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Gazette Daily News Podcast, May 26
It looks like another cloudy and wet day on Thursday, but there should be some extended breaks from rain during the day. In fact, according to the National Weather Service the highest possibility for more rain looks to be between 2 and 6 p.m. For most of the day it will be cloudy with a high of 67 degrees. Thursday night should be mostly cloudy with low around 53 degrees.
IOWA DNR/Courtesy photo The return of seasonal cold weather is getting deer more active just in time for the shotgun deer seasons. Hunters wanting to extend their deer hunting can purchase a license for the January 11-27, 2019 antlerless season in Allamakee, Clayton, Wayne and Appanoose counties. Licenses are available until the season ends, or the quotas fill, whichever comes first.
In the wake of a Texas school shooting that has claimed at least 21 lives, Iowa’s U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley is calling for expanding the Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center with a greater focus on school violence prevention.
Grassley made his remarks in response to an 18-year-old gunman barricading himself in an Uvalde, Texas, classroom and killing at least 19 children and two teachers.
The Secret Service conducts threat assessments in other areas, Grassley said, and his Eagles Act would expand its role to include school violence prevention. The bill is named for the mascot at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., the site of another mass shooting in February 2018.
The bill would establish a national program on school violence prevention that will include expanded research. It also would allow the Secret Service to equip communities and schools with training and best practices on recognizing and preventing school violence.
Deer hunters in Iowa would be able to use semi-automatic rifles during a newly created antlerless season in January under a bill approved by lawmakers Tuesday and sent to the governor.
The measure given final approval by the House is designed to help control the deer population and respond to complaints that Iowa has too many deer that eat corn and are hazardous to motorists.
Deer hunting with AR-15 rifles is allowed in other states. Many states have restrictions for when they can be used and regulate the type of ammunition allowed.
The state education budget lawmakers finalized early Wednesday includes a fraction of the $22.1 million increase Iowa’s three public universities sought for the upcoming budget year.
The education appropriations bill offers a $6.2 million increase for the Board of Regents, just a bit over one fourth of the increase they were looking for.
The continuing decline in increased funding from the state is another challenge universities face as enrollment declines and campuses have yet to fully recover from the downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
