A flyover from this weeks top heartland stories including:Missouri’s new presidential primary; Iowa’s massive fertilizer spill; Hawley signals some break with Trump on Jan 6th; Missouri town paying big for open record violation; Texas immigration law seesaw; Sustainability in St. Louis; Turns out, young white republicans at turning point events MIGHT be a bit racistSOURCES - river front times, missouri independent, missouri democrats.org, nbc news, newsweek, and WOWT Ohama channel 6 newsMissouri democratic primary TOMORROW - March 23Details: https://www.missouridemocrats.org/mdp-primary-information-2024Back to the poopy water in Iowahttps://www.wowt.com/2024/03/19/experts-detail-environmental-impact-fertilizer-spill-southwest-iowa/Experts detail environmental impact of fertilizer spill in southwest IowaDNR experts are still examining the environmental impacts of a massive 1,500-ton liquid nitrogen fertilizer spill near Red Oak, Iowa caused by a New Cooperative valve that was left open last Monday.They know liquid nitrogen fertilizer traveled along the East Nishnabotna River in Iowa for 50 miles down to the state of Missouri where it’s estimated to have traveled at least another 10 miles.“(It’s) probably the longest fishkill that we’ve experienced in this area,” said Brent Marten, an environmental specialist for the Iowa DNR.As the fertilizer plume swept through the water, the home of aquatic wildlife soon became their grave. Native species of varying sizes were found dead ashore and floating in the water.“Just acute toxicity basically burned tissue on the outside and if they ingested it, on the inside of the fish,” said Lorenzen.Water testing showed that where the spill happened, nitrogen levels were at least 60 times higher than they should’ve been.Josh Hawley (drop) says Trump Shouldn’t Issue Blanket Pardon for Jan 6thhttps://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article286871930.htmlIn a rare showing of a possible spine in the face of Trump’s crazy, Missouri’s soon to be one term senator Joshua “Yes these are my boots” Hawley breaks with Trump and suggests that CRIMINALS WHO ATTACKED THE GOVERNMENT might be best to be left as criminals, real novel takeMissouri Town who abused open records law drops appeal of penaltyhttps://missouriindependent.com/2024/03/15/phelps-county-town-drops-appeal-of-80000-missouri-sunshine-law-judgment/Rebecca Varney sued after Edgar Springs banned her from visiting city hall to see records or attend town board meetingsEdgar Springs, a town of 200 in southern Phelps County, must now pay Rebecca Varney $750, plus almost $80,000 in attorney fees, to satisfy a November court decision that found it violated Varney’s First Amendment rights and the Missouri Sunshine Law.Circuit Judge John Beger ruled that the city’s violations began in 2018 when it barred Varney from entering city hall to view records open to the public under the Sunshine Law. The initial order allowed her to attend meetings of the town’s Board of Aldermen but was expanded in 2019 to bar her from entering city hall at any time after she questioned whether a gathering that included several town officials was an unposted meeting.“Our rights are worth it,” Varney said. “It’s been hard but I go to city council meetings, I get to sit down just like everybody else. And they have to treat everybody that way.”In her lawsuit, Varney asked for only nominal damages in addition to legal vindication. Berger’s ruling gave Varney $100 for the constitutional violation, $650 for the Sunshine Law violation and $78,966 for litigation costs and attorney fees. Interest is accruing at the rate of 9% per year.“This was not a close case,” said Dave Roland, the attorney who represented Varney. “They should have seen from the very outset, it was going to be a loser and they were going to be on the hook for both their attorneys fees and ours.”Roland runs the Freedom Center of Missouri, providing pro bono Sunshine Law legal services for people unable to affor