IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – Protests in support of Palestine are unfolding at a number of college campuses across the country.

Sunday, people gathered in Iowa City to protest an event hosting House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has condemned the student protests calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Health officials have reported tens of thousands dead in the Gaza Strip, following the October 7th Hamas attack which killed hundreds of Israelis.

The protestors in Iowa City on Sunday said they wanted the U.S. to have no part in any deaths.

“We want our President and our Congress to take concrete steps to stop sending weapons to Israel,” said Newman Abuissa, one of the protestors.

Abuissa said he does not support violence or Hamas.

“We condemn Hamas’ killing of civilians,” he said.

Spencer Morton, another protestor, said he was there to “protest Speaker Mike Johnson, who has categorized these crowds as anti-Semitic and disruptive.”

Johnson made those remarks Wednesday as he called for the resignation of the President of Columbia University, the site of a major Free Palestine protest.

“This is threats and intimidation of violence against Jewish students for who they are,” he said.

Johnson oversaw the passage of a foreign aid package in the House, which was signed by President Biden last week. The bill provides a total of $26 billion for Israel, which does include funding for humanitarian relief in the Gaza Strip.

Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who spoke with Johnson at an event in Iowa City Sunday, said it was imperative to continue to support America’s ally, Israel.

“Hamas is a proxy for Iran,” she said. “When America is weak, and we allow a vacuum to exist, we see foreign aggression.”

TV9 asked if she believed the U.S. should support Israel no matter what.

“I am saying that we will continue to push Israel to make sure that they limit any harm to civilians,” said Miller-Meeks. “The IDF is doing all that they can, but even our troops, even American troops, even the United States—when you’re doing urban warfare, it is extraordinarily difficult.”

Like Johnson, Miller-Meeks also voiced opposition to the pro-Palestinian protests.

She said she believed the protestors “don’t even know what the words they espouse mean. It’s one thing to protest, to exercise your right to free speech in support. It’s another thing to espouse hatred and killing of Jews.”

These protestors said killing was the very thing they were fighting against.

“It’s important to support life,” said Morton.

Copyright 2024 KCRG. All rights reserved.

WILLIAMSBURG, Iowa (KCRG) – Saturday, an Iowa man was awarded the Order of the Gray Dragon, recognizing his work in a Navy Nuclear Weapons Program.

Navy veteran Robert Mowry was given the award by the Navy Nuclear Weapons Association in a ceremony in Williamsburg Saturday.

The recognition belongs to one person at a time, the member of the Nuclear Weapons Program with the earliest entry date. With the passing of the previous Dragon, that honor now belongs to Mowry.

“I went into Special Weapons Unit 1233 in January 1953 from boot camp. Had no idea what a special weapons was. Gun that shoots around the corner? What? Had no idea—I had no idea it meant atomic weapons,” said Mowry.

Mowry’s job was to inspect the atomic bombs.

“I did this five days a week for two-and-a-half years,” he said.

He was never able to tell anyone about his service until 1996 with the repeal of the Nuclear Radiation and Secrecy Agreements Act.

“All he said was, ‘I served in the Navy,’” said Mowry’s daughter Angie Daugherty. “It was a big deal to him to be able to finally talk about what he did.”

Kris Hobbs, the president of the Navy Nuclear Weapons Association, said those who worked on nuclear weapons are a dying breed.

“There’s a lot of stuff that’s going on here that they’ve received… radiation exposure and so forth—that the VA is not recognizing it a lot. So it’s good for us to recognize the oldest one here,” said Hobbs.

Mowry watched 17 atomic bombs explode in the Marshall Islands.

“You heard the sound wave come across….watch the mushroom cloud rise and disperse and see if it was going to flow over you or not,” said Mowry.

“Back in the day, they didn’t know anything about radiation,” said Daugherty. “It’s amazing that he’s even still here.”

Mowry is still here, grateful that so many friends and family came to celebrate his service.

“What I did was very unusual. There aren’t many people that did what I did…I’m very proud, very proud of my service,” said Mowry.

Copyright 2024 KCRG. All rights reserved.

As expected, Jordan Wicks is hitting the injured list with the always-dreaded left forearm strain. But he’s not the only Cubs lefty on his way out the door this Sunday afternoon. Sahadev Sharma has the scoop on the three other transactions before the series finale in Boston.

We learned that Wicks was scratched from this evening’s finale last night after the blow out, and I discussed our significant concern and potential impact twice already.

In addition to Wicks, Luke Little is headed back to Triple-A Iowa. Not only did Little throw 34 pitches yesterday, but he’s been struggling with his command and effectiveness, well … all season. You can tell the Cubs really want to make it work with Little (and maybe it will long term, the talent is obviously there). But if they need fresh arms, he’s an easy pick to option down to Iowa at his current level of production.

Daniel Palencia should be a familiar arm for you. Like Little, he has a ton of potential and a live arm, but he has also struggled with his command and overall production.

They’re just two really talented, but flawed (and optionable) arms. They’ll probably be shuttled up and down all season long.

Richard Lovelady (80-grade name) is the new name here. The Cubs signed the 28-year-old lefty reliever (and reclamation project) over the offseason. And so far, he’s been pitching out of the Triple-A bullpen with pretty outrageous statistics.

On the one hand, Lovelady has struck out a brilliant 20 batters (33.3%) while walking only one (3.3 BB%) over ten appearances. That is obviously really impressive. But it’s only half the story. Because Lovelady has also allowed 8 runs to score over those 12.1 IP, while opposing batters are hitting .373 off the lefty.

That’s how you end up with a 0.76 FIP and a 5.84 ERA.

Lovelady wasn’t on the 40-man roster, but with a couple guys on the 60-day IL (Julian Merryweather, Caleb Killian) and the Garrett Cooper trade completed, the Cubs had an extra spot to add him.

Loveladly, you’ll note, is not a starter. And neither is Palencia. So that means the Cubs rotation right now looks like this: Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon, Javier Assad, Hayden Wesneski, and Ben Brown. Justin Steele should be back soon.

Meanwhile, the bullpen looks like this (alphabetical): Yency Almonte, Adbert Alzolay, Colten Brewer, Mark Leiter Jr., Richard Lovelady, Hector Neris, Daniel Palencia, Keegan Thompson.