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SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

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The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

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Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Special Olympics Iowa Summer Games Celebrate "Spirit of Inclusion"

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Friday, May 20, 2016   

AMES, Iowa - More than 2,600 athletes - plus their friends, families and thousands of spectators - are converging in Ames this weekend for the Special Olympics' Iowa Summer Games. The opening-ceremony crowd Thursday night filled Hilton Coliseum.

While the competitions are a main focus of the weekend, said Special Olympics Iowa chief executive Gary Harms, something else just as important is experienced by everyone as the athletes first enter the stadium.

"In the high-five line and the fist-bump line you see smiles, you see joy," he said. "You see the simplicity that is that which is involvement in Special Olympics Iowa."

Athletes competing in cycling, soccer, tennis, aquatics and track-and-field events this weekend are expected to draw sizable crowds at the games, which are free to the public. However, Harms said, a more recently added competition has really taken off.

"Bocce is a sport that has just become explosive in the Special Olympics world," he said. "Matter of fact, we've expanded it to two days."

Besides the athletes gaining valuable experience by competing, Harms said, everyone in Iowa can learn something from the Summer Games.

"The spirit of inclusion is alive and well in the state of Iowa," he said. "It needs to continue to grow. We have to educate and create awareness - but inclusion is what our athletes desire."

Harms said it's helpful to see beyond the athletes' so-called disabilities.

"Our friends with different abilities, just like you and I have different abilities, that's really all our friends who are defied as 'individuals with intellectual disabilities' have," he said. "You know, for example, we have people that will be swimming tomorrow. I swim like a rock."

The Special Olympics Iowa Summer Games continue today and Saturday in Ames.

More information is online at Special Olympics Iowa's website, soiowa.org.


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