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Also in the Capitol Notebook: Iowa’s default speed limit would increase under Senate bill

Iowa House Republicans continued their efforts to reform higher education policies in the state by passing a series of bills Tuesday aiming to — among other things — further curtail diversity, equity and inclusion programming across not only Iowa’s public universities but its private campuses as well.

During a rally in the Iowa Capitol rotunda, landowners and pipeline opponents urged the Legislature to follow in the footsteps of South Dakota, where Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden recently signed a law banning the use of eminent domain in that state to gain easements for carbon dioxide pipelines.

Cellphones should not be allowed in students’ hands during class or in drivers’ hands while on the road, Iowa state lawmakers decreed Tuesday as they moved the proposals closer to becoming state law.

A Cedar Rapids woman was arrested last week on charges that she stole more than $11,000 from her aunt while operating as her aunt’s financial power of attorney.

The former chief executive officer of a Vinton hospital -- who worked there only a month last year before being indicted on federal charges for defrauding another former employer of over $3.2 million -- was sentenced last week to over three years in prison.

Author Marjorie Medary graduated from Cornell College in Mount Vernon in 1912.

Also, Senate Republicans once again approved bills banning citizen police review boards and adding a gubernatorial nominee to district judicial nominating commissions