Feb. 27, 2024 5:45 pm, Updated: Feb. 28, 2024 8:52 am

DUBUQUE — Officials in one Eastern Iowa county are trying to track down $524,284 they believe was stolen when an employee transferred it in response to a fake email message that appeared to be from the city of Dyersville.


Dubuque County officials announced the money was missing Monday, according to the Telegraph Herald. The payment came under the federal American Rescue Plan Act and was supposed to be distributed by Dubuque County to Dyersville, Radio Iowa reported.

But the county auditor and sheriff learned the money was missing when Dyersville officials asked about the status of the transfer after the county had already made it.


Auditor Kevin Dragotto said in a statement that an internal review determined that the city of Dyersville’s email system had been compromised. Dragotto said county employees received a request for the money from an official Dyersville email address, and the payment was sent.

The auditor's office said officials now believe that invoice was “orchestrated by a third party.”

What do you believe the fundamental reasons for the start of WWII. Treaty of Versiaille? Reparations? Failure of Wilson to get get UN like world body. International tensions due to do the global economic depression? Isolationist in the 1920's and 1930s?

Ready, set, go.

not a bad day at the plate for the freshman

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It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

or do they support a dictatorship.

It seems like a great deal of Republican's side with Russia over Ukraine. Tucker Carlson just spent a week telling everyone how much better Russia was than America. It's just hard to fathom a world where Republicans are on the side of the communist.

A super PAC supporting independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said it has collected enough signatures for his name to appear on the ballots in Georgia and Arizona, two battleground states that will help determine who wins the presidency.

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The group, American Values 2024, said on its website as of Wednesday morning that it had collected 20,188 signatures in Georgia, well above the 7,500 required there, and an additional 62,605 signatures in Arizona, more than the 42,303 threshold in that state.

While Kennedy faces long odds in Georgia and Arizona, his presence on the ballot could affect which candidate carries the states in a matchup between President Biden and former president Donald Trump.

Arizona and Georgia played critical roles in Biden’s victory over Trump in 2020. Biden defeated Trump in Arizona by a little more than 10,000 votes and by nearly 12,000 votes in Georgia.


The PAC aligned with Kennedy has pledged it will spend $15 million to help him get on ballots across the country. The Democratic National Committee has accused Kennedy of violating federal election law with the effort. The DNC alleged in a complaint to the Federal Election Commission that the super PAC cannot take unlimited funds, independently collect signatures and then transmit them to the campaign.
Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, Kennedy’s campaign manager and daughter-in-law, said the allegations are “a nonissue being raised by a partisan political entity that seems to be increasingly concerned with its own candidate and viability.” She said the PAC has yet to submit signatures to the campaign.

An email sent to the PAC on Wednesday morning was not immediately returned.

Kennedy has said he is confident he would get his name on every state’s ballot, but he offered few details about how.


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“I’m not worried about ballot access,” Kennedy said in a speech to the California Libertarian convention Saturday. At the event, he said nearly 100,000 volunteers have been accumulating signatures.
Biden has struggled with low public approval ratings, and polls show him in tight matchups with Trump, the likely Republican nominee, in battleground states.
Kennedy, an environmental lawyer who has promoted a host of conspiracy theories, launched his presidential campaign in April, initially running in the Democratic contest.

In October, he announced that he would withdraw from the Democratic race and instead run as an independent, shunning the party closely associated with his family. His uncle was president, and his father was a senator and Democratic presidential candidate in the 1960s; both were assassinated.
The pro-Kennedy group also said on its website as of Wednesday morning that it had collected about 70 percent of the signatures needed to appear on the ballot in Michigan and about 60 percent of the signatures it needs in South Carolina.

Deplorable:
A group of parents of students with disabilities lack legal standing to challenge a state law prohibiting mask mandates at public schools, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday.
In a ruling written by Judge Ralph Erickson, the three-judge panel found that the parents did not show they had been or were likely to be injured by the state law. The ruling reversed a previous court injunction on the law and allowed it to take effect.

The ruling is the latest decision in a three-year court battle over a 2021 law signed by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds. The law prohibits schools, cities and counties from requiring masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reynolds applauded the ruling in a statement on Tuesday and defended the decision to ban school mask mandates.

​

“While children were the least vulnerable, they paid the highest price for COVID lockdowns and mandates, but Iowa was a different story,” she said. “Iowa was the first state to get students back in the classroom and we prohibited mask mandates in schools, trusting parents to decide what was best for their children. Elected leaders should always trust the people they serve, and I promise I would do it again.”

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said in a statement that the ruling was a win for parents' rights to make choices for their children.

“Freedom wins in today’s court ruling to uphold Iowa’s law banning mask mandates in schools," Bird said. "Parents have the right to choose what healthcare decisions are best for their kids."

The lawsuit was brought by the Arc of Iowa, an organization that works with people with disabilities. Doug Cunningham, the group’s executive director, said that the threat of COVID-19 has substantially subsided since the lawsuit was filed. Still, he said the decision to accommodate students’ health and safety should be left up to local school districts and area education agencies.

“The public schools of Iowa have a long history of educating those students, including people with disabilities,” he said. “And they really don’t need government to step in and tell them how to do that.”
Cunningham said he does not expect the organization will appeal the decision further.



Schools in Iowa have largely dropped mask mandates as the prevalence of COVID-19 has gone down. Cunningham said he was not aware of any students with disabilities in the state that currently were requesting a mask mandate as part of their accommodations.

Appeals court overturns district court decision​

In September 2021, the Arc of Iowa, along with 11 parents of students with disabilities, sued Reynolds and school districts, alleging the law infringed on the rights of students with disabilities.

The law was temporarily halted that month, when a district court judge ruled that students with pre-existing medical conditions face an increased risk of severe illness or death without the widespread use of masks in school to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

That injunction was partially overturned by an appeals court in 2022, but litigation was allowed to continue at the district court level. At the time, the appeals court noted that the circumstances around COVID-19 prevalence and vaccine availability had changed since the lawsuit was lodged.

District court Judge Robert Pratt ruled in November of 2022 that schools can impose mask mandates, in some cases, to comply with federal law.
But in its decision Tuesday, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals dissolved that order and sent instructions to the district court to dismiss the lawsuit.

Central to the lawsuit was the claim from parents that they or their children faced potential injuries from the prohibition on mask requirements.

Pointing to existing precedent, the appeals court said a person must suffer an injury that is traceable to the challenged law, and is likely to be redressed by a court decision. The court said the anticipated risk of contracting COVID-19 was too speculative to establish an injury.
“Here, because Plaintiffs have only alleged the potential risk of severe illness should they contract COVID-19 at school, the risk of harm is too speculative to satisfy the injury in fact element,” Erickson wrote.

Since January 2023, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) has been almost single-mindedly focused on uncovering and documenting nefarious actions by President Biden. His committee and his colleagues on other committees have deposed people in Biden’s family and their orbit, hoping to demonstrate that Biden had done … something that might convince House Republicans to impeach the president.


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On Tuesday, the Oversight Committee put forward its case, the product of those months of depositions and, really, efforts that extended back to before Republicans gained control of the House. The social media thread — dropped a day before Biden’s son Hunter appears on Capitol Hill to answer questions — has the aesthetics of a damaging case, with various claims presented and images of highlighted documents offered in support. It also had the desired effect: Elon Musk took a break from sharing right-wing memes to put it in front of his enormous follower base on X.
But neither the aesthetics nor the credulity with which the thread was received made it effective in its actual intent. Instead, it shows that after all of those months of effort, House Republicans still haven’t proved anything of significance.
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Let’s walk through each of the 19 posts in the thread to show why.

The thread​

1. “Biden Associate Devon Archer testified Joe Biden was ‘the brand’ that Hunter Biden sold around the world when his father was Vice President of the United States.”



The first words here are misleading. Devon Archer was a business partner of Hunter Biden, the president’s son, not of President Biden. Calling him a “Biden associate” is a manifestation of the Republicans’ consistent effort to refer to wrongdoing by the “Biden family” — guilt by association.
This argument manifests another common rhetorical trick the Republicans use: smearing Joe Biden with his son’s — and at other times, brother James’s — efforts to make money off the family name. It has been understood for years that the non-Joe Bidens were making deals based on their last names. If nothing else, the Republican probe has provided lots of examples of how that was demonstrated, the Archer testimony included.
What this post elides, though, is that Archer also confirmed that Hunter Biden had emailed him while they worked together to say the two of them should convince their partners that they’d gotten Joe Biden to act in certain ways even though they had no power to do so. (See p. 115.) In other words, Hunter Biden wanted to demonstrate to his business partners that his last name was worth the money, even though it wasn’t. Archer was also one of numerous witnesses to state under penalty of perjury that Joe Biden was explicitly not involved in their business efforts.


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2. “Selling ‘the brand’ has been lucrative for the Bidens. In our third bank records memo, our committee identified over $20 million in payments from foreign sources to the Biden family and their business associates that occurred during Joe Biden’s Vice Presidency.”
Lucrative for the Bidens — meaning Hunter and James. As The Washington Post Fact Checker tallied in August (before the impeachment inquiry began, mind you), members of the Biden family were paid less than $8 million of this total, with Hunter Biden getting the bulk of that money.
Not all of this money came while Biden was vice president, either. See, for example, the deal Hunter Biden made with a Chinese energy company.

not a big fan but other fast foods places run specials during certain hours so it’s not that different I guess

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That was tonight's attendance at the MBB vs PSU.

Non-good

Iowa track and field set three program records and earned five silver medals at last weekend's Big Ten Indoor Championships. The women's team finished 3rd with 73 points, while the men finished 6th with 58 points. Hawkeyes Paige Magee and Kalen Walker continued their incredible seasons with another program record each. Magee ran the 60m hurdles in 7.99, the first Hawkeye woman to break 8.00 in the event and Walker ran a 6.51 in the 60m that tied his school record. Sean Smith also had a massive 22.28m weight throw that set a new school record and earned him a silver medal.

Elsewhere, Iowa swimming and diving competed in the Big 10 Championships, where the underclassmen continued to climb Iowa's top-10 lists, Iowa women's golf set a pair of school records, Iowa softball split a weekend of games, and Iowa gymnastics and tennis were both back in action.

You can catch up on all things Iowa Olympic sports here.

"Clark’s jerseys and shirts bearing her name are flying off the (virtual) shelves at Fanatics, with the guard becoming the online retailer’s top-selling college athlete since it began selling collegiate athletic apparel in 2022"

Wow what a day! So, just to share a bit about myself, something that I haven't mentioned to the board, So, several months ago, I made an offer to my plant manager to give up my Dayshift Shift lead job and move to the 3-11 shift as a Senior Quality Lab Tech. The issues we were having was we were bleeding scrap dollars because of a serious lack of experience on that shift and had no way to offer support. The change was finally made the first of this month. So with this change, my normal work hours will be 3PM to 11PM. However, there was a need for a bit of training, so I'm working a split shift, going in at noon and working until I feel comfortable that I'm not needed.

So imagine my surprise to come home and find that I'm the subject of a 5 page attack in a locked thread. WTF @kwik44 ? Locked but not deleted? I can't respond? @Scruddy is allowed to call me Retarded and still is a poster? @Phenomenally Frantastic is allowed to totally misrepresent my journey as the parent of a Trans child? I can assure you neither would stand face to face with me and say that.

So, for those who stood up and defended me, and for those who called the trash out, thank you! Some of you even have a different position than I do, and still called the trash out. That says a lot about you!


For those of you that have never heard of our journey and the trials of being a parent, I've been as open as I could be, we have always taken a slow and informed approach to every treatment. My child, assigned Female at birth went through some serious struggles at the onset of puberty, Went through several years of therapy, many visits with medical professionals treated the anxiety, depression, and insomnia for years before even approaching the Gender Dysphoria. I've had conversations with them that I never thought I would have with a child. But contrary to what the trash would have you believe, my child is 19, a Freshman in College, made the Presidents list for their first semester, and also is a fully intact biological female, tits and all. They are on hormones which has helped the tremendously. As a surprise baby, they have been the most challenging, most rewarding pain in my ass I could have imagined. If I had the power to change them, I would not change one thing.

Now as some of you remember, I have 6 kids n total, My oldest is going through a divorce right now, it been a challenge. We are in contact multiple time a day most days. He hurts, but we'll work through this as a family. My Number 3 son just got a nice promotion and raise, as to be expected, his car kinda crapped out at 225,000 miles, he'll come up with car, but the timing could be better. My number 4 son, like my youngest deals with depression. Hs is seasonal, and the winters are brutal for him. He also owns a moving company in Omaha and the housing market has tanked and the business is pretty bad right now. He has lad the crew off and is running freight to keep the business afloat. The problem he has had is with the emissions on his truck. For him, it can seem like the universe is against him and the things that should be simple become impossible. Again, we are in contact daily, but it really sucks to be 4 hours away from a child who need you.

So if any of you would like to take a shot at me as a parent, at any of my 5 straight, cisgender kids, or my non-binary child, please try to do it when I could respond in the morning, or try not to be such an ass that I can respond late at night.


And just to piss off the rest of you who haven't figured out that the Red in Gimmered is for the Huskers and to provide you with a real reason to hate me.


GBR!!!!!

I always look at Iowa’s online pdf game notes, which are very complete and professional. They are basically a $5 program you would get at the in person game.

Then I look at our opponent’s game notes to gauge their spin on the game and which players to keep an eye on. There is a marked difference favoring Iowa’s high quality notes. Part of it is that Iowa creates a pdf instead of just the info on a webpage.

Iowa track and field set three program records and earned five silver medals at last weekend's Big Ten Indoor Championships. The women's team finished 3rd with 73 points, while the men finished 6th with 58 points. Hawkeyes Paige Magee and Kalen Walker continued their incredible seasons with another program record each. Magee ran the 60m hurdles in 7.99, the first Hawkeye woman to break 8.00 in the event and Walker ran a 6.51 in the 60m that tied his school record. Sean Smith also had a massive 22.28m weight throw that set a new school record and earned him a silver medal.

Elsewhere, Iowa swimming and diving competed in the Big 10 Championships, where the underclassmen continued to climb Iowa's top-10 lists, Iowa women's golf set a pair of school records, Iowa softball split a weekend of games, and Iowa gymnastics and tennis were both back in action.

You can catch up on all things Iowa Olympic sports here.

So I know a good number of you are Trump fans and pretty much believe everything he tells you. When he said that the stock market was going to crash if Biden was elected, how many followers took money out of the market after the election, and if you are one, aren't you the least bit angry given all the money you've had sidelined because of this lie while the market has surged?

Presidents deserve a lot less credit and blame than most realize so when Trump continuously took credit for the market, and told everyone the market would crash should Biden get elected, wise people on both sides knew it was just another scare tactic which he's really good at using to his benefit.

He went on and on how good it's been for the average Joe's 401k and IRA. So now that the markets are at record highs under Biden he's telling his populist followers that all it's done is make the rich richer. In some cases he's right. The wealthiest among us tend to be more educated and have smart people around them who know the difference between politics and market fundamentals. His less wealthy followers on the other hand got screwed by him. They're still waiting for the crash that hasn't come. He doesn't care. He never has. He never will. Trump is for Trump. Always has been. Always will be.

To me that sounds like he's ready to give it a run at B10s.

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

Anyone have a rec for a dealer/manufacturer/brand in the Des Moines area? There is a massive range in pricing, and I am not sure it is necessarily correlated to quality. We are redoing the basement and want to get one down there, probably a 14 footer. TIA.

UPS laying off more than 200 workers at New Stanton facility.​

NEW STANTON, Pa. (KDKA) -- More than 200 workers will soon be out of a job when UPS closes day sorting operations at its New Stanton facility in just under two months.

Kim Busch is processing the news that the job she's had for nearly 24 years at UPS in New Stanton is now in jeopardy.

"It's devastating," Busch said.

Most recently, she's been working part-time as a revenue recovery auditor four to five hours a day. However, she said those hours are already dwindling. She described what happened this past Monday.

"They really stopped our belt at three hours, so they have to pay us for that three and a half," Busch said.

She and her colleagues got the official word a few days earlier, last Friday, that the shipping provider would be shutting down its day shift on April 15. While Busch may get a few hours one day a week for the time being, she said others were already let go.

"Some of them were told last Friday, 'you're not working at all next week,'" Busch said.

According to the notification letter from the company, they'll be laying off 206 employees, specifically 167 part-time hourly workers, one full-time hourly worker, 31 part-time management employees and seven full-time management employees.

The letter said affected workers will be offered positions at other facilities if they become availablle.

KDKA-TV reached out to UPS for comment. A spokesperson said in a statement, "Our employees are extremely important to us, and we understand the impact this may have on their families. We will work with those who may be impacted throughout the process to provide support."

Busch said she and others with the Teamsters Local 30 union met Wednesday to figure out their next steps.

"Some people, if they don't have enough seniority, they're not going to have a job, and some of us will be able to move on to the other shifts," Busch said.

Busch looked forward to retiring after 25 years there. She just hopes she still gets to do that.

"It's sad, you know, it's your livelihood," Busch said.

Busch said she doesn't believe Amazon moving up the hillside had anything to do with the decision and said they lost a lot of volume years before it moved in. She said some of that volume has shifted to automated buildings, but she feels they can only do so much.

"When the volume does pick up, they can't do anymore, and that's where we would come into play," Busch said.

I’m going to be putting in some windshield time out of state the next couple weeks. Is there a way to listen to the basketball game radio broadcasts for free?

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Seems Transnistra has asked Russia for "protection" which may indicate a deeper Russian push into Eastern Europe. Is this an actual escalation in the global conflict or is it more geo-political posturing between Russia and NATO/Ukraine? Moldova is an ally but not a member nation to nato so there would still be no "duty" for nato to put boots on the ground if this escalates.

California is facing a budget crisis with a projected record deficit of $73 billion, as reported by the Legislative Analyst’s Office.

The deficit increase is attributed to a $24 billion revenue erosion, leading to a $15 billion rise in the budget problem.

“The actual increase in the state’s budget problem will depend on a number of factors, including formula-driven spending changes, most notably Proposition 98 spending requirements for schools and community colleges,” the report read.

The state’s population has been declining, with many residents leaving for states like Texas, Arizona, Florida, and Washington.

Has anyone ever seen a Bull go this insane? He was getting massive air. Holy crap!

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But at least some good fundraising was done, right?