal” — sought to repeal the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program during his administration.

His education platform also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/agenda47-the-american-academy" target="_blank">calls for endowing</a>&nbsp;the “American Academy,” a free, online university.

Trump said he will endow the new institution through the “billions and billions of dollars that we will collect by taxing, fining, and suing excessively large private university endowments.”

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/shauneen-miranda/">SHAUNEEN MIRANDA</a> <a href="https://statesnewsroom.com/">States Newsroom</a>As former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris sprint to the November finish line, one sprawling policy area has largely fallen out of the spotlight — education.Though the respective GOP and Democratic presidential candidates have spent comparatively more time campaigning on issues such as immigration, foreign policy and the economy, their ideas surrounding K-12 and higher education vastly differ.Trump’s education platform vows to “save American education,” with a focus on parental rights, universal school choice and a fight for “patriotic education” in schools.“By increasing access to school choice, empowering parents to have a voice in their child’s education, and supporting good teachers, President Trump will improve academic excellence for all students,” Karoline Leavitt, Trump campaign national press secretary, said in a statement to States Newsroom.Trump “believes students should be taught reading, writing, and math in the classroom — not gender, sex and race like the Biden Administration is pushing on our public school system,” Leavitt added.Meanwhile, the Harris campaign has largely focused on the education investments brought by the Biden-Harris administration and building on those efforts if she is elected.“Over the past four years, the Administration has made unprecedented investments in education, including the single-largest investment in K-12 education in history, which Vice President Harris cast the tie-breaking vote to pass,” Mia Ehrenberg, a campaign spokesperson, told States Newsroom.Ehrenberg said that while Harris and her running mate, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, “will build on those investments and continue fighting until every student has the support and the resources they need to thrive, Republicans led by Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda want to cut billions from local K-12 schools and eliminate the Department of Education, undermining America’s students and schools.”Harris has repeatedly knocked the Heritage Foundation’s&nbsp;<a href="https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf" target="_blank">Project 2025</a>&nbsp;— a sweeping conservative agenda that includes education policy proposals like eliminating Head Start, ending time-based and occupation-based student loan forgiveness and barring teachers from using a student’s preferred pronouns different from their “biological sex” without written permission from a parent or guardian.Trump has fiercely disavowed Project 2025, although some former members of his administration crafted the blueprint.<h2>Closing the U.S. Department of Education</h2>Trump has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Zxfnqj_3XQ" target="_blank">called for shutting down</a>&nbsp;the U.S. Department of Education and said he wants to “move education back to the states.” The department is not the main funding source for K-12 schools, as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.urban.org/policy-centers/cross-center-initiatives/state-and-local-finance-initiative/state-and-local-backgrounders/elementary-and-secondary-education-expenditures" target="_blank">state and local governments</a>&nbsp;allocate much of those dollars.In contrast, Harris said at the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/lets-fight-it-harris-vows-chart-new-way-forward-defeat-trump" target="_blank">Democratic National Convention</a>&nbsp;in August that “we are not going to let him eliminate the Department of Education that funds our public schools.”<h2>Living wage for school staff; parental bill of rights</h2>Trump’s education plan calls for creating a “new credentialing body to certify teachers who embrace patriotic values, and understand that their job is not to indoctrinate children, but to educate them.”He also wants to implement funding boosts for schools that “abolish teacher tenure” for grades K-12 and adopt “merit pay,” establish the direct election of school principals by parents and “drastically cut” the number of school administrators.In contrast, the&nbsp;<a href="https://democrats.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/FINAL-MASTER-PLATFORM.pdf" target="_blank">Democratic Party’s 2024 platform</a>&nbsp;calls for recruiting “more new teachers, paraprofessionals and school related personnel, and education support professionals, with the option for some to even start training in high school.”The platform also aims to help “school-support staff to advance in their own careers with a living wage” and improve working conditions for teachers.Trump also wants to give funding boosts to schools that adopt a “Parental Bill of Rights that includes complete curriculum transparency, and a form of universal school choice.”He’s threatening to cut federal funding for schools that teach the primarily collegiate academic subject known as “critical race theory,” gender ideology or “other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children.”The Democrats’ platform opposes “the use of private-school vouchers, tuition tax credits, opportunity scholarships, and other schemes that divert taxpayer-funded resources away from public education,” adding that “public tax dollars should never be used to discriminate.”<h2>Title IX&nbsp;</h2>Earlier this year, the Biden-Harris administration&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/much-attacked-final-title-ix-rule-goes-effect-while-still-blocked-26-states" target="_blank">released a final rule for Title IX</a>&nbsp;extending federal protections for LGBTQ+ students.The updated regulations took effect Aug. 1, but a slew of GOP-led states challenged the measure. The legal battles have created a policy patchwork and weakened the administration’s vision for the final rule.The updated regulations&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/biden-administration-roll-back-betsy-devos-title-ix-rules" target="_blank">roll back Title IX changes</a>&nbsp;made under the Trump administration and then-Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.Trump vowed to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qU5EDho3qs" target="_blank">terminate the updated regulations</a>&nbsp;on his first day back in office if reelected.<h2>Student debt and higher education&nbsp;</h2>Harris has repeatedly touted the administration’s record on student loan forgiveness, including nearly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/biden-harris-administration-approves-additional-12-billion-student-debt" target="_blank">$170 billion</a>&nbsp;in student debt relief for almost 5 million borrowers.The administration’s most recent student loan repayment initiative came to a grinding halt in August after the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/bidens-newest-student-loan-repayment-plan-temporarily-blocked-supreme-court" target="_blank">U.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocked</a>&nbsp;the Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, plan.Although little is mentioned about education in Harris’&nbsp;<a href="https://kamalaharris.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Policy_Book_Economic-Opportunity.pdf" target="_blank">extensive economic plan</a>, the proposal makes clear that the veep will “continue working to end the unreasonable burden of student loan debt and fight to make higher education more affordable, so that college can be a ticket to the middle class.”She also plans to cut four-year degree requirements for half a million federal jobs.Trump — who dubbed the Biden-Harris administration’s&nbsp;<a href="https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/transcript/donald-trump-speech-political-rally-racine-wisconsin-june-18-2024/" target="_blank">student loan forgiveness efforts</a>&nbsp;as “not even legal” — sought to repeal the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program during his administration.His education platform also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/agenda47-the-american-academy" target="_blank">calls for endowing</a>&nbsp;the “American Academy,” a free, online university.Trump said he will endow the new institution through the “billions and billions of dollars that we will collect by taxing, fining, and suing excessively large private university endowments.”

Education: Where do Harris and Trump stand?

Zach Wendling <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/10/09/midwest-secretaries-of-state-host-election-security-and-integrity-summit-in-nebraska/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

OMAHA —&nbsp;Four secretaries of state and a federal agency director in cybersecurity described their work Wednesday as a line of defense in upholding election integrity and security ahead of the Nov. 5 election.

Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen, in explaining the reason for Wednesday’s summit, asked simply, “Why not?” He said the Midwest states of Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and South Dakota have demonstrated that elections can be safe, smooth and secure.

“Election security is not static. Election security is not a one-and-done deal. Election security is dynamic,” Evnen said at the news conference. “If you’re going to continue to address these dynamic challenges to elections, then you do so in a dynamic fashion.”

The ‘imperative’ of election confidence

The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.unomaha.edu/ncite/index.php" target="_blank">National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology and Education Center</a>, or NCITE, headquartered at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, hosted the event.

Evnen’s three counterparts from Iowa (Paul Pate), Missouri (Jay Ashcroft) and South Dakota (Monae Johnson) joined the event, which Evnen said he expects to be repeated in future years. Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab participated in other summit events, including briefings on NCITE research, but was unable to attend the news conference, officials said.

Pate, who is in his fourth term as Iowa’s secretary of state, said he has seen elections evolve and become “more aggressive” in the past two decades, particularly through technology.

Yet election confidence remains essential, Pate said, and secretaries of state are doing everything they can to uphold integrity and security.

“It’s imperative that Americans, and Iowans, have confidence in those election results because the day after the election, if they don’t believe that that’s their governor or their senator or their president, our Republic has fallen without a single bullet being fired,” Pate said. “That’s not acceptable, so we’re going to continue to be vigilant and do what we can on our front.”

Director Jen Easterly of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/alerts/2018/11/19/cybersecurity-and-infrastructure-security-agency" target="_blank">U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency</a>, said CISA stands “shoulder to shoulder” with election officials nationwide. She said she has “tremendous confidence” in U.S. elections.

Easterly said CISA was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/alerts/2018/11/19/cybersecurity-and-infrastructure-security-agency" target="_blank">established in 2018</a>&nbsp;from a previous U.S. Department of Homeland Security agency in part due to foreign attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election and after election infrastructure was designated as “critical” infrastructure.

The agency helps state and local election officials to prepare for any threats, including ransomware,&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/nonhazardous-material-found-in-envelope-sent-to-ne-secretary-of-states-office-caution-urged/" target="_blank">physical threats</a>&nbsp;and threats from foreign adversaries (such as Russia, Iran and China). Some of the support the agency provides, Easterly said, are security assessments, hypothetical scenario training and training for de-escalation and anti-active shooter incidents.

“At the end of the day, we know that elections will be safe. They will be secure. They will be free. They will be fair. But there will be things that go wrong,” Easterly said. “The good news is these disruptions, while problematic, will not affect how votes are counted and how votes are cast.”

Evnen said some of the ways that Nebraska has partnered with CISA in the past two years have included weekly scans of all 93 Nebraska county election websites for vulnerabilities, giving local officials “.gov” emails and website addresses and setting up internal protocols for day-to-day security.

“These are important steps we’re taking across Nebraska to ensure that our cyberinfrastructure is protected,” Evnen said.

Pate said those steps are national standards as officials “plan for the worst and hope for the best.”

All five secretaries of state who partnered with NCITE this week are elected Republicans, and Ashcroft said the officials don’t serve just Republicans or Democrats or&nbsp; Libertarians or any other third parties in their respective states.

He said if officials do their job well, they are the basketball ref or linesman of a football game who “no one notices.”

The secretaries of state and Easterly invited more people to get involved in the election process, such as serving as poll workers or watchers, and for anyone who has questions to ask.

“We run elections for the people of the states,” Ashcroft explained. “We run elections for our government because it is how ‘we the people’ decide that our Republic will move forward.”

Ashcroft added that no matter who wins or loses, or which issues pass or fail, “at the end of the day, the American people can drink their beverage of choice and either celebrate or commiserate, but know that they were a part of the decision, that their votes counted and that the votes made a difference.”

The election officials noted that it is typical for “official” results not to be finalized for up to a week after Election Day, but they said that’s due in part due to the need to process provisional ballots, as well as conducting the “checks and balances” needed to ensure accurate results, particularly in close races, or possibly hand-count some ballots.

But for the most part, the secretaries of state said of their jurisdictions, most election results are typically available within a few hours of polls closing on Election Day.

“I believe in getting quick results out, my colleagues do, but we all believe in getting it right, and we believe in making sure that every American, no matter where Uncle Sam has sent them, has the right to participate in our elections,” Ashcroft said, indicating overseas voters.

Johnson, from South Dakota, said the “greatest unease” about the general election is the period between when polls close and when results are finalized. She said officials are workshopping scenarios with public safety teams to ensure that post-election events proceed smoothly and on time.

“Protecting the voting process and its facilitators is a collaborative process, and we have full faith in our state’s ability to overcome any disruptions,” Johnson said.

Gina Ligon, director of NCITE at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, said the center, which includes 38 partner universities, is working on four projects, such as tracking threats to election workers through federal charges and possible threats from emerging technologies.

Ligon said the federal charges are the “tip of the iceberg” as federal charges are a “really high bar,” while other NCITE research includes threats or violence specifically against election officials in swing states, including Pennsylvania, Arizona and Georgia.

Those states have seen the largest spikes in data in recent years, Ligon said.

That project is extending to Nebraska, partially with the competitiveness of Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District for president. There are currently no federal charges, according to Ligon.

Other research, out of the University of Arkansas, includes interviews of election workers who have faced threats of violence. Initial research has indicated women don’t always report when they are victims of violence, Ligon said, and that people don’t understand when they cross First Amendment protections from anger to prohibited threats.

“As much as people say this is nothing new&nbsp;— ‘we’ve experienced this for a long time’ — our data just doesn’t support that,” Ligon said.

As of this time, Easterly said, there have been no specific election threats from terrorists, though she noted federal authorities thwarted the apparent plans of an&nbsp;<a href="https://oklahomavoice.com/briefs/oklahoma-city-man-faces-charges-related-to-planned-election-day-terrorist-attack-authorities-say/" target="_blank">Oklahoma City man</a>&nbsp;on Tuesday and charged him with allegedly plotting a terrorist attack on Election Day in support of ISIS.

“If there are other things that we are seeing from the terrorist landscape, we will ensure that election officials are apprised of that immediately,” Easterly said.

Easterly said the period between Election Day on Nov. 5 and the presidential inauguration on Jan. 20 will be critical. She said foreign adversaries will try to create a “wedge” and attempt to “shred our institutions” or sow discord as each milestone of certification and validation passes.

“That’s why it’s up to all of us as Americans — as the secretary (Ashcroft) said, ‘We the people’ — these elections are for us,” Easterly said. “It’s up to all of us to do our part in protecting and preserving our democracy.”

Nebraska Examiner, a States Newsroom affiliate,&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/10/09/midwest-secretaries-of-state-host-election-security-and-integrity-summit-in-nebraska/" target="_blank">produced this story</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1729007505031.png" alt=" Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen, at podium, leads a news conference Oct. 9, 2024, in Omaha on election security and integrity. Behind him, from left, are Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, South Dakota Secretary of State Monae Johnson, Director Jen Easterly of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and Director Gina Ligon of the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology and Education Center at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)" />
 <figcaption> Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen, at podium, leads a news conference Oct. 9, 2024, in Omaha on election security and integrity. Behind him, from left, are Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, South Dakota Secretary of State Monae Johnson, Director Jen Easterly of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and Director Gina Ligon of the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology and Education Center at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)</figcaption>
 </figure>Zach Wendling <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/10/09/midwest-secretaries-of-state-host-election-security-and-integrity-summit-in-nebraska/">Nebraska Examiner</a>OMAHA —&nbsp;Four secretaries of state and a federal agency director in cybersecurity described their work Wednesday as a line of defense in upholding election integrity and security ahead of the Nov. 5 election.Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen, in explaining the reason for Wednesday’s summit, asked simply, “Why not?” He said the Midwest states of Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and South Dakota have demonstrated that elections can be safe, smooth and secure.“Election security is not static. Election security is not a one-and-done deal. Election security is dynamic,” Evnen said at the news conference. “If you’re going to continue to address these dynamic challenges to elections, then you do so in a dynamic fashion.”<h2>The ‘imperative’ of election confidence</h2>The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.unomaha.edu/ncite/index.php" target="_blank">National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology and Education Center</a>, or NCITE, headquartered at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, hosted the event.Evnen’s three counterparts from Iowa (Paul Pate), Missouri (Jay Ashcroft) and South Dakota (Monae Johnson) joined the event, which Evnen said he expects to be repeated in future years. Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab participated in other summit events, including briefings on NCITE research, but was unable to attend the news conference, officials said.Pate, who is in his fourth term as Iowa’s secretary of state, said he has seen elections evolve and become “more aggressive” in the past two decades, particularly through technology.Yet election confidence remains essential, Pate said, and secretaries of state are doing everything they can to uphold integrity and security.“It’s imperative that Americans, and Iowans, have confidence in those election results because the day after the election, if they don’t believe that that’s their governor or their senator or their president, our Republic has fallen without a single bullet being fired,” Pate said. “That’s not acceptable, so we’re going to continue to be vigilant and do what we can on our front.”Director Jen Easterly of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/alerts/2018/11/19/cybersecurity-and-infrastructure-security-agency" target="_blank">U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency</a>, said CISA stands “shoulder to shoulder” with election officials nationwide. She said she has “tremendous confidence” in U.S. elections.Easterly said CISA was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/alerts/2018/11/19/cybersecurity-and-infrastructure-security-agency" target="_blank">established in 2018</a>&nbsp;from a previous U.S. Department of Homeland Security agency in part due to foreign attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election and after election infrastructure was designated as “critical” infrastructure.<h2>Security protocols and training</h2>The agency helps state and local election officials to prepare for any threats, including ransomware,&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/nonhazardous-material-found-in-envelope-sent-to-ne-secretary-of-states-office-caution-urged/" target="_blank">physical threats</a>&nbsp;and threats from foreign adversaries (such as Russia, Iran and China). Some of the support the agency provides, Easterly said, are security assessments, hypothetical scenario training and training for de-escalation and anti-active shooter incidents.“At the end of the day, we know that elections will be safe. They will be secure. They will be free. They will be fair. But there will be things that go wrong,” Easterly said. “The good news is these disruptions, while problematic, will not affect how votes are counted and how votes are cast.”Evnen said some of the ways that Nebraska has partnered with CISA in the past two years have included weekly scans of all 93 Nebraska county election websites for vulnerabilities, giving local officials “.gov” emails and website addresses and setting up internal protocols for day-to-day security.“These are important steps we’re taking across Nebraska to ensure that our cyberinfrastructure is protected,” Evnen said.Pate said those steps are national standards as officials “plan for the worst and hope for the best.”<h2>Elections for ‘we the people’</h2>All five secretaries of state who partnered with NCITE this week are elected Republicans, and Ashcroft said the officials don’t serve just Republicans or Democrats or&nbsp; Libertarians or any other third parties in their respective states.He said if officials do their job well, they are the basketball ref or linesman of a football game who “no one notices.”The secretaries of state and Easterly invited more people to get involved in the election process, such as serving as poll workers or watchers, and for anyone who has questions to ask.“We run elections for the people of the states,” Ashcroft explained. “We run elections for our government because it is how ‘we the people’ decide that our Republic will move forward.”Ashcroft added that no matter who wins or loses, or which issues pass or fail, “at the end of the day, the American people can drink their beverage of choice and either celebrate or commiserate, but know that they were a part of the decision, that their votes counted and that the votes made a difference.”The election officials noted that it is typical for “official” results not to be finalized for up to a week after Election Day, but they said that’s due in part due to the need to process provisional ballots, as well as conducting the “checks and balances” needed to ensure accurate results, particularly in close races, or possibly hand-count some ballots.But for the most part, the secretaries of state said of their jurisdictions, most election results are typically available within a few hours of polls closing on Election Day.“I believe in getting quick results out, my colleagues do, but we all believe in getting it right, and we believe in making sure that every American, no matter where Uncle Sam has sent them, has the right to participate in our elections,” Ashcroft said, indicating overseas voters.Johnson, from South Dakota, said the “greatest unease” about the general election is the period between when polls close and when results are finalized. She said officials are workshopping scenarios with public safety teams to ensure that post-election events proceed smoothly and on time.“Protecting the voting process and its facilitators is a collaborative process, and we have full faith in our state’s ability to overcome any disruptions,” Johnson said.<h2>NCITE research</h2>Gina Ligon, director of NCITE at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, said the center, which includes 38 partner universities, is working on four projects, such as tracking threats to election workers through federal charges and possible threats from emerging technologies.Ligon said the federal charges are the “tip of the iceberg” as federal charges are a “really high bar,” while other NCITE research includes threats or violence specifically against election officials in swing states, including Pennsylvania, Arizona and Georgia.Those states have seen the largest spikes in data in recent years, Ligon said.That project is extending to Nebraska, partially with the competitiveness of Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District for president. There are currently no federal charges, according to Ligon.Other research, out of the University of Arkansas, includes interviews of election workers who have faced threats of violence. Initial research has indicated women don’t always report when they are victims of violence, Ligon said, and that people don’t understand when they cross First Amendment protections from anger to prohibited threats.“As much as people say this is nothing new&nbsp;— ‘we’ve experienced this for a long time’ — our data just doesn’t support that,” Ligon said.<h2>‘It’s up to all of us’</h2>As of this time, Easterly said, there have been no specific election threats from terrorists, though she noted federal authorities thwarted the apparent plans of an&nbsp;<a href="https://oklahomavoice.com/briefs/oklahoma-city-man-faces-charges-related-to-planned-election-day-terrorist-attack-authorities-say/" target="_blank">Oklahoma City man</a>&nbsp;on Tuesday and charged him with allegedly plotting a terrorist attack on Election Day in support of ISIS.“If there are other things that we are seeing from the terrorist landscape, we will ensure that election officials are apprised of that immediately,” Easterly said.Easterly said the period between Election Day on Nov. 5 and the presidential inauguration on Jan. 20 will be critical. She said foreign adversaries will try to create a “wedge” and attempt to “shred our institutions” or sow discord as each milestone of certification and validation passes.“That’s why it’s up to all of us as Americans — as the secretary (Ashcroft) said, ‘We the people’ — these elections are for us,” Easterly said. “It’s up to all of us to do our part in protecting and preserving our democracy.”Nebraska Examiner, a States Newsroom affiliate,&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/10/09/midwest-secretaries-of-state-host-election-security-and-integrity-summit-in-nebraska/" target="_blank">produced this story</a>.

Midwest secretaries of state host election security and integrity summit

JOHNSON COUNTY —Members of Kansas Task Force 2 are on their way home from hurricane response duty.

While in Florida, the task force teams&nbsp; performed search and rescue efforts with one squad utilizing a boat and another squad using ATV’s, according to a social media report from the Kansas Fire Marshal's office.

Historic flooding remains a concern in the area where Task Force 2 was assigned for their search and rescue efforts. Being unfamiliar with the area, flood concerns are taken seriously so search and rescue operations are not jeopardized.

The Task Force was able to provide some true Kansas hospitality as they helped cook camp breakfast for members of various task forces. This type of teamwork is a great way to build rapport not only for KS-TF2, but also with other task force teams in the same area.

In the field during disaster response, work areas are not the normal office setting many back home enjoy while in the office. For Randy Hill, former Kansas State Fire Marshal Search and Rescue (SAR) Coordinator and current contractor with the Kansas State Fire Marshal, that means setting up an office in the back of one of the Kansas State Fire Marshal trailers. 

Task Force members adapt and work with what they have so assignments can be completed in safe and timely manners. Kansas Task Force 2 members also assisted Florida-Task Force 7 with getting their new boat built and ready for service so they can continue their search and rescue efforts. 

"Kansas Task Force 2 members have stepped up to the call and delivered professional, meaningful, and much needed assistance to Florida. One of the reasons that is possible is training they receive and their compassion about Search and Rescue response."&nbsp;

&nbsp;On Sunday, Kansas Task Force 2 was notified&nbsp; that they were going to be demobilized and released from their deployment. They began the two-day drive home back to Kansas on Monday.&nbsp; Last week, the Olathe Fire Department welcomed home a portion of Kansas Task Force 1 from their hurricane response duty.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1728954907312.png" alt="Photos Office of Kansaas Fire Marshal" />
 <figcaption>Photos Office of Kansaas Fire Marshal</figcaption>
 </figure>JOHNSON COUNTY —Members of Kansas Task Force 2 are on their way home from hurricane response duty.While in Florida, the task force teams&nbsp; performed search and rescue efforts with one squad utilizing a boat and another squad using ATV’s, according to a social media report from the Kansas Fire Marshal's office.Historic flooding remains a concern in the area where Task Force 2 was assigned for their search and rescue efforts. Being unfamiliar with the area, flood concerns are taken seriously so search and rescue operations are not jeopardized.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1728954961719.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>The Task Force was able to provide some true Kansas hospitality as they helped cook camp breakfast for members of various task forces. This type of teamwork is a great way to build rapport not only for KS-TF2, but also with other task force teams in the same area.In the field during disaster response, work areas are not the normal office setting many back home enjoy while in the office. For Randy Hill, former Kansas State Fire Marshal Search and Rescue (SAR) Coordinator and current contractor with the Kansas State Fire Marshal, that means setting up an office in the back of one of the Kansas State Fire Marshal trailers. Task Force members adapt and work with what they have so assignments can be completed in safe and timely manners. Kansas Task Force 2 members also assisted Florida-Task Force 7 with getting their new boat built and ready for service so they can continue their search and rescue efforts. "Kansas Task Force 2 members have stepped up to the call and delivered professional, meaningful, and much needed assistance to Florida. One of the reasons that is possible is training they receive and their compassion about Search and Rescue response."&nbsp;&nbsp;On Sunday, Kansas Task Force 2 was notified&nbsp; that they were going to be demobilized and released from their deployment. They began the two-day drive home back to Kansas on Monday.&nbsp; Last week, the Olathe Fire Department welcomed home a portion of Kansas Task Force 1 from their hurricane response duty.

Kansas Task Force 2 on the way home from hurricane Milton response

CALLAWAY COUNTY, Missouri—Two deputies were injured and a suspect is dead following a traffic stop and gun fight early Monday in Callaway County, Missouri.

The preliminary investigation revealed Jonathan A. Beason, 37, of Medina, Texas, was fatally shot after exchanging gunfire with Callaway County Deputies on a traffic stop on Interstate 70 just east of the Route DD / Route J- Millersburg exit, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

 Beason was located deceased on scene, and a firearm was recovered on scene by Missouri State Highway Patrol Division of Drug and Crime Control investigators.

One deputy is out of surgery and the other was slated for surgery late Monday, according to the Callaway County Sheriff. Both will need extensive time to recover. "Please keep their families in your thoughts and prayers."

Just after 3:30a.m. Monday, a Sheriff’s Deputy initiated a traffic stop on Interstate 70 just east of the Route&nbsp;DD&nbsp;/ Route&nbsp;J- Millersburg exit, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. A second deputy arrived shortly afterward to assist.

During the stop, deputies identified the driver, a 37-year-old man from Texas, as the sole occupant of the vehicle. Callaway County Joint Communications (CCJC) informed the deputies that the driver had multiple felony warrants from out of state. When deputies attempted to take the driver into custody, they notified CCJC that the driver was resisting arrest.

Moments later, deputies reported shots fired. Both deputies were struck by gunfire. The Boone County Sheriff’s Office, Fulton Police Department, and Columbia Police Department quickly responded to provide assistance. 

The injured deputies were transported to a nearby hospital for treatment.The suspect was pronounced deceased at the scene. The Callaway County Sheriff’s Office has requested the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control (DDCC) to lead the investigation.

"We ask the public to keep both deputies in their thoughts during this difficult time. One deputy is currently in serious condition and undergoing surgery, while the other is in stable condition."

CALLAWAY COUNTY, Missouri—Two deputies were injured and a suspect is dead following a traffic stop and gun fight early Monday in Callaway County, Missouri.The preliminary investigation revealed Jonathan A. Beason, 37, of Medina, Texas, was fatally shot after exchanging gunfire with Callaway County Deputies on a traffic stop on Interstate 70 just east of the Route DD / Route J- Millersburg exit, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Beason was located deceased on scene, and a firearm was recovered on scene by Missouri State Highway Patrol Division of Drug and Crime Control investigators.One deputy is out of surgery and the other was slated for surgery late Monday, according to the Callaway County Sheriff. Both will need extensive time to recover. "Please keep their families in your thoughts and prayers."-------CALLAWAY COUNTY, Missouri—Two deputies were injured and a suspect is dead following a traffic stop and gun fight early Monday in Callaway County, Missouri.Just after 3:30a.m. Monday, a Sheriff’s Deputy initiated a traffic stop on Interstate 70 just east of the Route&nbsp;DD&nbsp;/ Route&nbsp;J- Millersburg exit, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. A second deputy arrived shortly afterward to assist.During the stop, deputies identified the driver, a 37-year-old man from Texas, as the sole occupant of the vehicle. Callaway County Joint Communications (CCJC) informed the deputies that the driver had multiple felony warrants from out of state. When deputies attempted to take the driver into custody, they notified CCJC that the driver was resisting arrest.Moments later, deputies reported shots fired. Both deputies were struck by gunfire. The Boone County Sheriff’s Office, Fulton Police Department, and Columbia Police Department quickly responded to provide assistance. The injured deputies were transported to a nearby hospital for treatment.The suspect was pronounced deceased at the scene. The Callaway County Sheriff’s Office has requested the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control (DDCC) to lead the investigation."We ask the public to keep both deputies in their thoughts during this difficult time. One deputy is currently in serious condition and undergoing surgery, while the other is in stable condition."

Mo. deputies injured after I-70 traffic stop gunfight are recovering

(Radio Iowa) - Iowa Congressman Randy Feenstra says the prospects for passage of a five-year Farm Bill are positive -- after the election. 

If no action is taken before the end of the year, the federal farm policies in place decades ago will go into effect -- meaning farmers will not get federal crop insurance subsidies, for example. Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, says key lawmakers have been meeting over the last few months and he has great hope congress will pass the Farm Bill in November or December. 

Ryan Melton of Webster City, the Democrat who's running against Feenstra, says he agrees the government needs to provide subsidies to farmers, but he says the Farm Bill needs to address water quality. Melton says with the significant increase in large-scale livestock operations in Iowa, it's time to consider federal regulations on how much manure and other farm chemicals can be applied to cropland.

(Radio Iowa) - Iowa Congressman Randy Feenstra says the prospects for passage of a five-year Farm Bill are positive -- after the election. If no action is taken before the end of the year, the federal farm policies in place decades ago will go into effect -- meaning farmers will not get federal crop insurance subsidies, for example. Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, says key lawmakers have been meeting over the last few months and he has great hope congress will pass the Farm Bill in November or December. Ryan Melton of Webster City, the Democrat who's running against Feenstra, says he agrees the government needs to provide subsidies to farmers, but he says the Farm Bill needs to address water quality. Melton says with the significant increase in large-scale livestock operations in Iowa, it's time to consider federal regulations on how much manure and other farm chemicals can be applied to cropland.

Congressman Feenstra has 'great hope' Farm Bill will be passed by year's end

With the Gulf Coast being ravaged by Hurricane's Helene and Milton, and the potential of Tropical Storm Nadine looming, the Buchanan County Sheriff's Office is warning of an increase in scam calls. 

Sheriff Bill Puett says this community is full of kind people with big hearts who want to help, but warns that if you do, know where your money is going

"Know where your effort is being put because there are people, and we've talked about a variety of different scams through the year, but any time we see a natural disaster we see an increase in scams and people calling and saying they're with this associaton or that associaton," Puett tells guest host Travis Dodge on the KFEQ Hotline.

Puett says researching and providing that assistance in the best ways is the best advice he can give, and someone asking for money over the phone is usually the biggest red flag.

Puett says this is a very giving community, but Puett says if you want to help make sure you know what you are doing

"That you know that process, that you have checked it and verified it, and of course we also know that there is Christmas and Thanksgiving coming up and there is a time and a season for giving, and we have a great community that gives and gives and gives all the time," Puett explains. 

When omes to scams in general, Puett says do not give out your personal information or click on any sorts of links in emails or on your phone. 

"You initiate and you know where things are going," Puett says. "When somebody calls up and says hey I need to verify your account information, well if you have my account then you should have the information in front of you, I shouldn't have to give you all the numbers and all those things, but people are intimidated because they're threatened."

Puett says to just make sure you protect yourself and research and verify before you donate to hurricane relief, or any sort of donation, to avoid being stolen from.

You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

By MATT PIKESt. Joseph PostWith the Gulf Coast being ravaged by Hurricane's Helene and Milton, and the potential of Tropical Storm Nadine looming, the Buchanan County Sheriff's Office is warning of an increase in scam calls. Sheriff Bill Puett says this community is full of kind people with big hearts who want to help, but warns that if you do, know where your money is going"Know where your effort is being put because there are people, and we've talked about a variety of different scams through the year, but any time we see a natural disaster we see an increase in scams and people calling and saying they're with this associaton or that associaton," Puett tells guest host Travis Dodge on the KFEQ Hotline.Puett says researching and providing that assistance in the best ways is the best advice he can give, and someone asking for money over the phone is usually the biggest red flag.Puett says this is a very giving community, but Puett says if you want to help make sure you know what you are doing"That you know that process, that you have checked it and verified it, and of course we also know that there is Christmas and Thanksgiving coming up and there is a time and a season for giving, and we have a great community that gives and gives and gives all the time," Puett explains. When omes to scams in general, Puett says do not give out your personal information or click on any sorts of links in emails or on your phone. "You initiate and you know where things are going," Puett says. "When somebody calls up and says hey I need to verify your account information, well if you have my account then you should have the information in front of you, I shouldn't have to give you all the numbers and all those things, but people are intimidated because they're threatened."Puett says to just make sure you protect yourself and research and verify before you donate to hurricane relief, or any sort of donation, to avoid being stolen from.You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

Sherriff Puett warns of scams in wake of hurricanes

Forty-seven Democratic members of Congress have asked Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan to ban the use of the herbicide paraquat. The lawmakers, led by Texas Congressman Greg Casar, told Regan the chemical is particularly dangerous for farmworkers. The EPA says it has yet to find a scientific link between the use of the herbicide and Parkinson's disease. At the end of January 2024, EPA released a report on the ongoing review of paraquat. 

Due to the significant human health and environmental concerns associated with paraquat, roughly 70 countries have banned or discontinued the use of the chemical, including China, Brazil, the European Union, and Canada. Findings from researchers at UCLA found that paraquat sprayed within 500 meters of where people live and work can more than double a person's odds of developing Parkinson's disease.

Forty-seven Democratic members of Congress have asked Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan to ban the use of the herbicide paraquat. The lawmakers, led by Texas Congressman Greg Casar, told Regan the chemical is particularly dangerous for farmworkers. The EPA says it has yet to find a scientific link between the use of the herbicide and Parkinson's disease. At the end of January 2024, EPA released a report on the ongoing review of paraquat. Due to the significant human health and environmental concerns associated with paraquat, roughly 70 countries have banned or discontinued the use of the chemical, including China, Brazil, the European Union, and Canada. Findings from researchers at UCLA found that paraquat sprayed within 500 meters of where people live and work can more than double a person's odds of developing Parkinson's disease.

Lawmakers ask EPA to ban paraquat

Some progressives are publicly calling for voters to oust two Supreme Court judges up for a retention vote next month over their dissent in a lawsuit placing abortion on the November ballot

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/joshmerchant/">JOSH MERCHANT</a>

If three Missouri Supreme Court judges had their way, voters would not have a say on whether to legalize abortion statewide on this year’s general election ballot.

This November, those voters will have the option to use a power they’ve never used before — to boot two of those judges off the state’s high court.

Abortion rights groups turned in 380,000 signatures this summer for a state constitutional amendment that would establish a right to reproductive health care.

But then a Cole County circuit court judge ruled that their proposed amendment was too vague. That sent the case to the Missouri Supreme Court, which ultimately ruled that it met legal requirements in a 4-3 decision.

Now, the abortion amendment will appear on the ballot — alongside retention votes for two of those judges who dissented in the ruling that ultimately put the issue to a statewide vote.

To abortion-rights advocates like Jess Piper, it’s “instant karma.”

She is the executive director of Blue Missouri and ran unsuccessfully in 2022 to represent a district north of St. Joseph in the Missouri House of Representatives.

“You vote against us, and we can vote to not retain you,” she said. Piper will be voting not to retain Missouri Supreme Court judges Kelly Broniec and Ginger Gooch, who dissented last month in the decision to keep abortion on the ballot.

But some political and legal experts say advocates like Piper should brace for times when judges&nbsp;they like&nbsp;might get tossed off the court for their rulings.

It’d be a gamble. Kicking two judges off the Supreme Court is unprecedented in Missouri and would leave two open seats for the next governor to fill. Mounting a political campaign to remove two judges from the court, if successful, could shake the foundation of an institution that has been insulated from politics for 80 years.

“Be careful what you wish for,” said former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Wolff. “You don’t know what you’re going to get on the other side.”

What judges Broniec and Gooch argued on the abortion petition case

The Supreme Court’s Sept. 10 decision put abortion back on the ballot.

Judges on both sides of the opinion contend the legal decision had nothing to do with abortion.

Rather, they say the case turned on a 1997 law that&nbsp;<a href="https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=116.050#:~:text=Each%20page%20of%20a%20referendum,which%20the%20referendum%20is%20sought." target="_blank">requires initiative petitions specify</a>&nbsp;what parts of Missouri statute or the state constitution would be repealed by a petition.

Anti-abortion groups said that Amendment 3 was not specific about what Missouri laws would be repealed by establishing a right to reproductive health care.

Abortion-rights groups, on the other hand, said that wasn’t required because the abortion amendment doesn’t actually repeal any laws — it simply adds a guarantee in the Missouri Constitution of access to abortion. If the amendment passes, Missouri’s abortion ban passed by the General Assembly will remain in effect until it’s challenged in court.

Ultimately, the courts could overturn some abortion restrictions — not the amendment itself.

The state&nbsp;<a href="https://www.courts.mo.gov/file.jsp?id=211775" target="_blank">Supreme Court ruled that the abortion amendment met the necessary legal requirements</a>&nbsp;to be on the ballot. Judge Paul Wilson also wrote in the majority opinion that requiring a petition to specify a list of laws to be repealed would be overly burdensome, making it functionally impossible to amend the constitution in the future.

In her dissenting opinion, Broniec wrote that the 1997 law requiring petitions to specify what laws would be repealed also includes laws that would be invalidated.

The abortion amendment clearly contradicts a handful of existing Missouri laws, she said, including the abortion ban that went into effect in June 2022, a law requiring a parent’s consent for minors to receive an abortion and a law requiring a 72-hour waiting period.

She said that this amendment — and any future amendment — wouldn’t have to list out every possible law that could be repealed. But, she argued, it should have listed the ones that were most obvious.

Gooch agreed with Broniec, as did Judge Zel Fischer, who is due to retire in 2033.

Both Gooch and Broniec declined to comment for this story. They are prohibited from publicly commenting on court issues under the state’s judicial code of conduct.

The 1940 ‘Missouri Plan’ to keep politics out of the Supreme Court

Unlike many other states, Missouri does not directly elect members of its Supreme Court. And to some experts, that’s a good thing.

The system of judge retention elections — rather than contested elections between two candidates —&nbsp;was created by an initiative petition in 1940 in response to an increasingly politicized court.

“There was a very ugly Missouri Supreme Court race between a Boss (Tom) Pendergast candidate and somebody else,” said Wolff, who is also former dean of St. Louis University School of Law.

Pendergast was a&nbsp;<a href="https://pendergastkc.org/articles/thomas-joseph-pendergast" target="_blank">political boss in the early 20th century</a>&nbsp;who controlled Kansas City Hall, the police department and even some statewide elections.

“If you wanted to be a judge in Jackson County or even on the Supreme Court of Missouri,” Wolff said, “a person you needed to go see was Boss Tom. That didn’t necessarily mean that you were going to be the best judge.”

But legal scholars at the time argued for a way to hold judges accountable when they misbehave or perform incompetently.

That created the “Missouri Plan” that nine other states copied and that 10 more followed roughly.

A judicial nominating commission —&nbsp;the chief justice, three members of the Missouri Bar Association and three nonlawyers picked by the governor —&nbsp;creates a list of potential nominees.

The governor then picks a nominee from that list to serve on the Supreme Court for one year before facing a retention election.

Judges who are retained face a retention election every 12 years until they retire at age 70.

No campaign to kick out a Supreme Court judge in Missouri has ever been successful.

Peverill Squire, a political science professor at the University of Missouri, said that although the governor has some say in who gets nominated, the nominating commission has successfully protected the court from partisan politics for the most part.

Gov. Mike Parson “has not been particularly aggressive in that regard,” he said. “They do have to go through the judicial nominating commission that might take some of the edge off of the heavy partisanship.”

Retention races can be a flashpoint for more partisan politics

Piper posted a video to TikTok shortly after the initiative petition Supreme Court decision, calling on voters to not retain Gooch and Broniec. The video has garnered more than 13,000 likes and 1,600 shares. Since then, she said she has met with voters who told her they wrote down the judges’ names so they’d remember in November.

“They’re really angry,” she said. “We didn’t just do the job, we killed it — 380,000 signatures when we only needed 180,000. It angers people across the political spectrum because you don’t have any right to take away my voice.”

Even if voters toss out the judges, Parson’s probable successor, Republican governor candidate Mike Kehoe, likely would replace them with two conservatives.

“He would appoint people in much the same manner that Parson did,” Piper said.

A&nbsp;<a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia_Courts:_State_Partisanship" target="_blank">Ballotpedia study in 2020</a>&nbsp;found that only three judges had lost retention out of 155 elections across the country since 2008. The other 98% percent won their races.

In nearby Iowa, voters&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2010/11/03/131032419/iowa-judges-ousted" target="_blank">removed two judges from the Supreme Court when they were up for retention in 2010</a>&nbsp;after the court unanimously overturned the state’s ban on same-sex marriage in 2009.

A conservative Missouri group attempted to remove Supreme Court Judge Richard Teitelman in 2004. The campaign argued that Teitelman was opposed to the death penalty and in favor of abortion, and that he opposed the right to firearms.

Missouri Supreme Court judges are prohibited under the code of judicial conduct from making any public statements on how they would rule on any given issue. If they do, they must recuse themselves from any case involving those issues.

That backs judges into a corner in those targeted campaigns where they can’t effectively defend themselves against claims that they support or don’t support an issue.

“It was a campaign generated by the (prospective) speaker of the House,” Wolff said of the 2004 retention campaign. “He was targeting some districts where they were trying to gin up the conservative voters. I don’t think they knew or cared who Judge Teitelman was, but they could get people to the polls.”

About the Supreme Court judges on your ballot

Broniec was appointed to her position in 2023 by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to replace retiring Judge George Draper III. She is facing her first retention election as Supreme Court judge to serve for a 12-year term.

Originally from Montgomery County, Broniec worked for a decade as a prosecuting attorney, then served for 17 years as a judge between the Montgomery County Circuit Court and the Eastern District Court of Appeals.

The Missouri Judicial Performance Review Committee said that Broniec&nbsp;<a href="https://yourmissourijudges.org/judges/kelly-broniec-2024/" target="_blank">meets performance standards</a>.

Gooch was appointed to the state Supreme Court judge in 2023 by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to replace retiring Judge Patricia Breckenridge. She is facing her first retention election as Supreme Court judge to serve for a 12-year term.

Gooch served for one year as a judge on the Southern District Court of Appeals before her appointment to the Supreme Court. She was raised in Springfield and worked for 21 years as an attorney at Husch Blackwell LLP as general counsel for schools, hospitals and businesses. She has successfully&nbsp;<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201028005108mp_/https://www.huschblackwell.com/professionals/ginger-gooch#overview" target="_blank">defended employers against discrimination claims</a>.

She has also worked as a Sunday school teacher and was involved with the parent-teacher association at her son’s schools.

The Missouri Judicial Performance Review Committee said that Gooch&nbsp;<a href="https://yourmissourijudges.org/judges/ginger-gooch-2024/" target="_blank">meets performance standards</a>.

This&nbsp;<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/stories/2024/10/10/missouri-supreme-court-retention-amendment-2/" target="_blank">article</a>&nbsp;first appeared on&nbsp;<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/" target="_blank">Beacon: Missouri</a>&nbsp;and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1728928168669.png" alt=" The Missouri Supreme Court takes the bench on Sept. 10, 2024, in Jefferson City to hear a case questioning whether an amendment to overturn the state’s abortion ban will remain on the state’s November ballot. From left are Judges Kelly C. Broniec, Robin Ransom, W. Brent Powell, Chief Justice Mary R. Russell, Zel. M. Fischer, Paul C. Wilson and Ginger K. Gooch (Pool photo by Robert Cohen/St. Louis Post-Dispatch)." />
 <figcaption> The Missouri Supreme Court takes the bench on Sept. 10, 2024, in Jefferson City to hear a case questioning whether an amendment to overturn the state’s abortion ban will remain on the state’s November ballot. From left are Judges Kelly C. Broniec, Robin Ransom, W. Brent Powell, Chief Justice Mary R. Russell, Zel. M. Fischer, Paul C. Wilson and Ginger K. Gooch (Pool photo by Robert Cohen/St. Louis Post-Dispatch).</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Some progressives are publicly calling for voters to oust two Supreme Court judges up for a retention vote next month over their dissent in a lawsuit placing abortion on the November ballot</h2>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/joshmerchant/">JOSH MERCHANT</a>If three Missouri Supreme Court judges had their way, voters would not have a say on whether to legalize abortion statewide on this year’s general election ballot.This November, those voters will have the option to use a power they’ve never used before — to boot two of those judges off the state’s high court.Abortion rights groups turned in 380,000 signatures this summer for a state constitutional amendment that would establish a right to reproductive health care.But then a Cole County circuit court judge ruled that their proposed amendment was too vague. That sent the case to the Missouri Supreme Court, which ultimately ruled that it met legal requirements in a 4-3 decision.Now, the abortion amendment will appear on the ballot — alongside retention votes for two of those judges who dissented in the ruling that ultimately put the issue to a statewide vote.To abortion-rights advocates like Jess Piper, it’s “instant karma.”She is the executive director of Blue Missouri and ran unsuccessfully in 2022 to represent a district north of St. Joseph in the Missouri House of Representatives.“You vote against us, and we can vote to not retain you,” she said. Piper will be voting not to retain Missouri Supreme Court judges Kelly Broniec and Ginger Gooch, who dissented last month in the decision to keep abortion on the ballot.But some political and legal experts say advocates like Piper should brace for times when judges&nbsp;they like&nbsp;might get tossed off the court for their rulings.It’d be a gamble. Kicking two judges off the Supreme Court is unprecedented in Missouri and would leave two open seats for the next governor to fill. Mounting a political campaign to remove two judges from the court, if successful, could shake the foundation of an institution that has been insulated from politics for 80 years.“Be careful what you wish for,” said former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Wolff. “You don’t know what you’re going to get on the other side.”<h2>What judges Broniec and Gooch argued on the abortion petition case</h2>The Supreme Court’s Sept. 10 decision put abortion back on the ballot.Judges on both sides of the opinion contend the legal decision had nothing to do with abortion.Rather, they say the case turned on a 1997 law that&nbsp;<a href="https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=116.050#:~:text=Each%20page%20of%20a%20referendum,which%20the%20referendum%20is%20sought." target="_blank">requires initiative petitions specify</a>&nbsp;what parts of Missouri statute or the state constitution would be repealed by a petition.Anti-abortion groups said that Amendment 3 was not specific about what Missouri laws would be repealed by establishing a right to reproductive health care.Abortion-rights groups, on the other hand, said that wasn’t required because the abortion amendment doesn’t actually repeal any laws — it simply adds a guarantee in the Missouri Constitution of access to abortion. If the amendment passes, Missouri’s abortion ban passed by the General Assembly will remain in effect until it’s challenged in court.Ultimately, the courts could overturn some abortion restrictions — not the amendment itself.The state&nbsp;<a href="https://www.courts.mo.gov/file.jsp?id=211775" target="_blank">Supreme Court ruled that the abortion amendment met the necessary legal requirements</a>&nbsp;to be on the ballot. Judge Paul Wilson also wrote in the majority opinion that requiring a petition to specify a list of laws to be repealed would be overly burdensome, making it functionally impossible to amend the constitution in the future.In her dissenting opinion, Broniec wrote that the 1997 law requiring petitions to specify what laws would be repealed also includes laws that would be invalidated.The abortion amendment clearly contradicts a handful of existing Missouri laws, she said, including the abortion ban that went into effect in June 2022, a law requiring a parent’s consent for minors to receive an abortion and a law requiring a 72-hour waiting period.She said that this amendment — and any future amendment — wouldn’t have to list out every possible law that could be repealed. But, she argued, it should have listed the ones that were most obvious.Gooch agreed with Broniec, as did Judge Zel Fischer, who is due to retire in 2033.Both Gooch and Broniec declined to comment for this story. They are prohibited from publicly commenting on court issues under the state’s judicial code of conduct.<h2>The 1940 ‘Missouri Plan’ to keep politics out of the Supreme Court</h2>Unlike many other states, Missouri does not directly elect members of its Supreme Court. And to some experts, that’s a good thing.The system of judge retention elections — rather than contested elections between two candidates —&nbsp;was created by an initiative petition in 1940 in response to an increasingly politicized court.“There was a very ugly Missouri Supreme Court race between a Boss (Tom) Pendergast candidate and somebody else,” said Wolff, who is also former dean of St. Louis University School of Law.Pendergast was a&nbsp;<a href="https://pendergastkc.org/articles/thomas-joseph-pendergast" target="_blank">political boss in the early 20th century</a>&nbsp;who controlled Kansas City Hall, the police department and even some statewide elections.“If you wanted to be a judge in Jackson County or even on the Supreme Court of Missouri,” Wolff said, “a person you needed to go see was Boss Tom. That didn’t necessarily mean that you were going to be the best judge.”But legal scholars at the time argued for a way to hold judges accountable when they misbehave or perform incompetently.That created the “Missouri Plan” that nine other states copied and that 10 more followed roughly.A judicial nominating commission —&nbsp;the chief justice, three members of the Missouri Bar Association and three nonlawyers picked by the governor —&nbsp;creates a list of potential nominees.The governor then picks a nominee from that list to serve on the Supreme Court for one year before facing a retention election.Judges who are retained face a retention election every 12 years until they retire at age 70.No campaign to kick out a Supreme Court judge in Missouri has ever been successful.Peverill Squire, a political science professor at the University of Missouri, said that although the governor has some say in who gets nominated, the nominating commission has successfully protected the court from partisan politics for the most part.Gov. Mike Parson “has not been particularly aggressive in that regard,” he said. “They do have to go through the judicial nominating commission that might take some of the edge off of the heavy partisanship.”<h2>Retention races can be a flashpoint for more partisan politics</h2>Piper posted a video to TikTok shortly after the initiative petition Supreme Court decision, calling on voters to not retain Gooch and Broniec. The video has garnered more than 13,000 likes and 1,600 shares. Since then, she said she has met with voters who told her they wrote down the judges’ names so they’d remember in November.“They’re really angry,” she said. “We didn’t just do the job, we killed it — 380,000 signatures when we only needed 180,000. It angers people across the political spectrum because you don’t have any right to take away my voice.”Even if voters toss out the judges, Parson’s probable successor, Republican governor candidate Mike Kehoe, likely would replace them with two conservatives.“He would appoint people in much the same manner that Parson did,” Piper said.A&nbsp;<a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia_Courts:_State_Partisanship" target="_blank">Ballotpedia study in 2020</a>&nbsp;found that only three judges had lost retention out of 155 elections across the country since 2008. The other 98% percent won their races.In nearby Iowa, voters&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2010/11/03/131032419/iowa-judges-ousted" target="_blank">removed two judges from the Supreme Court when they were up for retention in 2010</a>&nbsp;after the court unanimously overturned the state’s ban on same-sex marriage in 2009.A conservative Missouri group attempted to remove Supreme Court Judge Richard Teitelman in 2004. The campaign argued that Teitelman was opposed to the death penalty and in favor of abortion, and that he opposed the right to firearms.Missouri Supreme Court judges are prohibited under the code of judicial conduct from making any public statements on how they would rule on any given issue. If they do, they must recuse themselves from any case involving those issues.That backs judges into a corner in those targeted campaigns where they can’t effectively defend themselves against claims that they support or don’t support an issue.“It was a campaign generated by the (prospective) speaker of the House,” Wolff said of the 2004 retention campaign. “He was targeting some districts where they were trying to gin up the conservative voters. I don’t think they knew or cared who Judge Teitelman was, but they could get people to the polls.”<h2>About the Supreme Court judges on your ballot</h2><h2>Kelly Broniec</h2>Broniec was appointed to her position in 2023 by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to replace retiring Judge George Draper III. She is facing her first retention election as Supreme Court judge to serve for a 12-year term.Originally from Montgomery County, Broniec worked for a decade as a prosecuting attorney, then served for 17 years as a judge between the Montgomery County Circuit Court and the Eastern District Court of Appeals.The Missouri Judicial Performance Review Committee said that Broniec&nbsp;<a href="https://yourmissourijudges.org/judges/kelly-broniec-2024/" target="_blank">meets performance standards</a>.<h2>Ginger Gooch</h2>Gooch was appointed to the state Supreme Court judge in 2023 by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to replace retiring Judge Patricia Breckenridge. She is facing her first retention election as Supreme Court judge to serve for a 12-year term.Gooch served for one year as a judge on the Southern District Court of Appeals before her appointment to the Supreme Court. She was raised in Springfield and worked for 21 years as an attorney at Husch Blackwell LLP as general counsel for schools, hospitals and businesses. She has successfully&nbsp;<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201028005108mp_/https://www.huschblackwell.com/professionals/ginger-gooch#overview" target="_blank">defended employers against discrimination claims</a>.She has also worked as a Sunday school teacher and was involved with the parent-teacher association at her son’s schools.The Missouri Judicial Performance Review Committee said that Gooch&nbsp;<a href="https://yourmissourijudges.org/judges/ginger-gooch-2024/" target="_blank">meets performance standards</a>.This&nbsp;<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/stories/2024/10/10/missouri-supreme-court-retention-amendment-2/" target="_blank">article</a>&nbsp;first appeared on&nbsp;<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/" target="_blank">Beacon: Missouri</a>&nbsp;and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Abortion decision weighs heavily on Missouri Supreme Court judge retention races

(Radio Iowa) - Thirty Iowa cities have entered a state contest to win a large-scale public mural for their community. 

The design and painting will be done by Iowa Thomas Agran who has been commissioned by non-profits, cities and corporations to do over 50 murals in the past decade. 

Each city competing for a mural submitted a one-minute video to showcase the attributes of their town. Online voting to determine the three finalists ends tomorrow (Tuesday) at 5 p.m.

(Radio Iowa) - Thirty Iowa cities have entered a state contest to win a large-scale public mural for their community. The design and painting will be done by Iowa Thomas Agran who has been commissioned by non-profits, cities and corporations to do over 50 murals in the past decade. Each city competing for a mural submitted a one-minute video to showcase the attributes of their town. Online voting to determine the three finalists ends tomorrow (Tuesday) at 5 p.m.

30 Iowa cities vie for a large-scale mural installation

(Radio Iowa) - The South Korean author who won the 2024 Nobel Prize for Literature spent time in Iowa in 1998. 

Han Kang was a writer in residence at the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa. Christopher Merrill (MAIR-ull), program's director, says Kang started out as a poet and her novels show she has a musical understanding of what a sentence can do for a story. 

Six of Kang's novels have been translated into English. Kang is the third alum of the University of Iowa's International Writing Program to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

(Radio Iowa) - The South Korean author who won the 2024 Nobel Prize for Literature spent time in Iowa in 1998. Han Kang was a writer in residence at the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa. Christopher Merrill (MAIR-ull), program's director, says Kang started out as a poet and her novels show she has a musical understanding of what a sentence can do for a story. Six of Kang's novels have been translated into English. Kang is the third alum of the University of Iowa's International Writing Program to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Alum of University of Iowa program wins Nobel Prize

Lawyer questions company’s claim of a bird flu outbreak

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/clarkkauffman/">CLARK KAUFFMAN</a>&nbsp;

<h2>Lawyer questions company’s claim of a bird flu outbreak</h2>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/clarkkauffman/">CLARK KAUFFMAN</a>&nbsp;A group of Midwest egg suppliers are embroiled in litigation over egg prices, with an Iowa company arguing it shouldn’t be forced to disclose its pricing information.A central element of the case is whether a fabricated claim of a bird flu outbreak is to blame for one supplier raising its egg prices and canceling orders.Grand Prairie Foods of South Dakota, which supplies hotels and convenience stores with breakfast sandwiches, is suing Echo Lake Foods, a Wisconsin company that manufactures precooked egg entrees, for breach of contract and unjust enrichment.At the same time, a third company, Oskaloosa Food Products in Iowa, is attempting to quash a subpoena for company records related to its pricing.Court records indicate Grand Prairie has purchased egg patties and other products from Echo Lake since at least 2005. In early 2022, Echo Lake’s supplier of raw eggs experienced an outbreak of avian influenza, commonly known as the bird flu, resulting in the destruction of more than 6 million laying hens.Echo Lake then notified its customers, including Grand Prairie, that existing purchase orders for egg patties and other egg products would have to be revised to reflect increased pricing.According to Grand Prairie’s lawsuit, Echo Lake Foods then doubled the price of its egg patties, and while the nationwide market price of eggs eventually decreased, Echo Lake allegedly refused to reduce the price of its egg patties.Court exhibits show that on July 12, 2022, Grand Prairie’s president, Kurt Loudenback, e-mailed Echo Lake’s director of national sales, Justin Milbradt, writing, “Justin – I don’t understand why we continue to see these high prices,” noting that Grand Prairie could purchase eggs from other suppliers at a significantly lower price. “I’m sure you buy WAY more eggs than we do,” Loudenback added.The next day, Loudenback emailed Echo Lake again, proposing that his company sell tankers of whole eggs to Echo Lake for $1.28 per pound — significantly less than the $3.60 per pound Echo Lake was charging Grand Prairie for its finished egg products.“Just trying to get your eggs at (a) lower price to lower my cost,” Loudenback explained in his email. “$3.60 seems pretty high for a $1.28 input cost.”The two companies eventually agreed on an arrangement whereby Grand Prairie would sell two truckloads of raw eggs each week to Echo Lake. Court records show Echo Lake agreed to pay a “premium price,” $1.70 per pound, for the raw eggs from Grand Prairie. In return, the records show, Echo Lake would sell the finished, processed eggs back to Grand Prairie for $3.60 per pound — the same price Grand Prairie had previously objected to as being out of line with market prices.Within a few months, however, Grand Prairie told Echo Lake that an avian flu outbreak had affected its egg supplier, Oskaloosa Food Products, and so Grand Prairie would have to raise its prices. A few weeks later, Grand Prairie said it was unable to find a new supplier and wouldn’t be able to fulfill Echo Lake’s orders.Echo Lake then began acquiring eggs elsewhere — but at a higher price. In court documents, Echo Lake says Grand Prairie’s failure to deliver eggs at the promised price cost Echo Lake more than $1.1 million.Court exhibits show that in an effort to offset the added expense, Echo Lake withheld payments to Grand Prairie totaling $567,460. Grand Prairie then sued Echo Lake to recover the $567,460 it was owed, alleging breach of contract and unjust enrichment.Echo Lake countersued, claiming Grand Prairie had breached the contract.<h2>Was company’s bird-flu claim false?</h2>Recently filed court records show that attorneys for Echo Lake are questioning Grand Prairie’s stated rationale for its price hike and the eventual cancellation of orders — an avian flu outbreak that affected the Oskaloosa plant.In July, an Echo Lake attorney wrote to a lawyer for Oskaloosa Food Products, stating that while “Grand Prairie claims it had no choice other than to cancel the remaining purchase orders because of an outbreak of avian influenza among its suppliers, including Oskaloosa,” an independent investigation had concluded Oskaloosa reported no such outbreak at that time, despite legal requirements for such reporting.In addition, the lawyer wrote, the chief operating officer of the Oskaloosa plant had confirmed for Echo Lake that “Oskaloosa did not experience the Al outbreak described by Grand Prairie.”In late May, Echo Lake subpoenaed Oskaloosa Food Products to obtain access to the contract between Grand Prairie and the Oskaloosa company.Oskaloosa has since filed a motion to quash that subpoena, arguing the agreement includes trade secrets. Echo Lake has responded in court by arguing that the price of eggs is not a trade secret.That issue is now before a judge in the U.S. District Court for Southern Iowa, while the underlying lawsuit between Grand Prairie and Echo Lake continues to move forward in South Dakota federal court.Iowa Capital Dispatch, a States Newsroom affiliate,&nbsp;<a href="https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2024/10/11/egg-suppliers-battle-over-pricing-claims-of-bird-flu-outbreak/" target="_blank">produced this story</a>.

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