Mt. Pleasant News

CEDAR RAPIDS ? Community leaders, NAACP representatives and local law enforcement hope to sign an agreement that would begin a mediation process on racial tensions and policing policies in the next few months.In another meeting Thursday, discussion centered on transparency in community policing and racial profiling policies for law enforcement.Attendees included Linn County Supervisor Stacey Walker and represent...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republican Senator Marco Rubio on Friday repeated his concerns that an expansion of child tax credit in a tax bill his party's leaders hope to pass next week is too little to win his support, keeping a cloud over prospects for the legislation's passage.Rubio noted that the pending legislation, which is still being finalized, would double the child tax credit to $2,000, but said that ...

Iowans threw away an estimated 556,000 tons of food in 2017, with the share of food in the waste stream up 50 percent since 2011, according to a new statewide waste characterization study from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.Food waste ? including spoiled sour cream, tainted takeout or past-its-prime produce ? accounted for 20 percent of the landfilled materials in the 2017 Iowa Statewide Waste Character...

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Henry County will host a Private Pesticide Continuing Instruction Course (CIC) on Thursday, Jan. 18, at 9:30 a.m. The course is set to take place at the First United Methodist Church, one block north of the extension office.Preregistration is required. To register contact Traci Vantiger at 319-385-8126 or traciv@iastate.edu before Thursday, Jan. 18. There is a fee for ...

The Federal Communications Commission's repeal of net neutrality rules is being met with a mix of approval from local internet providers and concern from at least one former FCC member.Officials with Mediacom and ImOn Communications said the repeal of net neutrality rules ? originally adopted in 2015 to ban the blocking or slowing of web content by internet service providers ? will not have a negative impact on ...

CHICAGO - Missouri has issued its first fines over the misuse of a farm chemical in 2016 that went on to be linked in different formulations to widespread U.S. crop damage this year, the state said on Thursday.Authorities fined eight people a total of $145,125 for improperly spraying the chemical known as dicamba, used to kill weeds, in what Missouri called ?the first wave of civil penalties issued to applicators...

JERUSALEM - Less than an hour after U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Palestinians protested by turning off the lights on the Christmas tree outside Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus.It was a timely reminder that while headlines focused on Islamist calls for uprisings and Trump's references to Jewish historical ties, the president's words ...

Traditional depression treatments like psychotherapy or medication might work better for some patients when doctors add a dose of music therapy, a research review suggests.Researchers examined data on 421 people who participated in nine previously completed short-term experiments testing the benefits of music therapy on its own or added to traditional interventions for depression.Overall, the analysis found ...

CHICAGO ? As many as 646,000 people are dying globally from seasonal influenza each year, U.S. health officials said on Wednesday, a rise from earlier assessments of the disease's death toll.Global death rates from seasonal influenza are likely between 291,000 and 646,000 people each year, depending on the severity of the circulating flu strain, they said.That is up from a prior estimate range of 250,000 to ...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis has said the Roman Catholic Church should adopt a better translation of the phrase ?lead us not into temptation? in the ?Our Father?, the best known prayer in Christianity.?That is not a good translation,? the pope said in a television interview on Wednesday night.Francis said the Catholic Church in France had decided to use the phrase ?do not let us fall into temptation? ...

Sunrise Terrace opened the Get Well Go Home therapy area and living area to employees and community volunteers who came to give blood on Wednesday, Nov. 29.Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center employees arrived after lunch and drew 11 units of lifesaving blood. The volunteers who took the time to give will ultimately share in helping save over 44 lives. Since the blood is primarily used locally, these good ...

LONDON (Reuters) ? At least half the world's population is unable to access essential health services and many others are forced into extreme poverty by having to pay for healthcare they cannot afford, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.Some 800 million people worldwide spend at least 10 percent of their household income on healthcare for themselves or a sick child, and as many as 100 million of ...