Monday Morning Read: Police diversity, wind energy, Solon wins

Diversifying the force: The Gazette's Lee Hermiston looked into the total number of officers amongst the nine law enforcement agencies in the Corridor, and found that only 16 of the 645 officers were black. Each department has made efforts to diversify their force, but some law enforcement officials say that there are hurdles to overcome. 'We're having a hard time getting candidates as a whole and have for quite some time,' said Linn County Sheriff Brian Gardner. 'What's made it a little more difficult is law enforcement has not been portrayed the best of late, either in the media or in the public's eyes due to some high-profile events that have occurred. People are having second thoughts.' Read the full story here.

Separate systems: Differences in how boys' and girls' high school championships are broadcast is the most obvious among the reasons, some school administrators say, that Iowans should be asking why their state is the only one in the nation with separate groups governing the two genders — despite the cost of paying two sets of executives, financial deficits on the boys' side and disparities between the two groups. Read the full analysis and story here.

Harnessing the wind: As parts of Iowa and the rest of the country become increasingly covered in new wind turbines, there needs to be people available to service them. As a result, there has been an increased demand for wind turbine technicians in Iowa.'We are getting a lot more interest. A part of that, I'd like to think, is the strength of our program, but part of it is more national visibility of the career field and the job prospects,' said Tim Arnold, , Kirkwood's instructor of Energy Production and Distribution Technologies. Hear more from Tim and others about the growth in wind energy jobs here.

Super Solon: The 2A state wrestling championship is heading to Solon, IA. Solon edged New Hampton, 96 1/2-96, tying the closest team race — excluding ties — since Dallas Center-Grimes topped North Tama by a half-point for the Class 1A title in 1984. All eight qualifiers scored at least two points in what Coach Blake Williams called a 'total team effort.' They tallied 23 1/2 bonus points overall. Read more about Solon's triumphant effort here.

Quotable: The bill 'was rushed, despite what anyone says here today,' said Democratic Sen. Liz Mathis of Cedar Rapids. 'It was absolutely rushed through.' Read Sen. Mathis and other's reactions to the collective bargaining bill here.