Bleeding Heartland bleedingheartland.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bleedingheartland.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Laura Belin has been called “probably the hardest-working and perhaps the best political reporter in the state” and “one of the best investigative reporters in the state.”
The Fix at the Washington Post named Belin as one of Iowa’s outstanding political reporters in 2020.
Laura Belin says she enjoys being KHOI’s state capitol correspondent to keep an eye on the state government for KHOI’s listeners. According to Belin, There’s always more than one story and sometimes the most important developments go unnoticed at the onset. While mainstream media usually only can make time for the big story of the day, the half-hour format of KHOI’s
Des Moines Register
Gov. Kim Reynolds said Tuesday she will make no apologies for how her administration handled the deployment of coronavirus testing strike teams last year despite reports showing the state arranged testing at businesses associated with some of her top donors.
Reynolds said any criticism of preferential treatment is unjustified. She said the state had targeted long-term care facilities and segments of the food supply chain and didn t turn away any of the companies that requested aid. If you called and wanted to try to facilitate a way to get your employees tested so that you could ensure them that they were working in a safe environment that s what companies were doing, she said during a Wednesday news conference. We were doing everything that we could to facilitate that, and I will make no apologies for doing that.
By Jason Taylor
COVID-19 test
DES MOINES, Iowa - State Auditor Rob Sand is confirming his office is looking into reports that Governor Kim Reynolds provided special COVID-19 testing to a campaign donor.
Sand says emails show a company owned by a major Reynolds donor received onsite COVID-19 testing while the counties health department saw its request for greater needs ignored.
The company s been identified as a machine parts manufacturer in Waverly -GMT Corporation.
Sand said the emails show the need for an investigation, although he s not sure what his audit will uncover.
Sand said the emails were of public record, and showed the Iowa State government deployed COVID-19 testing strike teams at the request of the company.
Story County Community Foundation
A vehicle for charitable giving designed to benefit the needs of Story County.
Funding for cultural projects at KHOI comes from a generous donation from Ames Commission on the Arts.
Books, Butterflies, Christmas Season
Cari McPartland, site administrator of the
Salvation Army of Ames and Story County, told about the work of the Salvation Army as it centers around the 2020 holidays, from red kettles to food boxes and a Toy Store at the North Grand Mall, where people can find practical help and donated toys and books for their children. The books are donated through
Raising Readers in Story County, an extensive program throughout the county linking children 0 to 8 years old with volunteers who provide both readers and virtual experiences to develop pre-literacy.