May 13: Center for Sustainable Agriculture defunded

Then-governor Branstad used his veto power to cancel the closure of the center, but redirected the funding to the Iowa Nutrient Resource Center. The Center is in its 30th year, and previously distributed grants to all fields of agricultural research.

“What the Leopold Center was for 30 years is done,” director of the center Mark Rasmussen said. “The 10 percent of our budget we have left won’t cover much … The foundation earnings are a little over 200,000 [dollars] a year.”

May 17: Reiman Gardens unveils sea creatures

Far from any ocean, Reiman Gardens has a new exhibit – and it’s definitely not trashy. The 10, larger-than-life sea creature sculptures made from trash will run April 29 – October 31 in Reiman Gardens. Reiman Gardens is the first public garden to display the sculptures.

May 20: Black Cultural Center renamed

Dr. George A. Jackson came to Iowa State University in 1978. He renamed the existing Minority Student Office to the Office of Minority Student Affairs, and from there created a legacy. He developed programs to help minority students acclimate to the predominantly white university, and created the Multicultural Liaison Officer program, where each college has someone devoted to retention and acclimation of minority students.

Administrators and students of the past and present had a reunion in the Black Cultural Center to rename it in honor of Jackson.

May 23: Ames Council covers fireworks, community center

The Ames City Council kept ordinances prohibiting fireworks, although State Legislature made it legal in the state to sell fireworks. The Council decided to wait until fireworks had been legal a year in Iowa to consider making them legal within city limits.

“Selling, purchasing, and possessing fireworks will be legal in the city…just not setting them off,” council member Bronwyn Beatty-Hansen said.

The city has plans for a community center with healthy-living emphasis.

The center would make the life-long goal of healthy living accessible and enjoyable to people of all ages and socio-economic status. The center could include recreational and competitive water facilities, such as a lazy river, slides and lap pools, along with a therapeutic rehabilitation pool and separate cold water competitive-length pool.

There is also the potential for a multi-tier indoor playground, classroom space for nutrition or healthy eating lessons, weight room area, child activity room, fitness gyms and aerobics rooms, gymnastics and tumbling tots, walking tracks and a lobby café.

May 24: Here come the Wonder Women

Iowa got it’s first female governor. She and Iowa’s first female senator were added to the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame.

Governor Kim Reynolds became Iowa’s first female governor following Terry Branstad’s resignation to become ambassador to China in May.

“It’s certainly a historic moment, especially given that a mere three years ago Iowa was one of only three states to have never elected a woman to the US Congress,” said Kelly Winfrey, coordinator in research and outreach for the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women & Politics. “Now we have both our first female senator and governor serving.”

Historically, women have been underrepresented in leadership positions. In 2017, women make up 23% of the Iowa legislature, 29% of State Executive positions, 50% of the U.S. Senate and 0% of the U.S. House of Representatives, according to the Iowa Commission on the Status of Women, who inducts four women each year into the Hall of Fame.

Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) was elected in 2014 and sworn into her position in 2015. Ernst was Iowa’s first new Senator in almost thirty years and the first woman to be elected to Congress from Iowa. She is halfway through her six-year term.

Ernst may be most recognizable to Iowans for her support of fellow veterans and her summer barbecue Roast and Ride, which took place the first weekend of June. She was the first female U.S. combat veteran in the U.S. Senate and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Iowa Army National Guard.