CEDAR RAPIDS —— Encouraged at a meeting last month in Maquoketa to hold constituent town halls in larger communities, U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst will do just that Friday in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines.

The freshman Republican is scheduled to hold a town hall at noon today (3/17) in the Sinclair Auditorium at Coe College, 1220 First Ave. NE.

Later, she plans a town hall at 5 p.m. at the Sheslow Auditorium at Drake University in Des Moines.

The meetings, which are part of Ernst’s annual 99-county tour, are open to the public.

Ernst billed her Feb. 21 Maquoketa meeting as a veterans roundtable, but she heard about much more.

Much of the meeting was centered on veterans issues and a veterans roundtable, but it was punctuated with people in the crowd shouting at Ernst or criticizing her.

A crowd overflowed the council chambers at City Hall, urging that an investigation be launched into President Donald Trump and Russian meddling in the U.S. election.

While Ernst later made an unannounced stop in Davenport, some in the audience in Maquoketa urged her to hold public meetings in larger communities, too.