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Published February 18, 2024 at 2:18 PM CST

đŸ“» Get all of the day’s news from across Iowa. IPR reporters and our partners file the latest headlines throughout the day to keep you informed.

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IPR News

Waterloo considers moving rail yard away from Smokey Row

Posted March 27, 2024 at 3:38 PM CDT

The city of Waterloo is considering moving one of its rail yards to help make some of its lower income neighborhoods safer and more equitable.

Currently, one of the Canadian National lines cuts through Smokey Row, a predominantly Black neighborhood in the city.

The rail yard creates noise and air pollution, which has driven down property values for generations, and physically divides the neighborhood from the rest of the city. The average home in Smokey Row is priced at about $60,000, less than half of the rest of the city.

Community Planning Director Noel Anderson says a $750,000 study to move the yard could be the first step in fixing the problem.

“It’s a matter of looking at the larger impact on the whole neighborhood and how eliminating some of these problems could help the larger area.”

The railyard has been in the neighborhood for nearly a century.

IPR News

Auditor expresses concern over time attorney general’s office has spent reviewing pause on paying for emergency contraception for rape victims

Posted March 27, 2024 at 3:37 PM CDT
State Auditor Rob Sand said he's concerned about the length of time it has taken the attorney general's office to conduct its review of a controversial pause on reimbursing emergency contraception for rape victims.
Natalie Krebs
/
IPR News
State Auditor Rob Sand said he's concerned about the length of time it has taken the attorney general's office to conduct its review of a controversial pause on reimbursing emergency contraception for rape victims.

State Auditor Rob Sand says he’s concerned about the amount of time the Iowa attorney general’s office is taking to review its pause on paying for rape victims’ emergency contraception reimbursements.

State Attorney General Brenna Bird, a Republican, paused reimbursement for emergency contraception under the Crime Victim’s Compensation program when she took office in January 2023.

Her office says her policy, along with other crime victims programs, have been under review ever since. The office has declined so far to release any results of its ongoing internal investigation of the payments.

Sand, a Democrat, says Bird’s office has not asked his office to conduct an audit of the payments, and says he doesn’t understand why the payments were targeted for review. He expressed concern about the length of the review and Bird’s choice to call the investigation an “audit.”

“This is her decision on day one, to quit paying for emergency contraception for sexual assault survivors. And the word salad around that decision and around what is going on is nothing more than a way to reduce the clarity of that fact.”

In a statement, Bird’s office called Sand’s concerns “flat wrong” and said it is in the final stages of its audit.

Read the full story.

Radio Iowa

Oskaloosa to open student-run cafe in downtown square

Posted March 27, 2024 at 2:09 PM CDT

The Oskaloosa Community School District is planning to open the Oskaloosa Spirit Cafe on the downtown square in an effort to foster entrepreneurship and empower students with special needs.

High School special education teacher Sarah Deronde says the ultimate goal is to provide opportunities for all students to thrive and offer a meaningful contribution to society.

“It started off as kind of a dream for placement for my special education students, to give them the skills they need to get into our community, find jobs, get the skills that they need to be successful, create more sustainability in our community, those kinds of things, and it’s kind of just grown from there.”

Employment will be open to all students and adults in the community with special needs who want to learn skills, from basic jobs all the way up to management.

Deronde hopes to get culinary arts students involved in the cafe as well.

The walls of the cafe will showcase student art, and there will also be a “service wall” where students and others can advertise.

The cafe will have several soft openings in the months to come so students can get comfortable in their new roles. A grand opening is planned for sometime this summer.

Radio Iowa

Clear Lake gets USDA award for improving school lunch

Posted March 27, 2024 at 11:22 AM CDT

Clear Lake High School is one of four school districts to receive a national award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for its efforts to improve the nutritional quality of meals for students.

Clear Lake reduced sodium in its lunch menu items by using spices, more fresh local foods and some low- or no-sodium products. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack visited the district to deliver the award.

Vilsack credited Clear Lake for overcoming challenges to improve menu options.

”It’s difficult for schools with tight budgets. Oftentimes because of the pandemic, there were and continue to be supply chain challenges, so the nutrition folks at school do an amazing job.”

The USDA has provided billion of dollars of assistance over the last several years to help U.S. school districts improve the nutrition of school lunches. The department’s “Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Awards” are designed to showcase schools that have made big gains with that support.

Clear Lake received an incentive grant last August, which it used to install a walk-in freezer, add a salad bar and purchase food processors.

IPR News

Iowa City man sentenced to 5 years in prison for bringing handgun to elementary school

Posted March 26, 2024 at 9:43 AM CDT

An Iowa City man was sentenced to five years in prison for bringing a handgun to his child’s elementary school.

Brandon Jones, 32, walked into Grant Wood Elementary last November and demanded to speak with the principal, saying his child was wrongfully sent home. During an interaction, Jones unholstered a 9-millimeter handgun and handed it to someone he entered the school with, saying, “Hold my gun so I don’t do something stupid.”

Initially, Prairielands Freedom Fund posted bail for Jones. The bail fund said in a statement that the firearm was legal and when Jones realized he’d brought the handgun into the school he immediately asked his partner to remove it from the premises.

Johnson County Attorney Rachel Zimmermann Smith said the interaction created a “really scary situation” for school staff and students.

Jones will serve five years for one count of carrying weapons on school grounds and two counts of harassment in the first degree.

IPR News

Iowan nominated for astronaut hall of fame

Posted March 25, 2024 at 1:18 PM CDT

David Hilmers has been nominated for the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame.

Hilmers was a mission specialist on four shuttle missions, including the first after the Challenger disaster in 1986. The 74-year-old was born in Clinton and grew up in DeWitt.

Hilmers said he decided to join the Marines after finding a brochure on the ground during his junior year at Cornell College in Mount Vernon. He said joining the astronaut program was a similar experience.

“Here's a bulletin that comes across my desk. It says, ‘NASA is looking for astronauts’. It’s kind of reminiscent of that paper I picked up to go into the Marines, off the floor. It was something. I said, ‘Well, that seems like something that might be a good idea to try or at least put an application in.”

Hilmers had a PhD in Electrical Engineering, but always wanted to be a doctor. He earned his M.D. at age 45. Hilmers now lives in Australia with his wife, where the couple run a nonprofit dedicated to treating and preventing Hepatitis B.

In June, Hilmers will be formally inducted into the hall of fame at Kennedy Space Center in Houston.

Harvest Public Media

Honey production on the rise

Posted March 25, 2024 at 8:20 AM CDT

Honeybees across the United States produced more honey last year than in previous years. The USDA says it’s the first time production has risen in three years.

Rainy, cool weather in some areas after years of drought likely drove 2023’s increase in production. Those conditions help plants grow, giving bees the nectar they need to make honey.

But Matt Lance, who manages about 350 honeybee colonies across Nebraska, points out that the latest boost is against a decades-long downward trend in honey production.

He calls the latest numbers “small potatoes” in the grand scheme of things.

“I would say, don’t look at the increase in honey yield as an industry thriving, it’s just a slight less headache than what it was before.”

Lance says factors like parasites and viruses, cheap, foreign honey and loss of flower-rich lands are challenging beekeepers across the country.

Read the full story from Harvest Public Media.

IPR News

Billions of cicadas are coming to the Midwest this spring

Posted March 22, 2024 at 4:13 PM CDT

The late summer cicada buzz is starting a little earlier this year. The periodical cicada broods XIII and XIX (the Northern Illinois and Great Southern Broods, respectively) will emerge simultaneously from late April through June across much of the Midwest and South for the first time since 1803.

“It’s so infrequent that we’re able to observe something like this in nature,” said Zach Schumm, insect diagnostician at Iowa State University’s Plant and Insect Diagnostic Clinic. “The eastern half of the United States is the only location that has these periodical cicadas. So it’s a very unique sort of
 ecological phenomenon.”

This co-emergence happens every 221 years, when Brood XIII’s 17-year cycle and Brood XIX’s 13-year cycle align. Brood XIX is the largest of all periodical cicada broods, and the last time Brood XIII emerged, Chicagoans had to get out their shovels to clear the carcasses.

Read the full story.

IPR News

UI professor raises awareness about impending famine in Haiti

Posted March 22, 2024 at 4:13 PM CDT

A Haitian-born University of Iowa professor who formerly worked in the country’s finance ministry is working to raise awareness about impending famine in the Caribbean nation.

Dimi Doresca worked for a time in Haiti’s finance ministry after graduating from Georgetown University, but left due to rampant corruption. He says two earthquakes, the COVID-19 pandemic and the assassination of Haitian President Jovanel Moise have left Haiti in the grips of criminal gangs who restrict the movement of food.

Speaking on IPR’s River to River on Friday, Doresca said his wife’s godmother tells them she can’t buy food at the market.

“Even if you have money in your hand — those who can afford to have money — you would go to the market to find
nothing, because products cannot come from outside Port Au Prince. There’s no transportation. Everybody is afraid.”

Doresca says Americans aren’t getting the entire story of what’s happening in Haiti, as international media can’t report from the gangs’ strongholds in and around the capital, Port-Au-Prince. He says it’s too dangerous for foreign journalists.

“You have to be a Haitian, to have people on the ground that you communicate with on a regular basis to hear stories like my wife was getting from her godmother in Haiti, to hear stories that I get from my former classmates that are on the ground in the country.”

Doresca is director of the UI’s Institute for International Business and an associate professor in the Tippie College of Business. He says the international community should involve Haitians living outside the country in the effort to broker peace and provide aid to the Caribbean nation.

IPR News

Hinson voices support for spending package

Posted March 22, 2024 at 2:18 PM CDT

Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District Rep. Ashley Hinson says she supports Congress’ $1.2 trillion federal spending package to prevent a government shutdown.

The package combines six annual spending bills into one package, with 70% of the money scheduled to go to defense.

Hinson says that’s one of the big reasons she’s supporting the package.

“I do believe defense is a key priority and program. When you look at what’s happening around the world right now, we need to make sure we’re providing a robust defense for our country. If we don’t have a safe and secure country, I don’t think we have anything.”

Hinson adds that part of that defense money will fund the largest basic military pay increase in over 20 years.

Investigate Midwest

Report sparks questions, controversy over possible causes of Iowa ‘cancer crisis’

Posted March 22, 2024 at 12:36 PM CDT
Clark Porter, environmental specialist at the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, prepares an Iowa stream bank for a project to impede the flow of toxic nitrates into water.
Keith Schneider
/
Circle of Blue
Clark Porter, environmental specialist at the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, prepares an Iowa stream bank for a project to impede the flow of toxic nitrates into water.

Amid increasing scrutiny of a potential link between agricultural chemicals and cancer, a new report is generating controversy as it blames rising rates not on the toxins used widely throughout the state, but on something else entirely: binge alcohol consumption.

The Iowa Cancer Registry, a health research group housed at the University of Iowa, reported on Feb. 20 that Iowa has the second-highest and fastest-rising incidence of cancer among all states. An estimated 21,000 new cancer cases are expected to develop this year and 6,100 Iowans will die from cancer, said Mary Charlton, Iowa Cancer Registry director, in announcing the report.

Iowa, she said, has the highest rate of binge drinking in the Midwest, with 22% of residents reporting binge drinking, more than the national average of 17%.

Overall, Iowa has the fourth-highest incidence of alcohol-related cancers in the U.S., according to the report.

The assessment has drawn questions and sparked doubts, however, from state leaders and health and environment researchers who have been calling for a probe into how much the state’s agricultural industry may be contributing to the spread of disease.

Read the full story from Investigate Midwest.

Radio Iowa

Northwest Iowa entrepreneur wins top small business award

Posted March 22, 2024 at 12:32 PM CDT

The owner of a catering business and event venue in Sergeant Bluff is being named the Iowa Small Business Person of the Year by the Iowa district office of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Cathy Bishop opened a restaurant called Aggies in the Sioux City suburb in 1994, but after several years, realized she had to shift to catering full-time to keep up with the demand.

In 2009, Bishop turned the restaurant into an event venue and immediately began hosting graduations, birthdays, retirements, weddings and funerals. Offering breakfast, lunch and dinner catering weekdays and multiple events on weekends, she’s continued adding members to her staff over the past 15 years.

“We have about ten that come every day. I have one that comes in at 4:30 every morning because that’s when she likes to get up, and then we have up to 50 people that we pull from for events, because if you have five parties, you have to have five different teams.”

A 1983 graduate of Texas A&M (where the mascot is the Aggies), Cathy worked for several years as a bank examiner, but her heart’s desire was to become an entrepreneur, which led her to the hospitality industry.

Bishop says her mottos and business practices are simple.

“I treat people the way I want to be treated. My dad was an entrepreneur and he taught me to do deals with a handshake and I’ve always done that. It’s always good to get involved in your community, supporting other people, helping other people get involved in starting new businesses. Small businesses are all in the same kind of boat and they need each other to help support each other.”

As the Iowa Small Business Person of the Year, Bishop will represent Iowa at National Small Business Week ceremonies in Washington D.C. in April, where she will compete for the National Small Business Person of the Year Award.

IPR News

Waverly-Shell Rock looks to repurpose old elementary school into early education, preschool center

Posted March 21, 2024 at 4:16 PM CDT

As the child care industry faces shortages across the state, the Waverly-Shell Rock School District is taking matters into its own hands.

Growth for the district over the past decade has meant more updated buildings, bigger classes and more kids. About 50 kids are expected in this coming fall’s preschool program, more than double last year’s enrollment.

Now, it’s looking to repurpose one of its old elementary school buildings to be a dedicated early education and preschool center, meaning no demolition or expensive construction.

District Superintendent Ed Klamfoth says the transformation makes perfect sense.

“Now, because of this vacancy, we’ve got an opportunity to expand preschool offerings for those that need it, so that’s what we’re looking at doing.”

That renovation comes just in time: preschool enrollment for the district is anticipated to more than double for the coming fall.

IPR News, Radio Iowa

Snow likely in northern Iowa

Posted March 21, 2024 at 12:57 PM CDT

The commute could be dicey Friday morning across parts of northern Iowa, as forecasters say the region may get snow — starting Thursday night — along a coating of ice.

National Weather Service Meteorologist Craig Cogil says a Winter Weather Advisory is posted for cities including Mason City, Waterloo, Dubuque and Decorah, which could get anywhere from one to four inches of snow.

“The concern there is that some of the heaviest snow may be falling around the morning commute time. So, those folks that live across about the northern third of the state need to be aware of that as we head into work on Friday morning.”

Another, larger weather system is forecast to arrive on Sunday and could bring more precipitation to much of the state. Cogil says the second storm system is shaping up to be “vigorous.”

Some forecast models indicate the snowfall in segments of northern Iowa could be as much as six inches in that second storm, but Cogil says it’s not clear if the rain/snow line will be in Iowa or Minnesota.

“I would be prepared for winter driving conditions as you head into northern Iowa, particularly into Minnesota. It does look like the farther north you go, much worse conditions are going to be found.”

Central Iowa should see rain, with some thunderstorms possible Thursday night.

The long-range forecast calls for temperatures to climb back into the 50s by the middle of next week.

IPR News

State Ombudsman investigation finds county jails improperly collecting inmate money for medical services

Posted March 21, 2024 at 9:37 AM CDT

Iowa jails are not following state law in their collection of inmate money for medical services, according to an investigation by the Iowa Office of Ombudsman.

The investigation found some county jails, including those in Wapello, Scott and O’Brien counties, are taking money directly out of inmate commissary accounts before their conviction and without going through the courts.

Ombudsman Bernardo Granwehr says this practice violates an incarcerated person’s due process rights.

“We’re calling for the Department of Corrections to make a change. We had a constructive dialogue with the department and they understand what the problem is so we want to encourage them to take the step of amending the rule that is causing the confusion.”

Jails can charge adult inmates for medical services if they are convicted of a crime or sentenced for contempt of court for violating a domestic abuse order. But they still have to seek that money through the courts and cannot remove it directly from a commissary account.

Read the full story.

Radio Iowa

Women from around the globe to compete at Fairfield billiard invitational

Posted March 21, 2024 at 9:21 AM CDT

While many Iowans are excited about this week’s start of the college basketball tournaments, another tournament in a different sport will be held in Iowa starting Thursday.

Daryn Hamilton of Fairfield, vice president of the Women’s Professional Billiard Association’s board of directors, says the Fairfield Invitational is bringing 48 of the world’s most talented professional female billiard players to the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center.

“They’re literally coming from around the globe. Of the 48 players, maybe 30 of them are from here in the United States and different locations, but we have people coming from China. We have people coming from Europe, Bulgaria. We’ve got a gal coming from Germany.”

Spectators are expected from all over, too, as the best-of-the-best compete simultaneously on six tables.

The youngest competitors are just 12 and 14 years old. The tournament runs through Sunday and will feature some of the best women in the sport, including Kelly Fisher from England. Fisher, known as the “Duchess of Doom,” won the tournament the last time it was held in Fairfield in 2021.

IPR News

Organizers hope Caitlin Clark effect will bring more attention to NAIA National Women’s Basketball Championship

Posted March 21, 2024 at 9:19 AM CDT

While most of the college basketball world is focused on the NCAA tournaments this weekend, another — smaller — national contest kicks off Thursday in Sioux City.

The NAIA Women’s National Championship features 16 smaller colleges and universities. Tournament co-chair Corey Westra expects excitement surrounding Iowa star Caitlin Clark to attract more fans this year.

“It's just helped elevate the game for the women, and it's awesome. This Caitlin Clark effect is not necessarily new to us, but we're embracing it as well because we'll take new fans.”

Westra says he expects ticket sales to also increase due to two northwest Iowa teams taking part: Sioux City’s Briar Cliff and Dordt, which is located in Sioux Center.

Sioux City has hosted the tournament since 1998. On Friday night, the city will honor Grace Beyer, who broke the NAIA scoring record this season. The player for the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis scored almost 4,000 points during her career.

IPR News

Latest Grinnell national poll finds little consensus on how Americans want to protect kids from mass shootings

Posted March 20, 2024 at 2:33 PM CDT

Americans can’t seem to find common ground on how to protect kids from mass shootings at school, according to the latest Grinnell College National Poll.

The poll laid out five ways that could best address the problem, including banning assault rifles and arming teachers. None of the five gained a majority of support among the 1,005 people surveyed.

Political Science associate professor Peter Hanson, director of the poll, says the lack of consensus on the issue is discouraging.

“As a society, despite the fact that people are horrified by this problem, they don’t know what to do. And the underlying politics seem calcified; no one’s moving, no one's persuading each other and in the meantime these shootings keep happening.”

Hanson spoke Wednesday on IPR’s River to River. According to data from the K-12 School Shooting Database, there have been 38 incidents of a school shooting so far this year. A bill to arm Iowa school staff is working its way through the Statehouse.

IPR News

Belmond Healthcare Clinic is increasing remote care options, but say insurance companies haven’t caught up with telehealth

Posted March 20, 2024 at 12:55 PM CDT

One rural healthcare clinic in northern Iowa is rethinking its care strategies post-COVID, but it’s waiting for some help from insurance providers.

The Belmond Healthcare Clinic is turning increasingly to forms of remote care to better serve its 3,000 patients, whether through video, over the phone or online.

However, some insurance providers aren’t yet recognizing telehealth as covered care. The clinic’s Business Development Coordinator Robyn Hardman says that leaves the nonprofit clinic fronting the cost.

“There are a lot of times where you’re trying to serve your patients and give them that remote access, and at times we’re having to cover the cost of that because the insurance payers haven’t caught up. We’re not getting paid for these services, but it’s patients who critically need it.”

Nearly 70% of the Belmond clinic’s patients utilize some form of remote health care.

IPR News

Grassley says he’ll back TikTok ban

Posted March 20, 2024 at 10:10 AM CDT
Sen. Grassley speaks into a microphone in front of an American flag.
John Pemble
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley giving his victory reelection speech in Des Moines on Election Day 2022. Grassley has been Iowa's longest-serving senator.

A bill that could potentially ban TikTok, which passed the U.S. House last week, is now arriving in the Senate, where some observers say it faces a graveyard.

But Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley says he’d like to see restrictions placed on the popular social media app, and he believes the legislation will eventually pass in the Senate.

“I am not that pessimistic about it. I think it’s going to not move as quickly as it did in the House, but nothing moves quickly in the United States Senate. I think it’s going to have a hearing in the Commerce Committee before it gets out of committee.”

The House passed the bill last Wednesday (352-65). It would force ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, to sell the app or face being banned across the U.S.

Iowa 2nd District Rep. Ashley Hinson backed the bill, saying ByteDance is beholden to the Chinese Communist Party. Grassley agrees that TikTok is a threat, and fears how potential data mining could be used to harm the U.S.

“We all know that China is a competitor to the United States, and a potential danger to the world.”

Given its wide user base, Hinson said she fears TikTok could even be used to manipulate elections.

IPR News

West Liberty Foods to lay off 260 workers

Posted March 19, 2024 at 1:30 PM CDT

West Liberty Foods is laying off more than quarter of its Iowa workforce in April.

The 260-person layoff was announced in February and mostly impacts the West Liberty facility’s turkey slicing lines.

West Liberty Foods was one of sandwich chain Subway’s top meat product vendors.Subway announced in 2022 that it was moving towards slicing its own meat in its more than 22,000 stores, which cut demand.

The company is working with laid off workers for reassignment opportunities elsewhere in the company and in the community.

West Liberty Foods employs 865 Iowans. It also runs facilities in Illinois and Utah.

IPR News

Hinton high school looks to provide more training for coaches, strengthen policies for student activities following hazing controversy

Posted March 19, 2024 at 10:20 AM CDT
Several people are sitting in a school library for a school board meeting. They are sitting around tables with the school board sitting at the front.
Sheila Brummer/IPR News
Several concerned parents in the Hinton Community School District attended a special board meeting on March 5, 2024. The meeting to accept the resignations of two administrators ended in less than seven minutes.

A northwest Iowa school district is working to change extracurricular policies after a hazing controversy.

A full room of more than 75 people attended Monday night’s Hinton School Board meeting, where the board officiallyapproved the resignation of high school wrestling coach Casey Crawford. He will stay on as a math teacher.

Police investigated after a video on social media showed a wrestler from Hinton High School being held down and tasered. The incident took place at a hotel during a tournament in Coralville in early February. Parents say seven freshmen were targeted.

The district is now looking at providing more training for coaches and strengthening policies for student activities.

Holly Keegan told the board she wants to make sure a wrong is made right. She and other parents met with administrators to help develop new policies.

“There can be no more blame on the freshman parents. No more saying ‘we’re making a bigger deal than there is.’ There must be a mutual understanding.”

In addition to updating the handbook, the district is hiring a new high school principal and athletic director after both resigned earlier this month.

Superintendent Ken Slater said the district met with parents to come up with suggestions to improve the district’s handbook. He says the new changes will likely be finalized this summer.

IPR News

UI men’s basketball student manager takes plea deal in sports gambling case

Posted March 19, 2024 at 8:41 AM CDT

A University of Iowa men’s basketball student manager has taken a plea deal in a sports gambling case.

Evan Schuster was originally charged with tampering with records involving sports betting, which included betting on his own team.

But according to a court filing, Schuster pled down the original charge to gambling under the age of 21 — the difference between a serious misdemeanor and a simple misdemeanor.

Schuster’s lawyer, Leon Spies, and the Johnson County Attorney’s Office were not immediately available for comment on the case.

The charges originated from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation’s probe into sports wagering at two state universities. Using the app FanDuel, Schuster placed nine bets on the Iowa team using his father’s name.

Schuster will pay a fine of $645.

IPR News

Iowa direct care workers’ salaries have remained mostly stagnant in recent years, report finds

Posted March 18, 2024 at 2:51 PM CDT

A new report has found wages for Iowa certified nursing assistants and home health aides grew less than 5% from 2019 to 2022.

The report by Iowa Caregivers, which represents direct care workers, looked at state data, including surveys the organization did with Iowa Workforce Development.

It found that the median wage for certified nurse aids increased just 62 cents to $14.42 per hour.

Iowa Caregivers Executive Director Di Findley says stagnant wages directly contribute to the worker shortage.

“These individuals are grossly underpaid and they're not being paid a wage that's consistent with the importance of the work that they do.”

The report comes as many Iowa nursing homes are facing chronic staffing shortages of direct care workers.

IPR News

Massive fertilizer spill leads to fish kill in East Nishnabotna River

Posted March 18, 2024 at 2:50 PM CDT

A fertilizer spill in western Iowa has killed large numbers of fish and other species along a stretch of the East Nishnabotna River.

Some 265,000 gallons of liquid nitrogen leaked from a tank at New Cooperative in Red Oak just over a week ago, on March 9, after a valve was left open.

John Lorenzen, a fisheries management biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says the DNR sampled from bridges along the river, from Red Oak 50 miles south to the state line.

“What we found was, obviously, multiple species and length of dead fish. We found dead mussels, frogs, a snake and some earthworms. Basically, anything aquatic had the potential to be impacted.”

Lorenzen says his counterparts in Missouri have also observed dead fish in the Nishnabotna River. He says some fish may have been able to seek refuge in tributaries, and many larger species are still overwintering in the Missouri River. He says the Nishnabotna will eventually repopulate, though there could be some setbacks depending on the weather.

Harvest Public Media

Dry conditions, warm temps create optimal setting for wildfire

Posted March 18, 2024 at 11:59 AM CDT
Two police cars sit in a street. Behind them, clouds of smoke rise up from the field fire.
Courtesy of Harrison County Sheriff's Department
Emergency responders across 12 communities and 2 counties helped to stop a fire in Mondamin over the weekend.

This year, wildfires have already charred thousands of acres in the Great Plains. Wildfires caused evacuations in parts of Oklahoma, Nebraska and Texas, where the Smokehouse Creek Fire began on Feb. 26 and is the largest wildfire in the state’s history.

Some experts say they are seeing more intense fires. Ben Bohall, a Nebraska Forest Service public information officer, says his state used to have a bad wildfire season about once every five years, but since 2022, the season is longer and more extreme.

“We're not really having fire seasons anymore. We're just having fire years.”

Bohall says about 90% of the state’s wildfires are caused by humans. For instance, Nebraska’s recent 70,000 acre-fire sparked when a mower hit a rock.

Read the full story from Harvest Public Media.

IPR News

Sioux City housing projects seeks to meet need

Posted March 18, 2024 at 11:57 AM CDT
Plans are underway for the East High Lofts at 1520 Morningside Avenue in Sioux City. The $18 million dollar project by Commonwealth Development Corporation of America will transform a former school that once housed the Northwest Iowa AEA.
Sheila Brummer/IPR News
Plans are underway for the East High Lofts at 1520 Morningside Avenue in Sioux City. The $18 million dollar project by Commonwealth Development Corporation of America will transform a former school that once housed the Northwest Iowa AEA.

Two new housing projects are underway in Sioux City to help ease a housing crunch. But more units are needed.

The city is helping developers finance two apartment building projects, including an old school. Neighborhood Services Supervisor Amy Keairns says that demand extends throughout the state.

“There will be 71 total units of affordable housing created, but there is such a need in our community for affordable housing.”

She says she wishes they could do more.

“We're limited on the dollars that we receive. And we're always seeking out other opportunities for additional funding and additional partnerships to try and try and do even more as far as new housing units and services as well.”

The two projects will also include a total of eight units for the unhoused, including outreach services.

Sioux City kicked in more than $1.2 million in federal COVID-19 relief money to help pay for the apartments that will be ready for people to move in next year.

The Iowa Finance Authority statewide estimates that by 2030, there will be a shortage of 55,000 rental homes for lower-income Iowans. Currently, more than 20% of the lowest earners spend more than half of their income on housing costs.

Read the full story.

Radio Iowa

AAA offering free service for impaired drivers on Saint Patrick's Day

Posted March 15, 2024 at 2:58 PM CDT

Iowans who have too much Saint Patrick’s Day cheer can get a safe ride home Friday night through Monday morning.

AAA-Iowa spokesman Brian Ortner says the motor club is offering its free, statewide Tow to Go service for members and non-members across Iowa this weekend.

“It’s pretty simple,” Ortner says. “When someone calls Tow to Go, AAA will dispatch a tow truck to transport the impaired driver and their vehicle to a safe location within a 10-mile radius.”

The Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau says during March of last year, there were 26 traffic fatalities on Iowa’s roads and almost 40% of those happened the week of Saint Patrick’s Day.

Ortner says this service provides an alternative to anyone who may have drunk too much.

“We ask that you use it as a last resort, for many reasons,” Ortner says. “One, because planning is so important if you’re celebrating holidays. Having a designated driver or a rideshare program set up is definitely the best way to go.”

In its 26 years, he says Tow to Go has taken more than 30,000 drivers safely home.

The number to call is 1-855-TOW-2-GO.

IPR News

Sierra Club challenges additions to pipeline that would run through Iowa

Posted March 15, 2024 at 2:57 PM CDT

Iowa-based Summit Carbon Solutions has expanded the scope of a proposed carbon pipeline that would run across several states, including Iowa. But the Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club is challenging the idea that additions to the line should be considered separately from the company’s original permit application.

Wally Taylor, an attorney for the Sierra Club, has filed a motion calling on the Iowa Utilities Board to look at the pipeline in its entirety before granting any permits.

“The Board hasn’t made a decision yet on the original project. So it just seems to make sense in terms of efficiency and hearing all of the evidence, that all of the projects should be consolidated into one case.”

Taylor also says the IUB has been relying on a loophole to avoid holding regular monthly meetings.

“Certainly, landowners and other members of the public would come in and make public statements... Summit, or anybody else who wanted to oppose that could come in and make their arguments so, that just seems to me to be a tactic to avoid having to listen to the landowners”

The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation has filed a similar motion. Earlier this month, Summit filed 14 separate permit applications to add additional ethanol plants to the pipeline project.

IPR News

McGovern jury acquittal will not change the law

Posted March 15, 2024 at 2:55 PM CDT

This week, a jury acquitted transgender community activist Tara McGovern for charges related to blocking traffic in Iowa City last October. One of the charges was part of a 2021 change to Iowa law that increased penalties for protest related charges.

Alison Guernsey, a clinical law professor at the University of Iowa says an acquittal doesn’t challenge that law.

"It doesn’t mean the statutes under which they were charged aren’t constitutional or can’t be used in another context. What it simply means is in this case with these facts, the state was unable to show there was a law violation."

Guernsey added that the ruling could inform how law enforcement and prosecutors approach pressing charges in future demonstrations.

IPR News

Hornick still recovering after 2019 flood

Posted March 15, 2024 at 10:44 AM CDT

A small western Iowa community is still trying to recover five years after a devastating flood.

On March 14, 2019, the town of Hornick was evacuated after water from the west branch of the Little Sioux River broke through a levee.

Mayor Scott Mitchell says it’s been quite the journey to put everything back in place.

“Lots of ups and downs, maybe more downs and ups. And it's still pretty amazing how a community in the surrounding areas can come together to help out a small community that they don't even have any ties to.”

A berm now protects Hornick from future flooding. However, Mitchell says it’s been challenging to get funding from FEMA to fix damaged roads, because Hornick is so small it doesn’t have the staffing to deal with all the regulations and paperwork. He hopes to have the final work done by the end of the year.

Mitchell says he is still thankful for the support his small town received in cleaning up after the natural disaster.

Radio Iowa

Casey’s continues adding stores in new states

Posted March 15, 2024 at 10:43 AM CDT

The Ankeny-based Casey’s convenience store chain continued adding more stores in the third quarter of its fiscal year.

Darren Rebelez, Casey’s President and CEO, says they like to have a mix of building new stores along with merging or acquiring existing stores. He says acquiring stores is more attractive now as the cost of construction has gone up, so installing or upgrading the kitchen in an existing store is less than the cost to replace the whole store.

“I think we’ve learned how to get our prepared foods into these acquisitions more quickly. Historically this has taken us a long time to do, and to the extent that some of these stores that we acquire have some level of kitchen space available, our team has gotten really effective at getting equipment in early and getting the food into the stores quicker.”

Rebelez says that allows them to gain the advantage from the prepared food sales much quicker than in the past. He says the recent acquisitions have mostly been competitors with under 100 stores.

”We’re also having discussions on larger potential deals but we just haven’t gotten anything over the finish line yet.”

Casey’s now has more than 2,600 stores in 17 states.

IPR News

Iowa DNR watching fish hatcheries amid drought

Posted March 14, 2024 at 1:01 PM CDT

As Iowa’s spring fishing season approaches, the Department of Natural Resources could be heading into uncharted waters with northeast Iowa’s ongoing drought.

The drought and heat may complicate the DNR’s plans to restock the region’s hundreds of miles of streams with rainbow trout in the coming weeks.

Mike Siepker, the DNR’s fisheries supervisor for northeast Iowa, says his team is cautious about when and where they’ll be stocking over 300,000 fish.

“This is kind of uncharted territory. We’ve had droughts in the past, but for staff that are here now, this is kind of a new thing where we’re dealing with these low-stream conditions and what could potentially be a really warm summer.”

Siepker says one of solutions is staggering the 18-month hatching and growth window across multiple sites, which would ultimately use less water.

But low streams and heat aren’t the only problems for fish. Siepker says it could make raising them a challenge, too.

Many of the DNR’s hatcheries in the region rely on groundwater reserves, which are also low.

Radio Iowa

Remains of Dubuque soldier missing since WWII identified

Posted March 14, 2024 at 9:33 AM CDT

The remains of an eastern Iowa man who went missing during a World War Two battle in France have been identified.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency recently updated the identification of Army Private First Class Raymond Schlamp of Dubuque. Army reports say Schlamp was 28 when he was hit by German machine gun fire as his infantry unit was retreating across a river near Dornot, France in 1944.

Schlamp was left behind and later could not be found. Remains were recovered from the area in 1947 and buried in a French cemetery.

DNA and other techniques were used to identify his remains in March of 2022.

IPR News

Judge acquits Iowa City protester of charges carrying increased penalties under Iowa law change

Posted March 14, 2024 at 9:32 AM CDT
Tara McGovern embraced friends and family after hearing their innocent verdict on March 13, 2024 at Thornberry Dog Park in Iowa City.
Zachary Oren Smith/IPR News
Tara McGovern embraced friends and family after hearing their innocent verdict on March 13, 2024 at Thornberry Dog Park in Iowa City.

A jury has acquitted a protester of charges related to an Iowa City protest.

Tara Dutcher, who goes by Tara McGovern, was among hundreds of people who blocked an intersection in Iowa City during an October protest opposing a speaker who advocates against gender affirming care for minors.

Moments after learning about their acquittal, McGovern, a transgender Iowan, said their attention turns to the future.

“There certainly are possible things that could unfold as we move forward in terms of looking into why this could have happened and if there is a way we can prevent this from happening again.”

McGovern was found not guilty of two charges. One for blocking traffic and another for interfering with official acts. While the charges were relatively minor, the one for obstructing the street gained attention as it was part of a recent change in Iowa law that increased the penalties for protest related charges.

Read the full story.

IPR News

Black Hawk County reports uptick in tuberculosis cases

Posted March 13, 2024 at 12:04 PM CDT

Black Hawk County has reported an uptick in tuberculosis cases well above the state and national averages.

According to the county’s public health department, the number of TB cases has roughly tripled over the past three years to nearly 12 per 100,000 people. The national average is 2.5, and the rest of the state’s is 1.9.

Black Hawk County Public Health Director Kaitlin Emrich says the increase in cases stems in part from native Pacific Islanders living in the county who didn’t have access to preventative care in their home countries.

The public health department currently has only two nurses who help fight the disease in the county.

IPR News

Construction issue further delays opening of Woodbury County law enforcement center

Posted March 13, 2024 at 9:49 AM CDT

Woodbury County’s new law enforcement center won’t be ready to open next month. Officials say another construction issue is to blame.

The new jail located in Sioux City did not pass a state inspection this week.

In a news release, the Woodbury County Law Enforcement Authority, the group overseeing the project, says additional mechanical work needs to be done and blames an engineering firm for the problem. The jail's new completion date is now planned for mid-May.

County officials declined any interviews due to potential litigation. However, Chief Deputy Tony Wingert says he is eager to make the move. He says some people are waiting more than a year to serve their sentences due to overcrowding at the old jail.

“We want to get in there because we know that it'll be a much safer place for our staff, for our inmates, for the public.”

Wingert says the new jail would have room for more than 500 beds — more than double the current size.

The jail was originally scheduled to open six months ago.

IPR News

Police testify in trial of Iowa City protester

Posted March 13, 2024 at 9:48 AM CDT

Jury trial began Tuesday for a Coralville protester who blocked traffic while demonstrating in Iowa City.

Tara McGovern, whose legal name is Tara Dutcher, was among the more than 100 people who shut down a city intersection last October, protesting a speaker who advocates against gender affirming care for minors.

The jury heard details from three University of Iowa Police Department officers who described several unsuccessful attempts to clear the intersection. UIPD Lieutenant Travis Tyrell supervised the police response that night.

“We only have a certain amount of staffing available to us and to try and move 100 to 150 people out of the intersection. We didn’t have a safe way to do that.”

McGovern has been charged with blocking traffic and ignoring commands from police. A large crowd came to support them at the trial, many of whom were also protesting in the intersection, but were not charged.

Judge Jason Burns opted for a bigger courtroom to allow more observers, but did bring up a concern to the courtroom after custodial staff discovered someone had written “jury nullification” on a bathroom surface, the controversial concept that a jury can acquit someone of a crime even if they know they’re guilty.

The trial is expected to wrap up this week.

IPR News

UI women’s wrestling team caps inaugural season with national title

Posted March 12, 2024 at 3:42 PM CDT

The University of Iowa Women’s Wrestling team finished their inaugural season by taking the team title at the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships last weekend.

Senior Marlynne Deede won her final match in the 155-pound class. She says she was so focused, she didn’t know the Hawkeyes were down in points going into the finals.

“This is the first tournament that I really went into feeling super confident in, just like how much work I put in, and so I was super calm wrestling. And then the finals match — I honestly just went out there and I was calm and had a lot of fun wrestling.”

The Hawkeyes are favorites to repeat as champions next season. Deede says she hopes other Division 1 schools will see Iowa’s success and fan following and decide to field women’s wrestling teams.

IPR News

Ethics committee dismisses complaint alleging Republican abused power by voting for private school scholarships, then founding private school

Posted March 12, 2024 at 2:59 PM CDT

The Iowa House Ethics Committee has unanimously dismissed a complaint against Rep. Dean Fisher, R-Montour, alleging that he abused his power by voting for taxpayer-funded private school scholarships and then starting a new private school and serving as board president.

Barb Kalbach of Dexter filed the complaint on behalf of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement.

The committee voted 6-0 to dismiss the complaint, with Republicans and Democrats saying Fisher’s actions didn’t violate the House ethics code.

Kalbach says she believes this decision has opened the door to unethical behavior by lawmakers.

“Fisher’s actions are self-dealing and self-servicing. Some would say they’re corrupt. And the House Ethics Committee is letting him get away with it. And that’s shameful.”

In a statement, Fisher says the complaint was a politically-motivated attempt to smear him. He says it’s wrong to use the mechanisms of government to attack someone based on a policy disagreement.

Read the full story.

IPR News

Iowa Pork Producer Association CEO says Perry Tyson plant closure will strain pork producers

Posted March 12, 2024 at 2:01 PM CDT

The upcoming closure of the Tyson pork plant in Perry not only means the loss of almost 1,300 jobs, but it also puts a strain on producers, according to Iowa Pork Producer Association CEO Pat McGonegle.

McGonegle says he feels disappointment for the community of Perry and for producers, who now need to find another market for their animals.

“This announcement just kind of adds another little headwind to us, but pork producers are resilient, and they'll get things figured out.”

McGonegle says once the Perry plant closes in June, the nearest options are Storm Lake and Denison.

McGonegle says the past 20 months have been rough, with producers losing $20 to $30 per pig, and tough economic times have also hurt processors.

IPR News

Report finds 1 in 6 full-time Iowa workers struggle to afford cost of basic needs

Posted March 12, 2024 at 12:53 PM CDT
A new report found one in six Iowans struggle to meet a basic needs budget.
Alexander Grey
/
Unsplash
A new report found one in six Iowans struggle to meet a basic needs budget.

A new report from Common Good Iowa estimates one in six full-time workers in Iowa earn below what is needed to cover the cost of basic needs.

The nonprofit estimates 17.5% of all Iowa working households earn below what is needed to cover a basic-needs budget.

Policy Analyst Sean Finn says figures this year show more low-income Iowans are struggling as compared to last year’s report, even as the state has seen strong wage growth.

“Even though these families were making more each month even though these wages – especially low wages – were increasing, inflation just outpaced it during this time.”

The report found the situation is worse along racial lines. It estimates a third of full-time Black and Latino workers make below what is needed to support their families’ basic needs, which is almost double the statewide average rate.

Read the full story.

IPR News

Iowa DNR monitoring 1,500-ton fertilizer spill in western Iowa

Posted March 12, 2024 at 12:53 PM CDT

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is on the scene of a large fertilizer spill in Western Iowa’s Montgomery County.

Senior Environmental Specialist Wendy Wittrock says the DNR was notified of the spill on Monday.

“We received a phone call from New Cooperative in Red Oak to let us know that they had had a release of approximately 1,500 tons of liquid nitrogen fertilizer and it had discharged into a drainage ditch on site, and had then continued on into the East Nishnabotna River.”

Wittrock says someone at the co-op had failed to close a valve on an above-ground storage tank. She says DNR fisheries experts have observed dead fish in the river, but the full extent of the damage is unknown at this time. She noted that levels in the Nishnabotna River are currently low, which could affect how long it takes for the nitrogen to disperse.

IPR News

Perry mayor says Tyson closure came as a shock, plans to aid displaced workers

Posted March 12, 2024 at 12:52 PM CDT

Perry’s mayor is getting assurances from Tyson Foods that its soon to be shuttered plant won’t sit empty after the company closes its doors.

Mayor Dirk Cavanaugh met with Tyson officials Tuesday morning, a day after the company announced its processing plant in the central Iowa city will permanently close its doors at the end of June. The move means nearly 1,300 workers will lose their jobs.

Cavanaugh says the news came as a complete shock, especially since he got only a five minute heads up before the news became public.

“From our conversation with management this morning, I don’t think the local management here knew — or at least if they knew there might be talk about it — didn’t know it was definitely happening until yesterday themselves.”

Cavanaugh says his first priority moving forward is helping the soon-to-be-displaced workers find other jobs, help with rent and possible food assistance. The Iowa Workforce Development is also sending its new mobile Iowa Works center to Perry.

IPR News

Davenport resists state auditor subpoena in court

Posted March 12, 2024 at 9:58 AM CDT

State Auditor Rob Sand is investigating the City of Davenport’s large payouts to former employees, but the city wants a judge to intervene and prevent him from having access to certain information.

On Tuesday morning, the Quad-City Times reported court filings detailing Davenport’s efforts to keep the recordings and minutes of closed sessions from the auditor’s view. They assert attorney-client privilege, saying their legal counsel discussed the city’s numerous lawsuits during these meetings.

One employee, former city administrator Corri Spiegel, received a payout of $1.6 million when she left the city.

The city is asking a Scott County judge to modify the auditor’s subpoena. A hearing is scheduled for March 25.

IPR News

Hinton wrestling coach resigns

Posted March 11, 2024 at 2:10 PM CDT

The northwest Iowa wrestling coach suspended after his players faced assault allegations has resigned.

Casey Crawford, who served as head coach of the Hinton High School boys' wrestling team for 15 years, turned in his letter of resignation last week.

Authorities in Coralville and Hinton launched an investigation after players said older teammates used a taser on them during a meet last month in Coralville. A video on social media showed a boy being held down and tased on a hotel bed.

During a school board meeting last month, one parent said Crawford told wrestlers to delete videos and photos from their phones.

In the resignation letter, Crawford said, “he was grateful to make a positive influence on the athlete's lives,” and he looks forward to continuing his career as a teacher in Hinton.

Crawford was allowed to teach math during his administrative leave as coach.

The school board will vote on the resignation during a meeting next week on March 18. Two school administrators are also stepping down at the end of the school year.

IPR News

Trial for Coralville protester who refused plea deal begins Tuesday

Posted March 11, 2024 at 2:09 PM CDT
Tara McGovern was charged for blocking an Iowa City intersection and ignoring the orders of police telling McGovern and other protesters to get out of the road. Of the seven charged, McGovern is the only one to refuse a plea deal. Their trial begins Tuesday, March 12.
Zachary Oren Smith/IPR News
Tara McGovern was charged for blocking an Iowa City intersection and ignoring the orders of police telling McGovern and other protesters to get out of the road. Of the seven charged, McGovern is the only one to refuse a plea deal. Their trial begins Tuesday, March 12.

A Coralville resident is on trial this week, facing charges from a protest in October.

Tara McGovern faces two charges: a serious misdemeanor for blocking an Iowa City intersection and a simple misdemeanor for ignoring commands to exit the street by police.

A month after the protest, University of Iowa Police charged seven people. Charges included disorderly conduct, which has increased penalties under a law Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed following the 2020 George Floyd protests.

Six of the seven people charged took a plea deal to avoid trial, but McGovern told IPR News that refusing the plea deal came down to their belief that protesters did nothing wrong. They say the new law is wrong.

Jury selection is scheduled for Tuesday morning.

Read the full story.

Radio Iowa

Work underway to repair Mississippi River bridge at Lansing

Posted March 11, 2024 at 10:25 AM CDT

The Iowa Department of Transportation has started work to repair the existing bridge over the Mississippi River from Lansing to Wisconsin. The bridge was closed on Feb. 25 after it was discovered that two of the bridge piers had shifted.

The DOT’s Clayton Burke says the repair plan is to lift the deck off the bridge and set it to the side, then the existing concrete piers will be demolished and replaced with new piers made of steel.

“Then we’re going to take that deck that we set on the side, lift it back up and set it into place and the original location before the bridge deck moved.”

The problem happened near the area where a new bridge is being built, and Burke says that could be part of the reason for the pier shift.

“It’s likely a combination of several factors. But construction definitely could have been one of those factors.”

It will take two months to get the existing bridge back open and the DOT has been working on alternatives, including a van pool to help with the cost of the 75-mile detour.

There could also be a water taxi to take people across the river.

Burke says while work continues on the new bridge, deep drilling into the riverbed has been paused to avoid vibrations.

“We think when the bridge deck is removed from the existing bridge, that’ll be a good opportunity for us to continue some of that work, because we’re not as concerned about those existing piers moving because they’ll be demolished anyway.”

The new bridge won’t be completed until the end of 2026. Burke says around 2,900 people crossed the Lansing bridge each day before it had to be closed.

IPR News

Pork council passes resolution that would help trace pigs during outbreaks

Posted March 8, 2024 at 2:29 PM CST

Pork producers in Iowa and across the country would take steps to enhance the traceability of swine under a resolution passed this week at a forum hosted by the National Pork Producers Council. Dwight Mogler raises swine in Lyon County, and serves on the boards of the Iowa Pork Producers and the NPPC. He says the industry came up with the plan, which will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“The impetus that really pushed this effort forward was the deep need of the U.S. pork industry to be better prepared for a potential foreign animal disease event.”

Mogler says extra measures would apply to pigs that don’t go directly from farm to processing. It would include giving every pork producer an identification number, tagging these pigs with radio frequency ID tags and providing data on their movement.

Mogler also says without accurate tracing, U.S. pork producers could lose their entire export market in the event of an outbreak of a foreign animal disease, such as African swine fever or foot-and-mouth disease.

IPR News

Cedar Falls votes to establish affordable housing trust fund

Posted March 8, 2024 at 2:28 PM CST

Cedar Falls is one of the last communities in Iowa not to have an affordable housing trust fund. The city council moved forward based on a housing assessment late last year. It would allow the local government to access about $200,000 of state aid for rehab and development.

Brian Schoon, the executive director of the Iowa Northland Regional Council of Governments, says the nonprofit will mainly focus on driving living costs down.

"They’re going to have to look at projects that would be categorized as the affordability side of things... One of the things that jumped up in the housing needs assessment was the cost of housing, the cost of land and the cost of development."

The nonprofit hopes to be made official by Jan. 2025.

Radio Iowa

Warm weather could impact DNR’s spring trout stocking

Posted March 8, 2024 at 9:40 AM CST

The Iowa DNR is keeping an eye on the weather as it prepares for its annual spring trout stocking. Trout are a cool water fish naturally found in northeast Iowa streams. Mike Siepker, the Northeast Iowa Region Fisheries Supervisor at the Iowa DNR, says the unseasonably warm weather may bring up water temperatures in urban ponds and lakes.

“That is something we will keep an eye on as we get later into the spring. You know our April 19th and 20th stockings we will definitely keep an eye on it... But you know, it’s Iowa so you never know what the weather is going to do. And it may cool down and allow us to stock those trout.”

The stocking size for trout is usually 10-12 inches. Siepker oversees the hatcheries that produce the trout.

“We spawn all of our trout at the Manchester Fish Hatchery. And then once they reach about a three to four inch size we move those fish to Big Spring or the Chuck Gipp Decorah Fish Hatchery. And they’re in the hatcheries from egg to stocking size for about 18 months."

The stocking starts April 19, and there is a list of locations on the Iowa DNR website. They plan to stock between 1,000-2,000 trout in nine different lakes, but Siepker says you don’t have to be there when the trout are released into the water to catch one. An Iowa fishing license and trout stamp is required to take the trout from the lakes and ponds.

IPR News

UI conducts mental health survey on students, faculty

Posted March 7, 2024 at 2:46 PM CST

Researchers at the University of Iowa are conducting what they call the state’s first survey on the mental health of college staff and faculty members.

The survey started last year with seven community colleges. Barry Schreier, with the UI's Scanlan Center for School Mental Health, says results so far show faculty and staff members overall feel mental health resources are adequate on campus, but they would like more support.

"Staff and faculty highly endorsed that they would like additional training. In fact, faculty said, which is very surprising, that they think it should be mandatory."

Schreier says they plan to expand the survey to include private colleges and the state’s three Regents universities.

Radio Iowa

Appeals Court upholds sanctions against UNI professor

Posted March 7, 2024 at 12:00 PM CST

The Iowa Court of Appeals is upholding discipline imposed on a University of Northern Iowa professor for plagiarism.

A UNI investigation committee found communication and media professor Gayle Pohl committed plagiarism in a book chapter she published in 2017. The committee rejected the possibility that problems in her writing were honest errors. It recommended five sanctions that included prohibiting her from applying for promotion to full professor.

Pohl asked for a judicial review on a variety of claims, including allegations of bias and a lack of substantial evidence. The Court of Appeals upheld the UNI committee’s findings, saying its decision making and resulting discipline against Pohl was not illogical, unreasonable, arbitrary, capricious or an abuse of discretion.

Radio Iowa

Murder sentence upheld in fatal shooting of Milford woman

Posted March 7, 2024 at 9:09 AM CST

The Iowa Court of Appeals has upheld the life sentence of a Dickinson County man in the shooting death of a woman outside a Milford medical staffing office in February, 2022.

Christian Goyne-Yarns of Spirit Lake was found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Shelby Woizeschke in the parking lot of her workplace. Woizeschke was the mother of Goyne-Yarns' two children, but they were separated.

Goyne-Yarns appealed, saying there was not enough evidence to support his conviction or to show he planned the shooting ahead of time. The Court of Appeals ruling says there was some evidence missing from the case, including the gun, but Woizeschke’s 911 call identifying Goyne-Yarns as the shooter and corroborating surveillance video was substantial evidence to uphold the conviction.

IPR News

Report finds hospitals not fully compliant with federal price transparency requirements

Posted March 6, 2024 at 2:43 PM CST

A new report has found more than two dozen Iowa hospitals are still not compliant with federal price transparency requirements three years after they went into effect.

The Hospital Price Transparency Rule went into effect at the beginning of 2021. It requires hospitals to post actual — not estimated — prices of every procedure and code they offer.

A report released last month by the nonprofit Patient Rights Advocate reviewed 43 Iowa hospitals and found 60% are noncompliant with the requirement.

Cynthia Fischer, founder and chairman of Patient Rights Advocate, says the price of procedures can widely vary between hospitals and insurance plans.

“We know that when we all can pull back the curtains and see these prices, no one would tolerate being overcharged ten times more.”

The feds have issued fines to 14 hospitals nationwide so far for noncompliance. None are in Iowa.

IPR News

Two Hinton school administrators resign following assault investigation

Posted March 6, 2024 at 1:45 PM CST

A western Iowa school district at the center of an assault investigation involving its high school wrestling team is losing two administrators.

On Tuesday night, the Hinton School Board accepted the resignation of two principals, Phil Goetstouwers and Brian DeJong, who also serves as athletic director. Officials didn’t offer reasons for the resignations, effective at the end of the school year.

The Coralville Police Department launched an investigation after players said older teammates tasered them at a hotel during a wrestling tournament last month. A video circulating on social media showed a player being held down on a bed during the attack.

A police spokesperson says additional information will likely not be released because all involved are juveniles.

The public wasn’t allowed to speak at the special meeting, but afterward, one woman who identified herself by only her initials, DH, said her son was one of seven freshmen targeted.

“It has torn a lot of things apart. A lot of things have been unraveling more and more. And it's going to hit the hidden community hard. It's going to be getting worse before it gets better.”

Hinton’s head wrestling coach is still on administrative leave. Parents say he is being allowed to teach math.

IPR News

Biden wins 91% of Iowa Democrats’ caucus mail-in votes

Posted March 6, 2024 at 10:38 AM CST

Iowa Democrats are overwhelmingly supporting incumbent President Joe Biden for a second term.

Biden carried 91% of the mail-in presidential preference vote. Twelve thousand people mailed their votes. Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart said it’s a sign her party is ready to reelect Biden.

This year’s Democratic preference vote happened entirely by mail and was the first time the party announced results on Super Tuesday.

Iowa Republicans gave their results back in January, overwhelmingly supporting former President Donald Trump.

Tuesday night’s results are still considered unofficial. Tuesday was the last day to send in a presidential preference card. Cards bearing the correct postmark can still be counted.

IPR News

Investigation finds Sioux City police justified in shooting

Posted March 6, 2024 at 10:37 AM CST

An investigation by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation says Sioux City police did nothing wrong during an officer-involved shooting near the Hard Rock Casino earlier this year.

Woodbury County Attorney James Loomis says the shooting was “legally justified.”

“His violent aggression was planned and targeted at law enforcement. His attack on officers with the Sioux City Police Department put their lives in immediate danger.”

Loomis says 55-year-old Salvador Perez-Garcia rammed two patrol vehicles with his pick-up in the parking garage near the casino on Jan. 8. He then came toward officers swinging a chain with a metal object on the end of it. Officers fired 11 rounds and Perez-Garcia died at the scene.

The police department released graphic security and body camera footage of the incident.

Loomis made his comments during a news conference on Tuesday and said the state attorney general is still reviewing the case, which is standard procedure for shootings involving police officers.

IPR News

Iowa Democratic Party counts Super Tuesday caucus votes

Posted March 5, 2024 at 2:50 PM CST

Workers at the Iowa Democratic Party’s headquarters have been busy tabulating results from mail-in presidential preference cards. The cards replace the in-person caucuses that had been held for the last five decades.

The party will release results Tuesday evening, counting all cards postmarked by Tuesday.

IDP Chair Rita Hart says she’s happy with the process.

“The process of tabulating these presidential preference cards has gone very smoothly so far. We’re going to keep working on this today and hopefully we’ll have results — unofficial results — at 5 p.m. today.”

Democrats had hoped to have 15,000 people participate in the mail-in caucus, which is roughly the same number who participated in the 2012 caucus – the last time there was an incumbent Democrat in the White House.

More than 19,000 cards had been requested, and Hart says as of this morning around 12,000 had been returned.

IPR News

Cedar Falls residents call for Gaza ceasefire

Posted March 5, 2024 at 2:21 PM CST

As the Israel-Hamas War enters its fifth month, some Cedar Valley residents are speaking out against their cities’ silence.

A group of nearly two dozen protesters voiced their frustration with their government’s inaction Monday night outside the Cedar Falls City Hall.

Activists thought they had scored a major victory in January when the Cedar Falls city council considered a resolution from its Human Rights Commission condemning the violence, but that has since been withdrawn.

Protester Amelia Gotera says the anger stems in part from the city council’s about-face.

“The city council, what they’re doing right now, the mayor, they’re going directly against the recommendations of their human rights councils.”

Similar protests were held in Waterloo, where city officials are considering issuing a ceasefire proclamation.

State universities deal with delays in FAFSA information release

Posted March 5, 2024 at 12:52 PM CST

Updates to the FAFSA process have delayed the normal opening of applications, and is holding up the aid awards.

University of Northern Iowa Financial Aid Director Tim Bakula says all three state schools had financial aid offers out to students last year by mid-February.

This year, some students weren’t even able to get their FAFSA completed right after the process opened. Bakula said he was met with outages when he went to log in on Jan. 1 that lasted the full first week of the month.

Bakula says the universities should be seeing the results in the next few weeks.

He says they hope to begin awarding financial aid around the middle of April, which he says will impact students.

“It presents, from a family’s perspective, a much more condensed timeline to make decisions on which colleges to attend, especially for those students that were waiting on awards to ensure that the school they were selecting was accessible and affordable for them from a financial standpoint.”

University of Iowa Financial Aid Director Brenda Buzynski says the colleges and universities have been the “guinea pigs” for the upgraded system.

“They’ve had limited time for testing, and bottom line, what’s happening is that schools
 are ending up being their testers.”

Undergraduate students receive 67% of the student financial aid at the UI, Iowa State University and UNI. In 2023, 41% of the regent’s undergraduate financial aid came from the federal government, 41% from the regent institutions, 18 % from private organizations and 1% from the State of Iowa.

IPR News

Meteorologist says Iowa countryside is ‘extremely combustible’

Posted March 5, 2024 at 10:15 AM CST

Local officials in about a third of Iowa counties have issued outdoor burning bans.

National Weather Service Meteorologist Rod Donovan says over the past week and a half, the satellite data for Iowa showed lots of hot spots and radar has picked up smoke plumes from a lot of field fires.

It doesn’t take much to spark a fire in current conditions according to Donovan.

“Part of the issue we’ve had across Iowa is really our abnormally short winter, at least abnormally dry and warm across the area.”

These conditions have extended the drought. Donovan says pastures, cropland and grassy areas enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program are “extremely combustible” right now.

“It doesn’t take much for an ignition source to create hazardous fire weather conditions.”

The forecast for Iowa indicates March temperatures are likely to be above normal. Donovan says to expect more red flag warnings from the NWS until plants spring to life and fields start turning green.

Radio Iowa

DPS Commissioner responds after sports gambling charges dropped

Posted March 4, 2024 at 2:38 PM CST

The head of the Iowa Department of Public Safety issued a statement following the decision of the Story County Attorney’s Office to drop the prosecution of sports betting cases against four Iowa State University athletes.

In the statement, DPS Commissioner Stephen Bayens said that the decision to drop the cases is disappointing. He says Story County repeatedly shared with the department their belief that the DCI’s actions were legal.

The statement says the DCI used geolocation as part of their duty to regulate the sports betting industry, and agents obtained subpoenas after anomalies were observed at athletic facilities.

It says the anomalies were observed at athletic facilities that only individuals associated with NCAA-sanctioned sports teams had access.

“This was concerning because sportsbooks must seek to prohibit sports wagering by coaches, athletic trainers and players as required by Iowa law. Also, individuals with access to these facilities would possess insider information, could impact outcomes and tended to be underage.”

Bayens' statement says he understands why the investigation and resulting charges have generated so much attention and so many strong opinions.

"We love our college sports here in Iowa, myself included. Had this situation not involved college athletes, the public perception may have been entirely different.”

The statement comes just one day after an attorney for four former Iowa State student-athletes claimed investigators had been shut out of geofencing software that played a key role in gathering evidence in the case. Lawyers argued the geofence was set up unlawfully, and the athletes had cooperated with a preliminary investigation under a false promise of leniency.

IPR News

Bohannan criticizes Miller-Meeks for not speaking out against Koch acquisition 

Posted March 4, 2024 at 2:37 PM CST

Democratic congressional candidate Christina Bohannan is criticizing incumbent 1st Congressional District Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks for not speaking out against Koch Ag’s proposed acquisition of a Lee County fertilizer plant.

Critics argue the fertilizer industry is already dominated by just a few mega-operators, which has implications on the price of fertilizer for farmers and of food for Iowans. The Iowa Fertilizer Company’s plant was heavily incentivized by federal, state and local money.

Bohannan and other Democrats argue the deal and its impacts need to be monitored closely.

“After a few years, when they’ve made the profits, they pick up and move out, leaving us with big abandoned buildings and hollowed out communities. They don’t live here and they don’t care what happens here.”

Miller-Meeks did not offer comment on the merger. Koch Industries is a contributor to both her campaigns and affiliated political action committee.

Koch Ag’s $3.6 billion purchase was announced in December and is pending regulator approval.

IPR News

Iowa’s Caitlin Clark becomes NCAA all-time leading scorer

Posted March 4, 2024 at 12:45 PM CST

Iowa basketball superstar Caitlin Clark has become the all-time leading scorer in major college basketball. She passed Pete Maravich’s record of 3,667 points with a couple of free throws just before halftime of Sunday’s game against Ohio State.

Clark says she hopes she’ll be remembered for more than just her records.

“I hope people remember me for the way I play with a smile on my face and my competitive fire. They can remember the wins, but also the fun me and my teammates have together. That’s even the same for my teammates. We’ll talk about great wins we had at things like that, but it’s all the other moments that mean the most to us.”

Clark finished the game with 35 points, increasing her total to 3,685. The Hawkeyes won 93-83, and finished the season 15-3 in the Big Ten. They’ll be the second seed in the conference tournament, and will play Friday night.

IPR News

Guidelink Center celebrates three years of mental health service

Posted March 4, 2024 at 9:31 AM CST

Johnson County’s GuideLink Center is reaching its third year of service providing mental health and substance abuse treatment. Data shows more walk-ins than expected.

Approximately 700 of the facility’s 4,000 admissions came from law enforcement. Over 1,000 came from health care providers.

GuideLink’s Faraji Hubbard, who coordinates recovery, says it’s a “gift” for first responders to be able to come in and connect with individuals who are struggling.

He says instead of inadequate care, jail time or a trip to the emergency room, the center offers a chance to get more help.

Nearly 70% — 1,400 — of GuideLink’s visitors reflected in the data were walk-ins. The center says people are becoming more aware of its services and are making use of them, even outside of crises.

IPR News

Mild winter could spell trouble for Iowa trees

Posted March 1, 2024 at 3:40 PM CST

An early spring means a head start for Iowa gardens, but could make things difficult for the state’s conifer trees.

Many of the non-native species could be going through “winter desiccation,” where the tree is exposed to prolonged, irregular temperatures and cannot pull water from the still-frozen ground.

Tivon Feeley, the forest health program leader with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says symptoms may not appear until well into spring.

“The conifers look fine right now, but when we get further down the line in June, they’re going to brown up. I think it’s a high likelihood of something we’re going to see, because they’ve dehydrated themselves now, and it just takes awhile to catch up to the tree.”

Feeley says winter desiccation is often fatal.

Radio Iowa

Siouxland Food Bank receives record donation

Posted March 1, 2024 at 2:27 PM CST

The Food Bank of Siouxland got a record-breaking donation Thursday from Perdue Farms and the Feeding America program.

Food Bank Director Jacob Wanderscheid says Perdue delivered 80,000 pounds of frozen chicken breasts.

“This will be the biggest single donation that we received at one time of a greatly needed product in chicken,” he says. “Protein is the number one item that gets asked for, and top three of the categories that get distributed.”

He says it will fill up their freezer space.

“We did work with Perdue to try to get it in two different shipments so that we could get the first shipment to get into the warehouse. We have room for the second one and we’re working with our partners like Hope Food Pantry in Sioux Center to distribute this.”

Gary Malenke, the senior vice president of Perdue Farms in Sioux Center, says the Siouxland donation is part of a larger overall effort.

“Today is the single largest donation that Perdue has ever made in the history of the company,” he says. “Over 3.3 million pounds of product being delivered across the United States today, really kind of in recognition of leap day and the need for another day to feed ourselves.”

The Siouxland area covers 11 counties. It’s estimated that more than 25,000 residents don’t have enough food, including 42% of all children.

IPR News

Cyberattack causing prescription delays

Posted March 1, 2024 at 2:26 PM CST

A cyberattack on a health care company is causing delays in prescriptions nationwide, including in Iowa.

Change Healthcare, which is owned by UnitedHeath Group, has seen delays in its system since experiencing a cyberattack more than a week ago.

The company handles things like payments and requests to insurance companies to authorize care. The attack has caused many pharmacies to experience delays in filling prescriptions.

This includes UnityPoint Health, which operates clinics and hospitals across the state.

A spokesperson for the organization said in a statement the cyberattack has affected its pharmacies’ ability to submit prescription claims to insurance companies.

UnityPoint says it has disconnected its systems from Change Healthcare until the issue is resolved, and is trying to fill urgent prescriptions. But it said patients may experience a longer wait time and different payment requirements temporarily.

As of Friday, Change Healthcare’s systems remain down.

IPR News

Bohannan criticizes Miller-Meeks for supporting Life at Conception bill that could have impacted IVF treatments

Posted March 1, 2024 at 10:02 AM CST

Democratic challenger Christina Bohannan is going after Iowa’s 1st Congressional District Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks for being one of 166 Republicans who co-sponsored a Life at Conception Act in 2021.

The bill doesn’t mention in vitro fertilization, and following an Alabama Supreme Court decision that threatens the practice, Miller-Meeks recently said she supports IVF.

But because the bill would make fertilized eggs subject to the same protections as a child, Bohannan says it would have made IVF treatment impossible to practice.

“You can’t sign onto a bill that has this severe, devastating consequence for families and then try to backtrack later and say, ‘Oh I didn’t mean that, now I’m going to try and change what I’m saying simply now because you think you’re now in some political hot water over it.’”

Lab director Amy Sparks spoke at a campaign event for Bohannan. She said when she’s pipetting a tiny egg at the in vitro fertilization lab at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, there is always a chance its soft shell could be cracked.

She says the Alabama Supreme Court decision would make such a mistake a potential wrongful death lawsuit.

“I’m trying to do the best for our patients. But if I’m going to be liable to that level, I don’t know how many of us will continue to do this work.”

At the event, Bohannan said she pursued IVF when trying to conceive a second child.

IPR News

Rep. Steckman stepping down after 16 years

Posted February 29, 2024 at 2:47 PM CST

After nearly two decades in office, state Rep. Sharon Steckman, D-Mason City, will not seek reelection.

Steckman is a Democrat who represents District 59 in northern Iowa. She’s a retired teacher and has held the office for 16 years.

In that time, she says she’s become a staunch defender of the state’s public education system. She is the ranking member of the House Education Committee.

She says part of the reason she’s stepping down is the promise she sees in Iowa’s next generation of politicians.

“A lot of the new folks that came into our caucus are young, excited about Iowa. They’re passionate, they’re enthusiastic and I would love to see someone in north Iowa step up and fill those shoes up here.”

Steckman’s district includes roughly 32,000 Iowans, stretching from Plymouth at its northernmost to Thornton in the south, including Mason City.

IPR News

Governor unveils mobile office to connect unemployed Iowans with jobs

Posted February 29, 2024 at 12:53 PM CST

Gov. Kim Reynolds unveiled a new mobile workforce office on Thursday that will travel around the state to help connect out-of-work Iowans with new jobs.

Reynolds says it’s part of her initiative to focus on “re-employment.” She says her bill passed in 2022 to limit unemployment benefits to 16 weeks maximum has reduced the average amount of time Iowans get benefits to just under ten weeks.

"That is the shortest amount of time in more than 50 years, and significantly better than the national average of more than 14 weeks.”

Reynolds says the mobile workforce office will help with the state’s ongoing efforts to alleviate the state’s workforce shortage. She says about 60,000 jobs are open, many in the health care field.

The 32-foot workforce bus cost nearly $500,000 and was paid for with a mix of COVID relief funds and other federal grants.

IPR News

Dubuque County Auditor says phishing scam took $524,000 from city

Posted February 29, 2024 at 12:50 PM CST

More than $500,000 in federal money has gone missing in Dubuque County.

The county was passing the money to the City of Dyersville for an American Rescue Plan-funded project. Dubuque County officials believe the Dyersville city email was compromised and used by a third party to transfer $524,000 outside the county.

County Auditor Kevin Dragotto says the Dubuque County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident.

“We will continue to release all the information and be completely transparent in the process so that the public and the taxpayers can have a clear picture of what transpired.”

In 2022, the FBI reported that phishing attempts netted $52 million.

IPR News

Northeast Iowa church goes full solar

Posted February 29, 2024 at 9:17 AM CST

A recent report from the Department of Energy has found Iowa churches are below national averages of renewable energy use. Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Decorah is helping to change that.

The church is one of just 17 houses of worship in Iowa that utilizes solar energy, according to the report.

In the past year, the church has devoted itself entirely to switching over to renewable energy. It replaced five furnaces with 102 solar panels and is now operating at net zero.

Jim Fritz, a member of the congregation for about 30 years, first proposed the idea after powering his home with solar energy. He says three of the church’s rooftop furnaces were failing, and all five were “ugly.”

“You either go back to what you’ve been doing for the last however long and continue to spew emissions, or you can do something creative and clean up an eyesore.”

The switch to solar will allow the church to offset an estimated 25 tons of carbon emissions per year.

IPR News

Court says families cannot sue state for banning school mask mandates

Posted February 28, 2024 at 10:23 AM CST

A federal appeals court has officially ended a lawsuit brought by a group of Iowa parents against a state law passed in 2021 that banned schools from issuing mask mandates.

The families argued that schools must be allowed to require masking to protect their children who have disabilities that make them vulnerable to respiratory illnesses.

On Tuesday, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the families do not have legal standing to sue the state.

In a statement, Gov. Kim Reynolds said prohibiting school mask mandates was the right thing to do and she would do it again.

The Midwest Newsroom

In the Midwest, it's hard to count how many Hispanic women die from pregnancy issues

Posted February 28, 2024 at 10:22 AM CST

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Hispanic maternal mortality rates in the U.S. are rising. The most recent data published in 2021 shows the rate at 28 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, compared to 11.8 in 2018.

In 2021, Iowa reported 13% of pregnancy-related deaths were self-reported as Hispanic but did not include race information.

One of the largest sources of federal funding for maternal-child health comes from Title V, a federal block grant program. Title V provides funding to all 50 states for the improvement of public health services and systems for mothers, children and families.

Title V is different from other grants. It’s a “block” of money from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) that is distributed among states. State Title V offices allocate their portion of the funding.

As part of the block grant agreement, all subcontractors list any health gaps in the community and what they are doing to address them. All states also must list their health priorities each year.

Each state is also required to show what percentage of its target population is being served by the Title V program. Iowa, as well as many other states, report serving 100% of pregnant people. However, this year, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri did not specifically state addressing racial or ethnic health disparities as a priority for pregnant women and maternal health.

Read the full story from the Midwest Newsroom.

IPR News

1619 Freedom School program works to help close literacy gap by teaching Black history

Posted February 27, 2024 at 3:46 PM CST
Six kids and one teacher at a table reading books.
Grant Leo Winterer
/
IPR News
Small groups in the school focus on group reading.

Studies have shown that African American students who have had at least one Black teacher are more likely to enroll in college.

In Waterloo, a small team of mostly Black instructors is leading an after-school program to sharpen elementary students’ literacy skills. They also want to help students better understand their community’s history.

Gary Crawford is one of those instructors. He’s a 5th grade teacher by day and has been with the school since it began. Crawford grew up in Waterloo. He said in addition to improved literacy, he’s hoping the program will make his students more aware of their community’s history than he was.

“As a kid, when I was their age, they didn’t tell me any of that stuff," he said. "So now that I have some of that knowledge, I’m really honored to be able to share that with them so they can hopefully get out into the neighborhoods and see some of those buildings.”

Read the full story.

IPR News

IDOT closes Highway 9 bridge for structural investigation

Posted February 27, 2024 at 3:45 PM CST

Drivers who use the Highway 9 bridge over the Mississippi River in northeast Iowa should plan a different route. The Iowa Department of Transportation closed the bridge after inspectors found a couple of the structure’s piers had moved.

Crews have been building a new bridge about 60 feet from the old one in Lansing. Project Manager Clayton Burke says the Iowa DOT found the problem during an inspection on Sunday.

“It seems, based on the construction activity that was occurring at the time the bridge moved, that it was related to the activity that was going on to build the new bridge.”

The closure will mean a 75-mile detour to either Marquette to the south or La Crescent to the north. Burke says IDOT is putting up signs notifying drivers on Tuesday. He says repairs will take a couple of months.

The new bridge is not scheduled to open until 2027.

This story has been updated to reflect that the detour will go to Marquette. A previous version said McGregor.

IPR News

Former lawmaker Wes Whitehead dies

Posted February 26, 2024 at 4:35 PM CST

Former Iowa lawmaker Wes Whitehead died last week at the age of 90. He was known as a champion for working families.

Sioux City Mayor Bob Scott considered Whitehead a friend who paid attention to the needs of his community, especially labor issues.

“Wes was very independent when he went to the statehouse. He didn't vote party lines and he listened to the local officials probably better than anybody about what were concerns of ours.”

Whitehead, a Democrat, represented Sioux City for five terms in the Iowa House before retiring in 2011. He was a veteran of the Korean War and owned a heavy machinery company.

Whitehead died at a local care center in Sioux City on Thursday. A funeral service is scheduled for Tuesday morning.

Midwest Newsroom

More than 123,000 Iowa households could lose internet service unless Congress approves funding for discount program

Posted February 26, 2024 at 8:58 AM CST

More than 742,000 households in the Midwest, including over 123,000 in Iowa, could lose access to the internet unless Congress extends funding that’s set to end in May.

The American Connectivity Program, part of the $14.2 billion infrastructure bill passed in 2021, serves roughly 23 million low-income and rural households nationwide. The program provides discounts on monthly internet bills.

Janie Dunning, a member of Missouri’s Broadband Coalition, says the loss of internet service would have significant effects for residents.

“They could lose their ability to do their job — resulting in loss of income — lose their access to health care, lose their access to their children to have a better education.”

IPR News

Discovery of dead gray wolf could suggest population growth

Posted February 23, 2024 at 4:13 PM CST

A gray wolf was killed by a vehicle in eastern Iowa earlier this week, but the finding could suggest good news for the species overall.

The wolf was found on the northwest edge of Davenport, and was killed by a car, according to the Department of Natural Resources.

Gray wolves are protected under the Endangered Species Act. Over the past five years, the DNR has confirmed an average of one wolf sighting per year.

State Furbearer Biologist Vince Evelsizer says because wolves have been sighted in Iowa, it means their numbers are growing.

“It’s a good thing overall. It means that the population in the core areas is good, and there’s extra animals that are willing to disperse long distances and look for new territory.”

Evelsizer guesses the wolf came down from the Great Lakes region, where there are significant numbers of gray wolves.

IPR News

Iowa Supreme Court rules that Republican lawmakers don’t need to disclose emails

Posted February 23, 2024 at 4:13 PM CST

The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that Republican lawmakers don’t have to disclose their emails as part of a lawsuit over sweeping changes to Iowa’s voting laws.

The League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa sued the State of Iowa challenging a law passed three years ago that gives Iowans less time to vote in person and by mail. The group asked a district court judge to compel several Republican lawmakers to provide their communications with others about the process of passing that legislation.

A Polk County District Court judge ordered the lawmakers to provide those documents to LULAC’s lawyers, which was appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court.

The court determined lawmakers’ communications about the legislative process and legislative intent can be shielded, and that the documents requested in the case aren’t relevant to LULAC’s claims that the voting law changes are unconstitutional.

IPR News

Warm weather to continue until mid-week next week

Posted February 23, 2024 at 2:45 PM CST

Temperatures are expected to rise through the weekend before the Midwest sees a brief shot of winter weather in the middle of next week.

Des Moines National Weather Service Meteorologist Andrew Ansorge says to expect near-record warm temperatures on Monday and Tuesday before a system moves in and things quickly change.

The cold won’t last for long. Temperatures are expected to be back in the 50s across most of Iowa next Friday.

IPR News

Report finds that most of Iowa’s rural hospitals no longer deliver babies

Posted February 23, 2024 at 2:44 PM CST

As of last month, 61% of rural Iowa hospitals no longer have OB services, according toa report by the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform.

The report also found that of the 36 rural hospitals still providing OB care, 58% reported losing money on the service.

Harold Miller, the president and CEO of the nonprofit policy center, says insurance companies and Medicaid need to reimburse hospitals more for the cost of births.

“We've suggested that they also need to pay differently. Rather than simply paying for each birth, they need to be paying the hospital to be able to support the availability of the appropriate staff to do that.”

Miller says policymakers also need to find ways to recruit and train more people to work in rural health care.

Read the full story.

IPR News

Two years since the war in Ukraine began, Sioux County continues to welcome refugees

Posted February 23, 2024 at 2:43 PM CST

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Sioux County resident Martha Hulshof has helped 120 Ukrainians escape the conflict by filling out paperwork, securing transportation and finding local churches and individuals willing to sponsor refugees.

If she can’t find volunteers, she does it all herself.

Bringing people over from Ukraine has become more difficult as the war wages on. What used to take just a couple of days to get people out of a war zone can now stretch out for almost three months, due to the extra documentation required by the federal government.

Hulshof said some people she knows have disappeared, and she doesn’t know where they are. Others are killed before they can leave.

Once Ukrainians who succeed in leaving their country reach America, there is no guarantee they won’t be forced to return home when the fighting stops.

Hulshof said when the war started, the government launched a program called Uniting for Ukraine, where people can stay temporarily for a two-year period of parole followed by an extension.

"But our government is always changing stuff, so we can't say with certainty, ‘Yep, they'll be here in five years,’” she said.

Through the uncertainty, Hulshof still feels a calling to help the Ukrainians and considers them friends and part of her extended family.

Read the full story.

Radio Iowa

DNR seeking information after state’s largest sycamore damaged by fire

Posted February 23, 2024 at 8:42 AM CST

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is asking the public for help in finding out how one of the state’s oldest trees was damaged.

The DNR says someone reported a burning tree Sunday at Geode State Park near Danville in southeast Iowa. The tree turned out to be certified as the largest sycamore in the state. Based on its circumference and other measurements, it is estimated to be around 350 years old.

A park ranger says the tree was severely damaged by the fire and its survival is uncertain. Anyone with information on the fire is asked to call the DNR.

Harvest Public Media

Ag groups, lawmakers warn of monopoly in the fertilizer industry with plant sale

Posted February 23, 2024 at 8:41 AM CST

When Koch Industries announced a $3.6 billion deal in December to buy OCI’s Iowa Fertilizer Co. in far southeast Iowa, Jason Sporrer said he was shocked.

The sales manager for a co-op that provides agricultural products and services in western Iowa said the facility had brought much-needed diversity.

While still pending review by the Federal Trade Commission, some agricultural leaders and lawmakers say a finalized sale could put pressure on an already volatile market, creating a monopoly and higher prices for farmers. In January, several agriculture groups sent the FTC and the Department of Justice a letter calling on both federal agencies to thoroughly investigate the sale.

Democratic lawmakers in Iowa also are raising concerns, pointing at more than $500 million in local, state and federal tax incentives that OCI received before opening the plant in 2017. At a press conference earlier this month, Rep. Megan Srinivas, D-Des Moines, said while taxpayers helped fund the facility, questions remained about what would happen to the plant’s 260 employees.

In an email to Harvest Public Media, a representative of Koch Fertilizer said the subsidiary is focused on completing the transaction and operating the plant in Wever.

“This acquisition is consistent with the significant investments we have made in our business to increase production, improve reliability and expand our customers’ access to the products and services they need,” the statement said.

Read the full story from Harvest Public Media.

IPR News

Audit finds over $24,000 missing from Webster County Public Health Department

Posted February 22, 2024 at 3:49 PM CST

A report released by State Auditor Rob Sand has found more than $24,000 is missing from the Webster County Public Health Department.

Sand conducteda special investigation of the department between July 2016 and May 2022 following concerns from county officials about former public health director Kari Prescott’s handling of finances.

Prescott was fired in June 2022 following reports of a hostile work environment.

The report found more than $24,000 in undeposited collections, including $16,000 for immunization fees and nearly $8,000 for tuberculosis tests. The funds’ location could not be determined due to poor record keeping at the department.

Sand’s office has filed a copy of the report with county and state law enforcement agencies, which are responsible for deciding whether to file any criminal charges.

IPR News

Ethics Committee dismisses complaint against Rep. Jeff Shipley

Posted February 22, 2024 at 1:14 PM CST

The Iowa House Ethics Committee has unanimously voted to dismiss an ethics complaint against Rep. Jeff Shipley, R-Birmingham.

Sara Hayden Parris of Johnston filed the complaint last month. She alleged Shipley used social media to personally defame her. Parris wrote in her complaint that Shipley’s online comments constituted a violation of the House ethics code.

Rep. Anne Osmundson, R-Volga, who chairs the House Ethics Committee, says lawmakers disagree.

“It really seemed politically motivated, and he had not violated any of the House Code of Ethics rules so that’s why it was dismissed.”

Parris is president of a nonprofit that distributes free books with sexual content that Republican lawmakers have targeted with legislation. Shipley has accused her of giving out obscene materials and wrote on social media that Parris should be under criminal investigation.

KCCK

New Kirkwood president inaugurated

Posted February 22, 2024 at 1:12 PM CST

Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids has inaugurated its new president.

College and community leaders, legislators and alums attended the event for President Kristie Fisher on Feb. 21, who began her tenure at Kirkwood on Oct. 30, 2023.

“Kirkwood has a long tradition of high quality education and training, and a tradition of exceptional service to our students and our communities that deserves to be celebrated.”

Fisher is the sixth president in Kirkwood’s nearly 60-year history and the second woman to serve in the role. She succeeded Lori Sundberg, who retired in 2023.

Radio Iowa

Central Iowa cyclists launch effort to build massive indoor BMX track

Posted February 21, 2024 at 2:36 PM CST

A capital campaign is being launched to build an indoor Olympic-level bicycle motocross, or BMX, track and cycling park in central Iowa.

One of the effort’s organizers, Bobby Kennedy, operations manager of the Des Moines Street Collective, says the proposed facility would be an excellent resource for community wellness that would promote access to sports and recreation.

BMX involves both bike racing, which is racing on a short course over “pumps” and freestyle, which focuses more on tricks and jumps.

The plans call for a 200,000 square foot facility that could cost between $5 million and $9 million.

“What we’re hoping to put in is a full BMX race track, but then also a skills park. It’d be a place where you can practice drops like ledges, a pump track and then dirt winds as well. We’re aiming big, so it’d be nice if we had some actual single-track style, maybe wooden features where people could practice mountain biking in the winter.”

There’s also discussion of building a steeply banked track, called a velodrome, for bike racing within the facility. Cycling is huge in Iowa and Kennedy says there are no indoor tracks near this level in the state.

“The nice thing about an indoor track is constancy, which is not how you talk about Iowa weather. So basically, we’re looking at something that people would be able to use on a day-to-day basis, no matter if it’s 120 degrees outside or -20.”

Under the capital campaign, backers have 12 months to raise $47,000 to pay for a feasibility study on the track, and Kennedy says they’ve already raised $16,000 toward the goal.

Radio Iowa

Treehouse Village attraction to open soon at Iowa Arboretum

Posted February 21, 2024 at 11:24 AM CST

The Iowa Arboretum in Boone County will debut a first-in-the-Midwest feature at its facility this spring.

“Treehouse Village” will be an inclusive treehouse suspension bridge and outdoor nature play area, according to spokesperson Mark Schnieder.

“It will give people elevated and ground-level experiences in tree houses and in a really neat play area.”

He says the Treehouse Village will be a welcome addition to the arboretum near Madrid, with several features just for people in wheelchairs, including a swing and a zip-line.

“The whole project is located in our woodland area across from our main campus, so we’re still about gardens, which is very important to us, and growing trees. This is a new element that will bring families, bring people, bring grandparents with their grandchildren to the arboretum to experience nature and be outdoors.”

Almost $1.7 million of $2 million has been raised for the project.

Radio Iowa

Educational tour on stopping scammers to visit several cities

Posted February 21, 2024 at 11:22 AM CST
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird speaks at a press conference on opioid abuse prevention in Carroll, Iowa.
Natalie Krebs
/
IPR
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird speaks at a press conference on opioid abuse prevention in Carroll, Iowa.

Iowa’s attorney general, insurance commissioner and AARP state director are holding stops across the state to try and educate residents about scams.

AARP director Brad Anderson says the latest scam uses artificial intelligence to fool elderly Iowans by impersonating a grandchild or a loved one.

Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen says the new Department of Insurance and Financial Services has people working with the banking industry and the credit union industry to bring them into this effort to protect older Iowans.

Attorney General Brenna Bird says getting scammed money back is not easy, especially if the scam is run from a foreign country. She says nationwide, $10 billion was stolen in 2023 by scammers, and that’s just the scams that were reported.

The three are calling their tour the “Stop the Scammers Roadshow” and held the first one in Des Moines on Tuesday. They will also make stops in Ames, Carroll, Cedar Rapids, Coralville, Council Bluffs, Newton, Creston, Davenport, Dubuque, Fort Dodge, Johnston, Marshalltown, Mason City, Mt. Pleasant, Ottumwa, Sioux City and Waterloo.

Side Effects Public Media

As more rural hospitals stop delivering babies, some are determined to make it work

Posted February 21, 2024 at 11:17 AM CST

More and more rural hospitals across the country have stopped delivering babies in recent years.

Hospitals say that’s due to many factors. It’s harder to recruit staff like OB/GYNs, insurance reimburses hospitals very little for deliveries and, overall, people are having fewer babies.

This means those who are pregnant in rural areas have to drive further for care and delivery, which affects their health and safety. But some rural hospitals have found ways to make these units survive.

Read the full story from Side Effects Public Media.

Radio Iowa

Iowan selected as president of U.S. Composting Council board

Posted February 20, 2024 at 2:10 PM CST

The program manager at the Iowa Waste Reduction Center run by the University of Northern Iowa is now the president of the United States Composting Council board of directors.

Jennifer Trent says the council works to promote everything from compostable packaging to composting food waste. She says one projection has the compost industry growing by 6.5% by 2027, which equates to a $9.5 billon increase.

She says Iowa has struggled to expand its compost industry.

“In my personal opinion and professional opinion, I think that’s wholly related to regulations that make it really difficult for businesses to grow and thrive.”

She says the council is trying to work with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and Department of Agriculture to get the regulations changed so the compost business can grow in Iowa.

Trent says the compost can be used as a soil conditioner that acts sort of as a fertilizer, and can also be used to filter runoff water. There’s also composting on a small level in back yards across Iowa. Trent says this is something that’s also expanding.

“Currently, we’re working with a lot of small rural public libraries across Iowa to provide compost programming. So we are definitely trying to do this. and it is making a huge impact from the first time we started doing this 12 years ago to now. I see a huge uptick in the number of people that are interested.”

IPR News

Report finds Iowa has one of the fastest growing rates of new cancers in the nation

Posted February 20, 2024 at 1:30 PM CST

An estimated 21,000 Iowans will be diagnosed with cancer this year, according to the Iowa Cancer Registry’s annual Cancer in Iowa report.

The report found Iowa has the second highest rate of new cancers in the country, primarily breast, prostate and lung cancer.

This year’s report focused on the role of alcohol in increasing Iowans’ risk for cancer. Mary Charlton, the director of the Iowa Cancer Registry at the University of Iowa, says there’s no one clear cause for cancer, but heavy alcohol use can damage DNA and cell structure for years, even after a person stops drinking.

“Some of those pieces of the pie are filled in for us by our genetics and history, other things that we cannot modify, but think of alcohol as one of those pieces that we do not want to fill in.”

According to the report, Iowa has one of the highest rates of binge drinking in the country.

Harvest Public Media

Vilsack says aging farmers and fewer farms in the new agriculture census should be a 'wake-up call’

Posted February 19, 2024 at 2:41 PM CST

Farmers in the U.S. are getting older, according to new numbers from the national Census of Agriculture. At the same time, the number of farms is decreasing, though the average size has gone up.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture conducts a census of farmers every five years. The latest one shows an aging farmer population and continued consolidation of farms.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack says this census should be a wake-up call.

“It need not be that every five years we report fewer farms and less farmland. It doesn't have to be.”

The secretary called on policymakers in his department and in Congress to find new ways to support small farms.

Brad Summa, who directs the USDA’s statistics service in the Heartland Region, says farms are just becoming more efficient.

“But that efficiency kind of comes at a cost, you know, to be a really big, large producing farm, there's a lot of overhead. And it's tough to break into that if you are a new and beginning farmer.”

Along with fewer farms, the average age of farmers has increased to 58.

Summa says one positive sign of increasing efficiency is yields. The U.S. set a new record last year for corn production.

Read the full story from Harvest Public Media.

February on pace to be the warmest on record

Posted February 19, 2024 at 9:06 AM CST

State Climatologist Justin Glisan says Iowa is on pace to have the warmest February on record.

He says the colder temperatures on Feb. 16 and 17 had some impact, but temperatures are warming back up.

Glisan says there are two weeks to go before the end of the climatological winter, which he says has been drier than normal. He doesn’t see a lot of change through the end of the month.

”This is a function of the strong El Nino that we have set up in the eastern Pacific. Warmer ocean waters fire more thunderstorms. Those thunderstorms impact where the jet streams set up over the United States, so the polar jet is further north, subtropical jet states
 towards the south metro. We see a lot of precipitation along the Gulf states, and we’re stuck in between, so warmer weather and a less active storm track.”

Glisan said early indications are that the warm weather will continue into the first few weeks of March.

Side Effects

USDA urges Iowa to process food assistance applications faster

Posted February 19, 2024 at 9:05 AM CST

The federal government says it’s concerned that Iowa is not processing food assistance applications fast enough.

United States Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack sent Gov. Kim Reynolds and 43 other states a letter urging them to improve the efficiency of their SNAP benefits program.

The letter states that Iowa has an application processing timeliness rate of just under 83%, far below the feds’ acceptable performance rate of 95%.

Luke Elzinga, with the Des Moines Area Religious Council, or DMARC, says delays in getting SNAP benefits can be detrimental to those who need them.

“For a lot of people, that's the difference between having funds to feed their families or not. These are people who are waiting for benefits to pay for groceries.”

A spokesperson for the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services says it continues to “review and make improvements to the process for reviewing SNAP applications.”

Read the full story from Side Effects Public Media.

IPR News

Davenport pushes for stricter regulations on adult entertainment

Posted February 16, 2024 at 4:25 PM CST

Davenport is leading an effort to regulate adult entertainment establishments on a local level through a proposed legislative bill.

The initiative would allow cities and counties to restrict the hours of a strip club if local courts find sufficient evidence of assault, gunshots, or a riot within 500 feet of an establishment. Legislators passed a similar bill for bars in 2022, but that didn’t cover adult entertainment establishments that don’t serve alcohol.

For Davenport Police Chief Jeffery Bladel, the bill would help close that loophole.

"There was a loophole where they didn’t fall anywhere, and this does leave us, at the end of the day, the assurance that we can at least take some kind of action when action is needed."

The bill has the support of the Metro Coalition, which represents some of Iowa’s largest cities.

IPR News

Des Moines airport receives federal grant to improve terminal

Posted February 16, 2024 at 3:15 PM CST

The Des Moines International Airport is receiving more federal money to help pay for expansion of the main terminal. The latest amount, $5.3 million, will go toward the next phase of construction, scheduled to begin in April.

Brian Mulcahy is assistant executive director of the Des Moines airport Authority.

“This $5 million is the latest in the Airport Terminal Program piece of the bipartisan infrastructure law, which brings our total... to $21 million over the last three years.”

Mulcahy says it was a competitive grant process and they would have liked to receive more, but the money will help.

“The goal is always to improve the customer experience, the passenger experience, get rid of the pinch points that we currently have in this terminal that we know about
the security checkpoint. Trying to make things as future-proof as possible is really the goal.”

This week the Iowa DOT reported a record 4.6 million passengers traveled through Iowa’s eight commercial airports in 2023.

RI

MOC-Floyd Valley assistant principal wins national award

Posted February 16, 2024 at 11:17 AM CST

MOC-Floyd Valley assistant high school principal Grant Hegstad was surprised with a major award Thursday during an assembly at the Orange City School.

Milken Awards Senior Vice President Jane Foley announced Hegstad’s award. Hegstad is the only Iowa educator to receive the award.

“I’m honored and humbled to say the least. I’m here today because I had incredible teachers growing up,” Hegstad said. “So I am so excited for you as MOC-Floyd Valley and our student body, because I know the incredible group of people you have pouring into you as well.”

Hegstad is the 47th Iowan to receive the award, which includes an unrestricted gift of $25,000.

IPR News

Hawkeye senior Caitlin Clark breaks NCAA record

Posted February 16, 2024 at 9:26 AM CST

Hawkeye senior Caitlin Clark broke the NCAA women’s basketball scoring record Thursday against Michigan. Clark took only two minutes and 12 seconds to cement her place in basketball history, picking up the eight points she needed to surpass the 2017 record set by Washington’s Kelsey Plum.

Margaret Adams, a fan of Clark, said she was thrilled the record would be held by such a positive role model.

"She’s just brought so much positive attention to women’s sports and basketball as well. She’s just sweet."

Barb Thomas, executive director of outreach events at the University of Iowa, watched Clark break the record. Thomas said Clark and her Hawkeyes have embodied the spirit of Iowa.

"It’s phenomenal to see her playing at this level. She’s such a great player, but in addition, it’s such a great team. And it is really the team chemistry that makes them so strong. It’s very Iowan."

Clark finished the game with 49 points. She is now less than 100 points from the men’s NCAA career scoring record.

IPR News

Fans flock to Iowa City for Clark's basketball record

Posted February 15, 2024 at 4:29 PM CST

The eyes of the sports world will be on Carver-Hawkeye Arena Thursday night as Caitlin Clark looks to break the NCAA college women’s basketball scoring record. Clark is only eight points shy of the mark.

Clark has drawn fans from across Iowa and well beyond as the Hawkeyes take on Michigan this evening.

Tickets have been sold out for weeks, but that didn’t stop Angela Springer from making the trip all the way from Austin, Texas.

Springer found tickets last minute through her daughter. She says the game is more than just a chance to witness basketball history. It’s an opportunity to be a part of a pivotal moment in women’s sports.

"For us, it’s just really neat to see the nation rallying around her. I mean, even people in other countries are following Caitlin Clark."

Clark claimed the Big 10 career assist record in December, and secured her 1,000th career assist in a loss to Nebraska on Sunday.

Tipoff is at 7 p.m.

IPR News

Auditor says Board of Parole is withholding documents about whistleblower complaint

Posted February 15, 2024 at 4:22 PM CST

State Auditor Rob Sand says the Iowa Board of Parole refused to provide documents he requested, citing a new law. Republican lawmakers took action last year to prevent the state auditor, who is the only statewide elected Democrat, from taking state agencies to court when they refuse to provide information.

Sand says a whistleblower told his office the Iowa Board of Parole wasn’t following state law governing the makeup of parole review panels. He says the board refused to provide documents to prove that the problem was fixed.

Sand says a new proposal in the Iowa Senate that would allow state agencies to opt out of audits by his office and instead choose a private accounting firm would make it even harder for him to investigate wrongdoing.

“It would replace the state auditor chosen by the people of the state of Iowa with one insiders will hand-pick with no bidding requirement and no means for independent oversight of their audits. These insiders want a state auditor who is a lapdog, not a watchdog.”

The Board of Parole says they didn’t provide the documents because Sand didn’t first provide a letter of engagement they say is required by law. Sand says the law doesn’t require him to provide a separate letter of engagement.

Radio Iowa

NWS looking to train storm spotters

Posted February 15, 2024 at 4:21 PM CST

The National Weather Service is seeking to train volunteers to be storm spotters for the severe weather season this spring.

Meteorologist Andrew Ansorge says spotter classes will begin next month.

“This is just an opportunity for us to come out into the community and provide refresher training on spotter training, as well as for people who might be interested that haven’t taken it before. It gives them information about how to spot a storm safely and to report that information back to us here at the National Weather Service.”

Ansorge said the first class will be held in southwest Iowa, and that more information can be found online.

The first class is on March 19 in Creston.

Radio Iowa

Record number of people traveled from Iowa airports in 2023

Posted February 15, 2024 at 10:46 AM CST

Travel by planes and automobiles was up across Iowa in 2023. Iowa Department of Transportation spokesperson Stuart Anderson says airplane travel led the way.

“We did end 2023 setting a record for passenger counts at our eight commercial service airports with 4.6 million passengers, which was higher than 4.5 million, which was in 2019.”

Travel on the state roadways in the last year was also above the pre-pandemic level.

“We did end the year slightly below the 2019 December, but overall we are 1.7% higher in vehicle miles of travel than in calendar year ‘22, and one tenth of a percent higher than calendar year 2019.”

Anderson says there was also an increase in rail shipping of some products that had slowed during the pandemic.

“We did see motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts shipped on rail increased by 12.3% over the previous calendar year. Petroleum products on rail went up 11%.”

However, grain product shipment on rail fell almost 10% compared to 2022, largely due to less exports of grain overall.

IPR News

Warm weather speeds up syrup season

Posted February 14, 2024 at 3:51 PM CST
A maple tree fills a bucket with sap
Madeleine Charis King
/
IPR

Sap season in northeast Iowa typically runs from the end of February to the end of March. With the past two weeks bringing warmer temperatures across the region, maple sap harvesters have had to start their harvests nearly three weeks early.

Floyd County Conservation Director Adam Sears is one of those harvesters. He says the season is the earliest start he’s seen in ten years.

"Normally, next week’s when we start thinking about tapping trees, not ten days ago. Everything’s just moved forward, but we’re hoping we get a little longer season this year, rather than just an earlier one."

Floyd County Conservation typically harvests close to 10,000 gallons of sap per season, which yields about 200 gallons of maple syrup.

Radio Iowa

Governor requests federal disaster declaration for damage from January blizzards

Posted February 14, 2024 at 1:36 PM CST

Gov. Kim Reynolds has requested a Presidential Disaster Declaration for 18 Iowa counties following the snow storms in early January.

The governor is requesting funding under the FEMA’s Public Assistance Program for Adair, Black Hawk, Cedar, Clinton, Davis, Delaware, Dubuque, Jefferson, Johnson, Jones, Linn, Lucas, Montgomery, Polk, Scott, Story, Wapello and Washington counties after record-breaking snowfall from Jan. 8th-14th.

A joint federal, state and local damage assessment estimated the significant snowfall resulted in more than $8 million worth of damage. The program would help those counties recover costs related to snow removal, de-icing, salting and sanding of roads.

RI

Driver in fatal September accident near Webster City charged

Posted February 14, 2024 at 11:02 AM CST

A 40-year-old Webster City man has been arrested and charged in connection with a fatal accident last fall.

Dustin Humlicek has been charged with homicide by vehicle operating while intoxicated, operating while under the influence and driving with a suspended license. The accident happened at about 3 a.m. on Sept. 2nd near Webster City.

Authorities say after Humlicek failed to stop at a stop sign, his pickup entered a ditch and came to rest in the yard of a home. Humlicek and a passenger, 48-year-old Kevin Beightol of Webster City, were taken to Webster City’s hospital for treatment, then transferred to hospitals in the Des Moines area.

Beightol, the passenger in the pickup, died later that same day. A preliminary hearing for Humlicek is scheduled for Feb. 20 in Hamilton County Magistrate Court.

IPR News

State limits on taxable revenue has Waverly rethinking staffing needs

Posted February 13, 2024 at 2:31 PM CST

Waverly’s property valuation increase over the past year was about $150 million, but due to one of the steepest rollbacks in two decades, the taxable total is only $14 million. The city will see about $1 million disappear from its budget in the coming fiscal year.

City administrator James Bronner says that could spell the end for one longstanding city department.

"We’ve had internal engineering for a long time, but that’s another one that we’re going to have to take a look at, possibly going outside to a firm to handle all day-to-day operations."

Bronner says Waverly may outsource its legal counsel as well. Cities across the state are facing a 10% drop in property tax income next fiscal year due to the rollbacks.

IPR News

Police investigation underway into assault involving students at wrestling tournament

Posted February 13, 2024 at 2:29 PM CST

An investigation is underway after an incident involving wrestlers in a northwest Iowa school district.

Parents showed up during Monday night’s school board meeting in Hinton to speak for and against the suspension of head coach Casey Crawford.

This comes as Coralville police say they are investigating an assault involving students in the Hinton School District. Two parents say their sons were held down and tasered at a hotel in Coralville during the state dual wrestling tournament.

A woman named Holly is one of the parents.

“I hope none of you ever trust the way that I did because I wouldn't want any of your children to go through what mine went through, especially what this so-called wrestling family is.”

The parents who attended Monday night’s school board meeting said some of the wrestlers were also suspended, and all agreed what happened to the two students was horrible. The incident was recorded on a cell phone and shared on Snapchat.

The superintendent of the Hinton Community School District said he can’t comment on confidential student or personnel matters, but the district is committed to providing a safe and positive school environment.

Radio Iowa

Farmers speak out about severe weather events in ISU poll 

Posted February 13, 2024 at 2:22 PM CST

The latest edition of the “Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll” from Iowa State University Extension finds a few shifts in thoughts about climate change.

J. Arbuckle oversees the poll and says they first asked the climate question in 2011, and added it again this past year.

“That climate change is due to human activities that was increased from ten percent to 15% over that time period. And then let’s see, the climate change is occurring, and equally due to natural human causes went from 35 to 40 percent."

The climate change question has been asked two other times and he says the number of people who believe it is an issue dropped in the recent poll.

“In 2013 and 2020, there are actually a greater proportion of farmers expressing belief that climate change is occurring, then did the same in 2023,” he says. ” So there’s been a kind of decline between 2020 and 2023, in that, in that metric, whether or not climate change is happening.”

The complete 2023 poll and past polls are available on the Iowa State University Extension website.

Radio Iowa

Rep. Nunn calls Trump’s recent NATO remarks a ‘disservice’ to allies

Posted February 13, 2024 at 10:04 AM CST

Iowa Congressman Zach Nunn says former President Trump’s suggestion that he might encourage Russia to attack European allies who don’t fulfill their NATO obligations is similar to President Biden’s decision to end sanctions against Iran.

“When we have a situation where we have a president, sitting or former, that doesn’t stand up to an adversary or threatens our allies, that we are doing a disservice to our own national security right here at home,” Nunn told reporters after a news conference in Des Moines on Monday.

Trump has long criticized NATO allies for relying on the U.S. and failing to spend enough on their own defense. This weekend, Trump said if a big European country were delinquent in its NATO obligations, he’d encourage Russia to do whatever it wishes because the U.S. would not protect a country that hadn’t paid its bills. Provoking Russia is “bad behavior,” according to Nunn.

“I think anyone who would threat [sic] our allies is doing a disservice to our country,” Nunn said. “
Anyone who’s going to, you know, stash intelligence material in their garage or in their compound — these are things that people need to be held accountable for. I don’t care if they’re the sitting president or the former president.”

Nunn, a Republican from Bondurant, has served 20 years in the various branches of the military and is currently in the Air Force Reserve.

Radio Iowa

Supreme Court issues ruling on drunk driving case evidence

Posted February 12, 2024 at 12:03 PM CST
Madeleine Charis King
/
IPR

The Iowa Supreme Court has reversed a lower court ruling involving evidence obtained in a drunk driving case.

The district court sided with driver Colby Laub, who argued a Boone County deputy wrongfully obtained a search warrant to get him to give a breath test that proved he was driving drunk. Laub said the deputy should have used the state’s implied consent procedure.

Under implied consent, a driver can refuse to take a test, but will automatically have his or her driver’s license suspended.

The Iowa Supreme Court overturned the district court ruling, saying the use of a warrant did not violate Laub’s right to due process as the implied consent procedure is not the exclusive means of investigating OWI cases.

Radio Iowa

Thousands switched party registration for 2024 Iowa caucuses

Posted February 12, 2024 at 9:50 AM CST
Trump addresses the crowd at his caucus watch party, Jan. 15, 2024.
Lucius Pham
Trump addresses the crowd at his caucus watch party, Jan. 15, 2024.

The latest voter registration data suggests thousands of Iowans switched their party registration to Republican so they could participate in last month’s Iowa caucuses.

Voter data from the Iowa Secretary of State’s office shows there were about 16,000 more registered Republicans in Iowa on Feb. 1 than there were on Jan. 2. The Iowa Republican Party Caucuses were held Jan. 15.

The data suggests about 5,500 Democrats and 6,000 independents switched their party registration to Republicans in order to participate in the caucuses that night.

IPR News

Cedar Valley museum eyes expansion, despite shrinking funding

Posted February 12, 2024 at 8:57 AM CST

City tax levies for libraries and museums across Iowa will shrink in the coming years. That could make expanding a Cedar Valley art museum more difficult.

Over the past 35 years, the Hearst Center for the Arts in Cedar Falls has grown: It currently houses 500 works of art in 600 square feet of storage space.

The museum has planned a 12,000-square-foot expansion, but will probably have to raise most of the money for the project privately due to expiring city tax levies.

Cory Hurless, the cultural programs supervisor at the center, says support for the expansion has been positive. Still, she worries about how many projects Cedar Falls residents are willing to fund.

“My question is: The community has supported some expensive quality-of-life things over the past few years, and would they be willing to support another one?”

The cost for the expansion would run about $6.3 million.

IPR News

Escucha Mi Voz shares concerns about immigration bills

Posted February 9, 2024 at 4:31 PM CST

Immigrant rights group Escucha Mi Voz Iowa has been invited to address their concerns over a handful of immigration-related bills with the International Relations Committee Monday morning.

The goal of the committee is to foster international cooperation, trade and communication between lawmakers and foreign governments. Escucha Mi Voz President Guillermo Trevino said it’s the perfect forum for immigrants to share their stories.

“When we hear someone, we’re less likely to dislike and misunderstand that person and see why they came.”

Trevino says, if passed, the bills will have a negative impact on the state’s economy.

“We’re already struggling to keep people. Here in Iowa, one of the bad jokes is ‘behind the corn, our second biggest export is our young people.’ If this were to pass, we might lose the worker that we so desperately need.”

Guillermo says undocumented immigrants remain a big part of the state’s economy and says the Legislature should be finding ways to make it easier for them to contribute rather than excluding and criminalizing them.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This post has been updated to reflect that Escucha Mi Voz Iowa was invited to address their concerns Monday morning. The original post stated they had been invited to address their concerns Friday morning.

IPR News

Nebraska ACLU says Omaha Federal Immigration Court regularly violates legal rights 

Posted February 9, 2024 at 2:17 PM CST
Border patrol agents wait on the U.S. side of the border on the Bridge of the Americas between El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexico to check identification of those crossing into the U.S. In recent months, border patrol agents have posted on the U.S. side of the border and required that migrants wait to cross due to space issues. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported it arrested a record numbers of migrant family units in December.
Natalie Krebs
/
IPR File
Border patrol agents wait on the U.S. side of the border on the Bridge of the Americas between El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexico to check identification of those crossing into the U.S.

A new report by the ACLU of Nebraska has found the Federal Immigration Court in Omaha is routinely violating immigrants’ legal rights.

The report was based on the observation of more than 500 pretrial hearings at the court, which handles many cases of Iowa residents.

The report found concerns over the short length of the hearings, immigrants not being advised of their rights as well as inadequate interpretation and representation from immigration attorneys.

Dylan Severino, with the ACLU of Nebraska, says the findings show that the court is failing to universally provide due process.

“Immigration court judges make consequential decisions, often with life or death consequences, and it's critical that they provide immigrants full and fair participation in their own hearings.”

Brian Blackford, an immigration attorney based in Omaha, says the nation’s immigration court system is facing a large backlog of cases and shortage of judges.

“But that should be no excuse for not providing proper rights advisements to clients in removal proceedings, especially those who do not have the luxury of having an attorney at that point in time.”

The report recommends changes such as using telephone interpretation services and creating more government programs to support legal representation.

Read the full story.

Harvest Public Media

Bills introduced in Congress that would reduce risk of cyberattacks on food system

Posted February 9, 2024 at 2:15 PM CST

Congressional lawmakers have introduced legislation that calls on the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct more research on the possible threats to farmers and vulnerabilities in supply chains.

Kim Cooper, the senior director of Government Affairs for the North American Millers' Association, says one of reasons her members support more focus on cybersecurity in food production is because mills operate 24/7, 365 days a year to make things like flour and everyday foods.

“To give you an idea in terms of volume, a regular mill can put out over a million pounds of flour daily."

Several lawmakers have said food security is national security. So far, the bills have received bipartisan support in both the House and Senate.

IPR News

Snow, warmer weather recharge soil, but Iowa remains in drought

Posted February 9, 2024 at 10:25 AM CST

Recent snowmelt has recharged soil moisture across most of the state, but Iowa remains in the grip of the longest drought it’s seen since 1954. Almost all areas have been in some form of drought for 188 weeks.

Speaking to the Iowa Farmers Union, State Climatologist Justin Glisan said with the warming climate, droughts will likely be more numerous and last longer.

“With a warming atmosphere holding more water vapor in the atmosphere, it takes more water vapor loading to produce a meteorological event. So you’re seeing more longer-term droughts, and drought intensification on a faster time scale, given that type of process. So we’re seeing extremes lock in more persistently, whether they’re wet or dry.”

Glisan says the country is in an El Nino weather pattern, which should begin to transition to wetter La Nina conditions in late spring and early summer.

Harvest Public Media

The U.S. hopes to build more pipelines for carbon capture, but landowners don't want them

Posted February 9, 2024 at 10:24 AM CST
 A message protesting carbon capture pipelines sits outside the Iowa Capitol.
Madeleine Charis King
/
IPR
A message protesting carbon capture pipelines sits outside the Iowa Capitol.

The Midwest has thousands of miles of oil and natural gas pipelines running underneath farmland, forests and even rivers. And many more pipeline projects are being proposed as part of efforts to lower greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

President Joe Biden has vowed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to “net zero” by 2050. Lawmakers have supported clean energy projects to help do that by sequestering CO2 and expanding hydrogen power. That will mean many new pipelines to carry CO2 and hydrogen over thousands of miles.

But the new pipeline proposals face stiff resistance from farmers and landowners who cite past projects that exposed regulatory gaps and left behind considerable damage.

Read the full story from Harvest Public Media.

Radio Iowa

4 ice-trapped swans recovering after hovercraft rescue

Posted February 8, 2024 at 10:10 AM CST

Before this week’s warm-up, more than 30 swans were trapped in the ice on Little Wall Lake in central Iowa’s Hamilton County.

Rescue efforts were hampered as the ice was too thin to safely support humans, so a hovercraft was used last week to reach the struggling birds.

Jeni Boonjakuakul, with the Iowa Bird Rehabilitation Center in Des Moines, says seven swans were saved, but three died, likely from a combination of exposure and lead poisoning. The four remaining birds were taken to the Nebraska Wildlife Center to remove the lead from the gizzards of two of the swans.

“Two are still there because they were too unstable to do the procedure, but we are hoping within the next day or two that they stabilize and then we can do the procedure on them as well.”

Another 24 dead swans were pulled from the icy lake by rescue and recovery teams. Boonjakuakul says it’s common for swans to be afflicted with lead poisoning during drought.

“They usually are ingesting lead particles that are at the bottom of the lake, and Little Wall Lake is 30 inches lower than it normally is due to our drought. The swans have very long necks, so they were able to reach the bottom, and as they forage, they’re picking up particles, and then the lead just sits in their gizzard. It doesn’t digest and it doesn’t move through their system and it just continues to poison them.”

It’s hoped all four swans can return to the Iowa rehab center to be nursed back to health, though it could take months.

IPR News

Black Hawk County works to preserve Black history

Posted February 8, 2024 at 10:05 AM CST

During Black History Month, one northeast Iowa county is trying to figure out how to best preserve and develop that history.

Black Hawk County doesn’t have its own historical preservation society, which leaves a lot of those efforts in the hands of city groups or nonprofits.

For Waterloo historian and lifelong resident Charles Pearson, that poses a problem. He says the area’s Black businesses and its history are inseparable, and those voices simply haven’t been heard.

“The Black economy is built around our history, our heritage. We’ve got all kinds of Black people in Iowa, but we don’t have a Black economy. We don’t have a single Black historical district.”

Pearson points to partnerships between Black-owned business and historical districts in the South as examples of what Iowa could become.

An effort to create a Black historical district in Waterloo is underway.

IPR News

Sentencing date set for wife of Woodbury County supervisor convicted of voter fraud

Posted February 8, 2024 at 10:02 AM CST
Kim Phuong Taylor (on the right) leaves the Federal Courthouse in Sioux City on Monday Nov. 20 when jury deliberations got underway.
Sheila Brummer/IPR News
Kim Phuong Taylor (on the right) leaves the Federal Courthouse in Sioux City on Monday Nov. 20 when jury deliberations got underway.

Kim Phong Taylor, the wife of a Woodbury County supervisor, will face a federal judge in Sioux City on April 1 after being found guilty of 52 counts of voter fraud. 

She faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each count. 

During Taylor’s trial late last year, prosecutors say she took part in a scheme to illegally gather votes for her husband’s elections by targeting other members of the Vietnamese community. Her husband, Jeremy Taylor, was named an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the case but hasn’t been charged with a crime.

Even though other members of the board of supervisors urged Taylor to resign his elected office, he refused.

Radio Iowa

Appeal denied in 2020 Pella murder case

Posted February 7, 2024 at 4:07 PM CST

The Iowa Court of Appeals denies the appeal of a woman convicted of murder in Marion County.

Michelle Boat was convicted of first-degree murder for stabbing Tracy Mondabough to death as Mondabough sat in a truck outside her Pella home in May of 2020.

Mondabough was seeing Boat’s estranged husband.

Boat’s appeal said she should have been allowed to remove a juror who had been a witness at the murder trial of the woman’s ex-husband. The appeals court ruling says the juror genuinely said she had no fixed opinion on the merits of the case and she could be impartial.

The ruling also denied Boat’s claim that improper instructions were given to the jury.

Radio Iowa

UI professor offers family comfort food recipes in cookbook fundraiser

Posted February 7, 2024 at 4:06 PM CST

A University of Iowa pediatric dentistry professor has compiled a cookbook that includes family recipes dating back more than a century and 100% of the proceeds go to an Iowa charity.

Michael Kanellis says his book, Iowa Mike’s Family Recipes, contains 247 pages of tasty kitchen concoctions that cover a range of cuisines and cultures.

“I did this kind of as a project for myself during the pandemic, to try to round up all the recipes that we use on a weekly or monthly basis and self-publish it into a single cookbook, and then one of the third-year dental students at the college thought it might be a good idea to have a fundraiser.”

During just two recent noon-time sales on the Iowa City campus, Kanellis says the cookbook has already raised more than $1,400.

He says all the proceeds from the sale go to a fund at the College of Dentistry to help pay for dental care for kids who don’t have dental insurance or who have maximized their benefits and still have more treatment needs.

Kanellis’ family has a long history with food, as Kanellis’ uncle opened a restaurant, The Majestic Lunch, in Cedar Rapids in 1916. He’s revised and added to the original cookbook, combining recipes he’s accumulated over decades in three-ring binders, recipe boxes and hard drives. It includes Greek, Mexican and Midwestern comfort foods.

IPR News

Former Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey dies

Posted February 5, 2024 at 4:18 PM CST

Former Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey has died at age 64.

Northey was first elected Secretary of Agriculture in 2006. He won reelection in 2010 and 2014. In 2018 he went to work for the U.S. Department of Agriculture as under secretary for Farm Production and Conservation, where he served until 2021.

Northey was a corn and soybean farmer, born in Spirit Lake. He was co-founder and president of Innovative Growers, LLC, a farmer-owned and managed group designed to capitalize on demand for specialty grain products.

Gov. Kim Reynolds has ordered flags in Iowa to be lowered to half-staff until sunset on the day of Northey’s funeral. Those arrangements are pending.

“Bill understood well our responsibility to be good stewards of the land and exemplified that calling throughout his career,” she said in a statement.

U.S. Sen Chuck Grassley said the Iowa farm community “lost a giant.”

“Bill Northey was a dear friend and fierce advocate for the family farmer.”

Northey and his wife Cindy have three daughters.

IPR News

New projects aim to improve Iowa wetlands, waterways

Posted February 5, 2024 at 3:11 PM CST

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is announcing a series of projects with the goal of improving wetlands and waterways, including in Iowa.

One project will remove the Steamboat Rock Dam in Hardin County. Located in the uppermost watershed of the Iowa River, the dam was originally made of earth and logs and helped drive a grain mill. It was replaced by a concrete version in the 1930s.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Director Martha Williams says even these relatively inexpensive projects can have a big impact.

“A $1 million investment, and that dam removal and restoration will have the compounding effect of opening up 30 miles of upstream passage. That helps not only the health of that river, but also people’s enjoyment of it and recreation around it.”

Funding for the Steamboat Dam removal and six other projects is through the bipartisan federal Infrastructure Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.

IPR News

Iowa Democrats question Koch acquisition of fertilizer plant

Posted February 5, 2024 at 3:10 PM CST
Rep. Megan Srinivas, D-Des Moines, says she and the rest of House Democrats are concerned about Koch Ag & Energy Solutions' $3.5 billion purchase of a Weaver fertilzier plant.
Katarina Sostaric/IPR News
Rep. Megan Srinivas, D-Des Moines, says she and the rest of House Democrats are concerned about Koch Ag & Energy Solutions' $3.5 billion purchase of a Weaver fertilzier plant.

Statehouse Democrats have some questions about a multi-billion-dollar acquisition of a Lee County fertilizer plant by a Koch Industries subsidiary.

Dutch company OCI Global announced the $3.5 billion sale in December. As the deal awaits regulatory approval, Rep. J.D. Scholten, D-Sioux City, and the rest of his caucus are asking regulators to investigate the impact consolidation could have on fertilizer prices.

Koch Ag & Energy Solutions already owns one fertilizer plant in Fort Dodge.

“When you go out and ask any farmer, they’re being squeezed on the input side and the market side. Ask any row crop farmer, and fertilizer is one of the number one costs they’ll bring up as an issue,” Scholten said. “We are exploiting our farmers having to pay record costs when it comes to fertilizer.”

In a letter, House Democrats question what the future is for the plant’s 260 employees and the $500 million in incentives used to locate the plant to Weaver in 2017.

Read the full story.

IPR News

Reynolds plans to send state troopers to southern border

Posted February 5, 2024 at 2:22 PM CST

Gov. Kim Reynolds says she’s planning to send Iowa state troopers to the country’s southern border for the third time. She also dismissed efforts in Congress to pass border legislation.

Reynolds went to Eagle Pass, Tex. on Sunday to show support for Gov. Greg Abbott’s efforts to stop illegal border crossings.

Reynolds says Texas has a constitutional right to self-defense and will use federal pandemic relief funding to once again send state troopers and national guardsmen to support Abbott’s border operations.

One day after the U.S. Senate released a bipartisan border security proposal, Reynolds says the country doesn’t need a new law. She says President Joe Biden currently has the authority to secure the border.

“I don’t have a lot of confidence in — no disrespect to the people that serve out in Washington, DC, I’m grateful for them — but listen, in this environment, I don’t have a lot of confidence in really too much getting done.”

Reynolds says the consequences of current border policies are being seen in Iowa as more fentanyl is found in the state.

IPR News

Lack of ice cancels annual winter kite festival

Posted February 5, 2024 at 1:53 PM CST

The warmer-than-normal temperatures over the past couple of weeks have claimed one of north Iowa’s biggest winter events.

The Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce says the annual Color the Wind kite festival has been canceled because of deteriorating ice conditions. The festival features giant inflatable kites anchored to the lake ice.

Last year, the event drew about 20,000 people to Clear Lake. Many people walk onto the ice to see the kites close-up and meet the owners.

The last time the festival was canceled because of poor ice was 2017.

Harvest Public Media

‘Brain drain’ persists across Midwest, Great Plains

Posted February 5, 2024 at 1:51 PM CST

Recent United States Census data shows many states in the Midwest and Great Plains are losing some of their most educated residents, in a process known as “brain drain.”

Job opportunities play an important role in Midwesterners leaving their home states, according to research from the University of Nebraska.

Josie Schafer, director of the university’s Center for Public Affairs Research, has been tracking brain drain using census data since 2010.

She says there are jobs available but many people are looking for what she calls “job density.”

“I think folks are really looking for those places where it's not just one good job, it's the potential over a lifetime for lots of good jobs.”

Despite the trend, Schafer says many college-educated residents remain in their home states, sometimes moving to more urban areas.

Read the full story from Harvest Public Media.

Radio Iowa

Iowa could see record warmth soon

Posted February 5, 2024 at 9:14 AM CST

It wasn’t long ago that Iowa was buried under a blanket of white while wind chills howled as low as 40 degrees below zero, but most of that deep snow is long gone and what remains will soon melt.

National Weather Service Meteorologist Andrew Ansorge says it could be a record-setting week for warmth. Wednesday and Thursday could see highs in the 50s and even low 60s.

“That will challenge some record highs in portions of the state.”

For the time being, Ansorge says it doesn’t appear that wintery weather will be making a return.

Two snowstorms walloped Iowa during one week in mid-January, dumping a combined more than 20 inches of snow on most of the state. Even for Iowa, that was a lot of snow, but most signs of those storms have now vanished.

Still, Ansorge says it’s almost certain Iowa hasn’t seen the last of snow and bitter cold for the season.

“There’s still plenty of time for winter to reappear and make sure we get to experience all the winter fun of snow shoveling, driving in it and cold weather as well.”

The first day of spring is March 19.

IPR News

After crime uptick, Fort Dodge seeks to fund more police officers

Posted February 5, 2024 at 9:13 AM CST
Picture of black police SUV with the words "POLICE FORT DODGE." There is a bright blue stripe under the text.
City of Fort Dodge
Forty officers make up the Fort Dodge Police Department. The city is looking at adding five more next fiscal year and three the following year, all funded by a franchise fee on gas and electric bills.

Fort Dodge is looking to add a franchise fee to utility bills to help pay for 20% more police officers. The move is to help with an uptick in crime.

Police Chief Dennis Quinn says Fort Dodge experienced seven homicides in 2023, and that’s unusual for his city of 25,000.

“Over the last year, we've had a pretty, pretty rough year as a community, just with the level of violence that we've had.”

The city council approved the first reading of a plan to add a 5% franchise fee to pay for eight new officers. Many communities and counties across the state turn to franchise fees on electric and gas bills for extra funding.

City Manager David Fierke says the fee would raise an estimated $2.4 million a year, with part of the money also going toward property tax relief and quality-of-life services like the library, art museum and senior center.

He says new state tax laws now limit the money his community can levy.

“There really isn't another way to do this without a significant reduction in quality of life and other services.”

Fierke says if the city council gives its full support, customers could see the franchise fee on their utility bills this summer.

Read the full story.

Radio Iowa

ISU effort offers free books focused on Iowa agriculture and food

Posted February 2, 2024 at 4:04 PM CST

A program called Read Across Iowa offers the state’s elementary school teachers free books, lesson plans and activities for their classrooms during March, with a focus on food and agriculture.

Professor Constance Beecher, in Iowa State University’s School of Education, organizes the annual effort, which has reached some 72,000 young Iowans in all 99 counties just in the few years it’s been around.

In the next few weeks, volunteers will pack up 1,000 book kits to ship out to hundreds of teachers statewide. Teachers were able to sign up for the give-aways online starting in mid-January and already all one-thousand kits have been snapped up.

While the free books are gone, she says teachers can still get the lesson plans and other elements of the program on the website.

Beecher, who’s the family literacy state specialist through Human Sciences Extension and Outreach, says it’s vital to read to young children for language and literacy development, and the program is helping students to reach new heights.

Continuing with this year’s food science theme, several of the books focus on topics like bread baking, making ice cream and turning grapes into jelly. Beecher says they’re accompanied by links to simple recipes and video recordings with the authors.

“One of our books is called Bread Lab and it was written by people who actually work in the bread lab at Washington State University. Kids might not realize that there’s so much science behind recipes and developing food and food safety and that there’s all these really great careers.”

ISU Extension is also partnering with Iowa 4H and the Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation on the program.

IPR News

Waterloo police engagement helps crime drop

Posted February 2, 2024 at 3:15 PM CST

Crime has dropped in Waterloo over the past year according to the police department’s annual report. The department credits its community engagement for part of that decline.

Violent crime in the city is down nearly 4% in the past year, property crime has plummeted 17% and, for the first time since the pandemic, Waterloo’s police department is fully staffed.

According to Police Chief Joe Leibold, it’s that increase of about 15 officers that allows the Waterloo Police Department to engage with the community more meaningfully.

“It allows officers to spend a little more time walking through that park, spend a little more time talking to those kids on the corner. It just frees up so much time to get out of the car and interact with the public outside their daily performance when people call them.”

Leibold also partially credits the drop to ongoing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion training for his officers.

IPR News

Effort to censure Johnson County attorney fails

Posted February 2, 2024 at 11:33 AM CST
Johnson County Supervisor Jon Green reads his resolution to censure the County Attorney to a meeting of the Johnson County Democratic Party
Zachary Oren Smith/IPR News
Johnson County Supervisor Jon Green reads his resolution to censure the County Attorney to a meeting of the Johnson County Democratic Party Central Comittee on February 1, 2024.

An effort by a few Johnson County Democrats to censure their own county attorney failed Thursday night.

Currently, Johnson County Attorney Rachel Zimmermann Smith is pursuing charges against Tara McGovern for blocking traffic during an October protest and interfering with police. Of the seven people who were originally charged, McGovern is the only one who didn’t accept a plea deal.

Johnson County Supervisor Jon Green had called for Zimmerman Smith's censure for not exercising discretion in prosecuting McGovern

The debate at Thursday night’s meeting was heated, but the resolution didn’t have the votes. Johnson County Sheriff Brad Kunkel said if members of the other party attempted to censure Zimmerman, the effort would be considered unacceptable.

“And here we are talking about censuring the county attorney for carrying out her duties faithfully and impartially when the parties who bring this to our attention have failed to do that very thing.”

Tara McGovern didn’t speak at the meeting, but was in the crowd.

“I just think this is an illegitimate process and I think the Democratic Party is going to be seeing a further decline in their numbers.”

McGovern goes to trial in March.

Read the full story.

Harvest Public Media

Electric buses are coming to a school near you

Posted February 1, 2024 at 4:10 PM CST

The Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program has sent at least one electric bus to nearly every U.S. state, and thousands more are on the way. So far, the federal government has invested $1.8 billion in the program through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and is promising to replace more than 5,000 buses.

While there are a lot of benefits, including lower greenhouse gas emissions, there’s one big downside — the price tag.

A new electric school bus can cost around $375,000, which is about three to four times more than a new diesel bus. Districts also have to install expensive charging infrastructure, which is covered by the grants but can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000.

Yet over their lifetime, the buses are expected to generate savings. Electricity is less expensive per mile compared to diesel. Maintenance is also cheaper, in part because the buses don’t need oil changes and regenerative braking cuts down on brake changes. But those savings don’t offset the up-front costs, at least not yet.

District officials are doing the math as they apply for the EPA grants — and many say if they had to spend district money, they wouldn’t have bought electric buses.

“I'm not a, you know, ‘save-the-planet’ type person,” said Jeff Dicks, superintendent of Albert City-Truesdale in northern Iowa. “I think we need to be considering all that. But you can't spend four times, three and a half times what you would for a regular bus just to feel good about that.”

Dicks’ school district got an electric bus in December through the EPA grant. He subbed for a driver on the bus recently and said the kids are especially excited about how quiet the bus is. During the recent cold snap in the Midwest, the electric bus kept up, using a little more energy, but not enough to cause a problem.

But overall, Dicks said without the grant, he couldn’t justify buying the expensive buses.

“We actually have a solar field that provides electricity to our entire building. But that did make sense. That pays for itself in eight years.”

Read the full story from Harvest Public Media.

Radio Iowa

Mild February ahead means catch-up time for road repair crews

Posted February 1, 2024 at 4:05 PM CST

While many Iowans are enjoying temperatures well above normal in the 40s and 50s, it was just two weeks ago that high temps were some 60 to 70-degrees colder — in the teens below zero.

January brought record or near-record snowfall to parts of the state, but Hamilton County Engineer Ryan Weidemann says they’re not getting as many complaints about potholes as they usually do.

The rollercoaster January followed a very mild December, during which Weidemann says crews were able to continue doing fall-type tasks, like cleaning up brush and ditches.

The National Weather Service says the back-to-back snowstorms in January dropped more than 27 inches of snow on Des Moines, which recorded its second-snowiest January on record, while the 25-plus inches that fell on Waterloo made it the snowiest January in history for that northeast Iowa city. It was also the fourth-snowiest month of any month on record for Waterloo.

IPR News

Mason City shelter sees uptick for Point-In-Time census

Posted January 31, 2024 at 4:22 PM CST

Northeastern Iowa’s biannual Point-in-Time homeless census concluded last week. Rural census-takers and shelters such as the Northern Lights Alliance of Shelters have a tall task each year to keep the count as accurate as possible due to sparse populations and the distance between them.

The executive director of the coalition of nearly 20 area shelters, Jesse Germundson, says during this January’s census, he counted nearly 50 people inside the shelter during the six-hour census, even while the outdoor tally was down.

Germundson attributes this, in part, to a reframing of shelter policy during the colder months.

“We have rules governing sobriety and compliance for how often someone can come to our shelters. But during the winter months, we lift a lot of those rules.”

The count is used by the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department to help determine how to distribute resources.

Radio Iowa

DPS statement says college sports betting investigation followed the law

Posted January 31, 2024 at 3:02 PM CST

The Iowa Department of Public Safety issued a statement Wednesday on the investigation into illegal sports betting by athletes at the University of Iowa and Iowa State.

The statement comes after a lawsuit by one of the athletes questioned the constitutionality of the use of electronic surveillance to track sports gambling apps on the campuses without a warrant.

The statement says DPS believes the evidence was obtained in a “constitutionally permissible manner” to conduct the surveillance required by state law.

DPS says they conferred with legal counsel to ensure lawful access to and use of the technology. It says two county attorney offices also reviewed all relevant investigative information before making the ultimate decision to file charges in the case.

The statement says the department traditionally does not comment on active investigations or litigation in an effort to ensure these matters are appropriately addressed in the justice system rather than the media.

IPR News

Western Iowa man arrested, charged with kidnapping

Posted January 31, 2024 at 9:11 AM CST

A western Iowa man has been arrested and charged with kidnapping his son.

Police say Brandon Duong took his son Bryson from school in Jefferson Tuesday afternoon and led police on a high-speed chase and standoff that ended in northwest Iowa’s Plymouth County.

The Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation says Duong does not have legal custody of the boy.

An Amber Alert was issued after the boy’s disappearance. Duong turned himself in after negotiating with officers.

IPR News

Planned Parenthood North Central States to consolidate centers, eliminate 36 positions

Posted January 30, 2024 at 2:36 PM CST

Planned Parenthood North Central States says it’s facing provider shortages and rising costs from charity care, plus challenges with low insurance reimbursement rates and the COVID-19 pandemic.

It plans to eliminate 27 open positions and nine current staff positions regionally, and consolidate clinics in Minnesota and Iowa.

Planned Parenthood says the Urbandale location will be consolidated into its central Des Moines clinic later this year as part of its plan to expand abortion access at that location.

Last year, Planned Parenthood announcedit was closing three of its facilities in Cedar Falls, Council Bluffs and the south side of Des Moines amid staffing and budget concerns. At the time it said it would expand services at many other regional locations.

IPR News

‘Daily Iowan’ purchases two weekly newspapers

Posted January 30, 2024 at 10:48 AM CST

The operator of Iowa City’s The Daily Iowan has purchased two area weekly newspapers from Dubuque’s Woodward Communications, which operates The Telegraph Herald. 

Student Publications Inc. is probably best known for its award-winning student newspaper. It has bought the Solon Economist and Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun for an undisclosed price.

Daily Iowan publisher Jason Brummond says the weeklies will put out their first copies under new management next week.

“This isn’t The Daily Iowan coming in and telling these papers what to publish or what to do. They’re still going to be in charge of their papers and their content and what we’re hoping is we can add a layer of resources behind them that they have not had.”

In addition to content sharing, Brummond says the University of Iowa’s journalism program is committing interns and even classes focused on telling stories in these communities.

Brummond says all employees — including both weeklies’ editors — have received raises as part of the transition. He says they’re keeping the Mt. Vernon paper’s brick-and-mortar location.

Student Publications Inc. is independent from the University of Iowa.

IPR News

Former judge, Fort Dodge mayor dies at 98

Posted January 30, 2024 at 10:37 AM CST

Former chief judge of the Iowa Court of Appeals and mayor of Fort Dodge Albert Habhab died over the weekend of natural causes at the age of 98.

His nephew William Habhab, a Fort Dodge attorney and magistrate in Webster County, says his uncle Albert may have retired many years ago, but still contributed to the community of Fort Dodge where he lived all his long life.

“If there was ever a cause that needed a voice, he was always available to lend it.”

Albert Habhab was born to Lebanese immigrants in 1925. During World War II, he rescued another soldier during the Battle of the Bulge. Habhab later opened a law office and served as mayor from 1960 to 1974.

After a time on the bench as a district court judge, former Gov. Terry Branstad appointed Habhab to the Iowa Court of Appeals in 1987. A decade later, he became chief judge, before retiring that same year.

A celebration of life will take place on Friday.

IPR News

Summit partners with POET to propose largest CO2 pipeline project yet

Posted January 29, 2024 at 4:10 PM CST

Iowa-based Summit Carbon Solutions is teaming up with one of the nation’s largest biofuel producers, Sioux Falls-based POET, in what is expected to be the largest carbon dioxide sequestration line in the country.

POET announced Monday they’re joining Summit's proposed Midwest Carbon Express project, a 2,000-mile, $5.5 billion pipeline system that would pull liquid carbon dioxide from bioethanol facilities in Iowa and five other Midwest states.

The CO2 would travel to a site in North Dakota for underground sequestration. According to the companies' joint announcement, POET's 12 Iowa bioprocessing plants and five plants in eastern South Dakota will join Summit Carbon's pipeline project. POET had previously partnered with Navigator CO2 Solutions, but that company scuttled their pipeline project in the face of regulatory hurdles.

Summit is waiting to hear from the Iowa Utilities Board on a construction permit for the pipeline and whether the company can use eminent domain on the pipeline route.

IPR News

Johnson County officials pressure county attorney to drop charges against protesters

Posted January 29, 2024 at 3:07 PM CST

A few Johnson County officials are pressuring County Attorney Rachel Zimmermann Smith to drop charges against seven protesters charged with disorderly conduct for obstructing the street and for interfering with police.

Jon Green, a member of the Johnson County Board of Supervisors, which has budgetary authority over the county attorney’s office, says while the interfering may set a bad precedent, it’s a matter of conscience.

“It’s not that they necessarily shouldn’t be pressing charges. It’s that if you are going to charge people, you should charge everybody or nobody. You know, there were upwards of 100 protesters at the Cole event.”

Janet Lyness, who was the Johnson County Attorney for 16 years, didn’t take issue with elected officials expressing their opinions to the county attorney. But she drew the line at officials taking action against the county attorney for doing her job.

“The political views of the county attorney or recorder – they can certainly be supportive of actions taken by people – it doesn’t mean they can ignore their duties and their job. They still have to uphold the law, even if they disagree with it.”

Green has also called on the Johnson County Democrats to censure Zimmermann Smith for pursuing charges. They’ll vote on his resolution Thursday.

The charges stemmed from a protest opposing the appearance of a California activist who speaks against gender-affirming care for minors. Only one protester, Tara McGovern, rejected a plea deal and is going to court.

IPR News

Pautsch challenges Miller-Meeks in 1st district

Posted January 29, 2024 at 12:45 PM CST

Iowa’s 1st Congressional District Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks faces a challenge from the right this year.

Republican challenger David Pautsch is the owner of an advertising agency and hosts the Quad Cities Prayer Breakfast.

He says Miller-Meeks didn’t support Rep. Jim Jordan’s bid for Speaker of the House, voted to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and supported a bill to protect the right to same-sex and interracial marriages in federal law. He also says Congress should ban abortions nationwide and believes Miller-Meeks has been too quiet on the subject.

Pautsch says her actions are incompatible with the future of the party.

“I will always vote on what absolute Judeo-Christian morals provide us. That’s what our country was founded on. And we need to return to that intentionally.”

Miller-Meeks has repeated her stance on abortion since the Dobbs decision: Abortions should be illegal with exceptions to protect the life of the mother or in instances of rape or incest.She has cosponsored a bill that would ban abortions nationally after 15 weeks. That would ban 94% of abortions, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control.

In 2021,Miller-Meeks cosponsored a bill that would ban abortion without exception. However,The New York Times reported this month that she did not sign on to a 2023 version.

Miller-Meeks beat a challenge from the right in a previous election. The incumbent comes into 2024 with $1.8 million in the bank.

Outside the Republican primary, Democrat Christina Bohannan is also running for the seat.

IPR News

Waterloo considers merging two largest high schools 

Posted January 29, 2024 at 11:26 AM CST

The Waterloo Community School District is considering merging its two biggest high schools into one. The plan has made some residents uneasy.

Waterloo East and Waterloo West’s buildings are a combined 160 years old. By the start of the 2028 school year, the district hopes to combine its nearly 2,000 high schoolers under one roof.

The plan also involves renovating both the old schools for lower grades, which raises some financial concerns for residents like Michael Chapman.

“I’d love to see a new building, that’d be great, but we’re not putting in a new building. We’re actually spending the same money twice, which is where my concern lies. No matter which way it was sugarcoated, it still seems like twice the amount of money’s going to be spent.”

Renovation costs for both high schools are comparable to the new facility. A combined school would make Waterloo’s the tenth largest high school in Iowa.

Radio Iowa

RAGBRAI 2024 will be the hilliest in history

Posted January 29, 2024 at 11:10 AM CST
Riders, participating in RAGBRAI 50, dance in a foam sprayer in Washta on Sunday, July 23.
Zach Boyden-Holmes
/
The Des Moines Register
Riders, participating in RAGBRAI 50, dance in a foam sprayer in Washta on Sunday, July 23.

This summer’s 51st running of the statewide bicycle ride RAGBRAI will take a southern route.

Organizers say it’ll be the hilliest RAGBRAI ever, with more than 18,000 feet of climb, including daily climbs for cyclists of at least 3,000 feet.

Perhaps to compensate, the ride will also be 434 miles, making it the eighth shortest route.

Running July 21 through July 27, RAGBRAI will start in Glenwood this year and end in Burlington, with overnight stops in Red Oak, Atlantic, Winterset, Knoxville, Ottumwa and Mount Pleasant.

Last year, ride organizers footed the bill for each overnight town’s musical performances, but this year, RAGBRAI will instead give each town $50,000 to spend, including to book their own entertainment.

IPR News

Parents, teachers speak out against proposed changes to Area Education Agencies

Posted January 29, 2024 at 11:07 AM CST

A legislative forum in North Liberty Sunday was packed to discuss the governor’s proposed changes to Area Education Agencies.

AEAs provide special education, professional development and curriculum assessment to families, teachers and school districts.

There were a number of AEA employees present, like Teran Buettell, a behavior and autism specialist for the Great Prairie AEA. She says the AEA got her the services her son, a non-verbal child, needed.

“Unlike decisions made for one child, this decision will have long-lasting effects for tens of thousands of children.”

Parent Britney McDonald had a special education plan to work on her speech when she was a kid. Now, the local AEA is helping her 10-year-old daughter catch up on reading skills.

McDonald says she’s concerned about the impact changes to the AEA could have on the support that has helped her children.

“She works so hard on her sounds and practicing because the AEA was able to come into the school and have the evaluation for her and to get the resources she needs. It’s just amazing.”

Since its release, Gov. Kim Reynolds has walked back the scope of her original proposal to limit AEAs to providing special education services. Now, she would allow AEAs to continue providing general education services that request them, so long as the state approves.

Harveset Public Media

Produce grown on urban farms has a larger carbon footprint. A new study says why, and how to reduce it

Posted January 29, 2024 at 11:06 AM CST

Fruits and vegetables grown on urban farms and gardens have a carbon footprint that’s six times larger than conventionally-grown produce, according to a new study from the University of Michigan.

Infrastructure increases urban farms’ carbon footprint. It takes a lot of carbon to build the raised beds, compost bins and sheds that a city garden needs. Meanwhile, conventional farms are massive economies of scale and efficiency.

There are a couple bright spots: for example, urban tomatoes beat out conventional tomatoes, which are often raised in carbon-intensive greenhouses. But Jason Hawes, a lead author on the study, says conventional produce loses to urban growers when it travels by air.

“Asparagus is the one that we highlight as a case where things are flown in from, for example, Chile. That's a really big carbon investment that you could offset by using urban agriculture.”

Hawes says the research can help urban growers take steps to mitigate their carbon impacts.

“Urban agriculture is not inherently going to sort of save the planet. But that doesn't mean that it couldn't be designed in such a way that it's good for the climate. It just takes conscious intentionality.”

He added that urban farms have other benefits. Studies have found they improve mental health, food security and social networks in their communities.

The study suggests city farms preserve their infrastructure as long as possible and try to use recycled materials to build their raised beds and sheds.

IPR News

Report finds Iowa should do more to promote science of reading

Posted January 29, 2024 at 10:10 AM CST

State policies in Iowa should do more to promote the science of reading, according to a recent report comparing reading laws around the country.

The science of reading is another name for research that reveals how children learn to read.

The D.C.-based National Council for Teacher Quality recently found Iowa’s standards in that area are weaker than most other states.

Executive Director Heather Peske says it’s appropriate that Iowa lawmakers are now proposing changes.

She says one thing Iowa should do is list phonics and the other core components of the science of reading as part of education standards. And, she says, the state should publish a list of the best reading curriculum.

“It kind of serves almost like it’s a consumer protection device. Many districts don’t have the capacity to review curriculum materials themselves. Some of them might not even have much of an expertise in this.”

She says teaching candidates should have to pass a stronger exam to test their knowledge of how to put research on reading into practice.

“The stakes are very high for children, and we need to make sure that teachers have the knowledge and skills before they get into classrooms to be able to effectively teach them to read.”

Gov. Kim Reynolds has said she would like to make a test called Foundations of Reading a requirement for Iowa teacher preparation programs.

Peske says it’s one of the tests strongly aligned with the science of reading.

A bill in the Iowa Senate would list the components of the science of reading in education standards for kindergarten through third grade.

AP

The $75 million Iowa promised for school safety remains largely unspent

Posted January 26, 2024 at 2:41 PM CST
Parents drop students off at Perry Middle School.
Charlie Neibergal
/
AP
Parents drop students off at Perry Middle School.

The June 2022 announcement was addressed to parents horrified by the massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas: Iowa would spend $75 million in federal pandemic relief funds to improve school building security.

Citing an urgent need to act after Uvalde and shootings outside a high school and a church in Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds said the state would award up to $50,000 each to 1,500 schools to fix vulnerabilities. Like many other Republicans, she rebuffed calls for stricter gun control while embracing efforts to “harden” schools.

More than 19 months and two deadly Iowa school shootings later, the money only recently started to trickle out, with the vast majority still unspent. This was partly because local officials struggled to meet state and federal requirements to complete their applications, according to records reviewed by The Associated Press. Contractors helping run the program, meanwhile, have received millions.

The AP found that most schools statewide have yet to receive funding, including those in Perry, a city of 8,000 people where a Jan. 4 school shooting left two dead and several injured. A state agency last week sent a representative to help Perry district officials finish their application for a $150,000 grant through Reynolds’ program. The district had started the process more than a year ago but didn’t complete the paperwork.

“After the tragedy in Perry, we are continuing to look for opportunities to make the process more efficient and effective,” said Allie Bright, spokesperson for the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, which oversees the program.

Kollin Crompton, a spokesperson for the governor, noted that until a district submits an application, the state cannot take any action.

Read the full story from the Associated Press.

Radio Iowa

Reynolds joins GOP governors calling for Texas to ‘hold the line’ at border 

Posted January 26, 2024 at 9:07 AM CST

Gov. Kim Reynolds and two dozen other Republican governors are siding with the governor of Texas in his border dispute with the Biden administration.

The statement from the governors comes after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled federal agents can remove razor wire Texans installed at Eagle Pass, along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Reynolds said Texas should be able to use every tool necessary to defend itself from the tide of mass migration across the border.

“There’s not a country out there that can withstand what we’re seeing, so it’s just a matter of time where something happens. We’re seeing guns and drugs and terrorists come across. There’s no accountability. Our Border Patrol people are just processing people, giving them an airplane ticket and a phone and money and dispersing them throughout the country. It makes me sick to my stomach.”

Reynolds and the other Republican governors say the U.S. Constitution gives states the right of self-defense in times like this. Neighboring GOP governors in Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota signed on to the statement in support of Texas.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security this week said enforcement of immigration law is a federal responsibility and the razor wire, fences and gates stalled by the State of Texas have only made it harder for federal agents to do their jobs.

IPR News

Thin ice forces organizers to modify University of Okoboji Winter Games

Posted January 26, 2024 at 8:54 AM CST

The University of Okoboji Winter Games are underway at the Iowa Great Lakes, but thin ice has forced organizers to make some changes.

Even with a recent blizzard, warm conditions in December kept the water warmer than normal. Some spots are only four inches thick.

Kiley Zankowski, director of marketing and events for the Iowa Great Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce, which puts on the annual event, says thousands who attend the winter games will find a few modifications this year.

“It’s looking like we’re going to have great weather. Things are gonna look a little different, but we have never canceled the games. And we're so excited for it to be here.”

Zankowski says the region didn’t get as much snow as the rest of Iowa, and a warm December created variable ice conditions, forcing the cancellation of ice races at Park Marina. Games such as broom ball and the bean bag tournament have been relocated.

“Otherwise, all of our events are safer foot traffic and look just as they have in the past, maybe just a little slushier than normal.”

No motor vehicles will be allowed on the lakes, including at Millers Bay, which usually looks like a parking lot during the annual festival, now in its 44th year.

The winter games kicked off Thursday and will continue through Sunday.

AP

‘Bleeding Heartland’ granted press credentials in Iowa House days after filing lawsuit

Posted January 25, 2024 at 3:49 PM CST

A liberal journalist who blogs about Iowa politics was granted press credentials for the Iowa House of Representatives Wednesday, days after she filed a lawsuit alleging the Republican-controlled House was denying her her First Amendment rights.

The result brings an end to a yearslong fight by Laura Belin, who operates the Bleeding Heartland blog, to gain access to the House floor as a member of the press. Belin called it a “victory for press freedom” and said she hoped it would make public officials “reluctant” to deny access to reporters.

The lawsuit was brought Friday in federal court by the Institute for Free Speech on her behalf against House Chief Clerk Meghan Nelson, though the rejection dates back to 2019 and Nelson’s predecessor, Carmine Boal.

Nelson declined to comment.

Belin has covered Iowa’s state government on the blog for more than a decade and now works as a reporter for a radio station based in Ames. She is open with her liberal views, often posting opinionated critiques that target Republican lawmakers and policies.

“This case underscores the First Amendment principle that public officials cannot manipulate press credential policies to play favorites or suppress critical coverage,” Courtney Corbello, an attorney with the Institute for Free Speech, said in a statement.

In 2019, the Iowa House and Senate adopted policies related to press access after scrutiny over the handling of Belin’s case. Those policies have been revised year after year, and the Senate has since reduced press access by denying reporters work space on the chamber floor in 2022.

AP

Middle school students return to class for the first time since Iowa school shooting

Posted January 25, 2024 at 3:21 PM CST

Middle school students in Perry returned to classes Thursday for the first time since a 17-year-old opened fire in a cafeteria, killing two people and injuring six others.

Students began streaming into Perry Middle School on a chilly, foggy morning. They passed welcome signs and were greeted by teachers and administrators, who gave them hugs as they passed through the doors.

The school district about 40 miles northwest of Des Moines canceled all classes after the Jan. 4 shooting in the cafeteria shared by the middle and high schools. The attack killed 11-year-old sixth grader Ahmir Jolliff and critically injured high school Principal Dan Marburger, who died Jan. 14.

Six other students and staff members were injured. The shooter, Dylan Butler, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Students at Perry Elementary about a mile away returned to their campus earlier this week. High school students are expected to return to classes Wednesday.

IPR News

As more local governments call for ceasefire, Cedar Rapids, Des Moines aren’t likely to join

Posted January 25, 2024 at 3:04 PM CST

More local governments are considering resolutions calling for a ceasefire in the nearly four-month-old Israel-Hamas war.

Early this month, the Iowa City City Council narrowly passed its own resolution, calling for not only a permanent ceasefire, but a return of all hostages held by Hamas and the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza. It also condemned Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack of Israel, which resulted in more than 1,000 deaths.

The Cedar Rapids City Council has been asked by local activists to follow Iowa City’s example, but as the Cedar Rapids Gazette reports, the nine-member council will likely reject those pleas.

Des Moines’ new mayor Connie Boesen also isn’t likely to push for a ceasefire resolution.

“We’re trying to stick to what we can have impact over and I believe that is a national issue.”

Boesen made her comment Thursday on IPR’s River to River.

Waterloo could be the next local government to consider a cease fire resolution, as the city’s Human Rights Commission recently approved a proposed resolution.

IPR News

State auditor investigating $2 million in payouts made to Davenport city employees

Posted January 25, 2024 at 1:15 PM CST

State Auditor Rob Sand is investigating $2 million in payouts made to three outgoing Davenport city employees last year. Sand says an unnamed elected official asked his office to take a closer look.

“This is obviously something that is important to the people of Davenport. We’re talking a tremendous amount of tax dollars that has been used for these settlements. And we are going to go ahead and perform some procedures to make sure that the public has the full truth as to what was going on with these settlements.”

Davenport agreed to pay former City Administrator Corri Spiegel $1.6 million last October. It took nearly two months for the city to release the agreement. The city council didn’t vote on Spiegel’s agreement until that December.

The city says $1 million of the payout is for emotional pain and suffering related to the actions of former Alderman Derek Cornette. Spiegel and other staff alleged Cornette harassed female staff members and showed up to council meetings intoxicated.

The city has claimed the amount is “small when compared to what a lengthy lawsuit and an ultimate finding of wrongdoing would have cost the taxpayers.”

The City of Davenport and Mayor Mike Matson did not return requests for comment.

A report will be available following the completion of the investigation.

IPR News

Public health departments say realignment could hurt quality of care

Posted January 24, 2024 at 4:16 PM CST

A report released by Iowa Health and Human Services earlier this month proposes big changes to public health models. For some counties, that could hurt the quality of care.

One of the proposed changes would consolidate county public health offices into ten to 15 regions across Iowa, each serving at least 30,000 people.

That has some public health directors worried. It could mean local public health workers would become state employees.

Kaitlin Emrich, the public health director for Black Hawk County, worries that the quality of care could diminish the further it gets from the local level.

“It would have a significant impact on how we serve our communities. Obviously we’d lose some decision-making and potentially some workforce changes along with that as well.”

Midwest Newsroom

Iowa fails most categories in latest American Lung Association report 

Posted January 24, 2024 at 3:41 PM CST

Iowa has scored failing grades in most categories of the American Lung Association’s latest State of Tobacco Control report.

The report compares state policies to efforts to prevent young people from using tobacco and help adults to quit. It also compares state cigarette taxes.

The only category Iowa scored a B in is smoke-free air.

Tiffany Nichols, with the American Lung Association, says there is a lot of work to be done across the country.

“Some of the biggest takeaways are, we were really hoping that the Biden administration would go ahead and put that FDA rule in place to eliminate menthol and flavorings."

The report says smoking costs Iowa more than $1 billion in health care costs a year. Around one in every six high schoolers in the state use tobacco, mostly through e-cigarettes.

Iowa’s cigarette tax is $1.36 per pack, among the lowest in the country.

Read the full story from the Midwest Newsroom.

IPR News

 Appeals judge upholds defamation case in favor of Lee Enterprises 

Posted January 24, 2024 at 12:46 PM CST

An Iowa Court of Appeals judge has upheld a lower court’s decision in favor of newspaper chain Lee Enterprises.

Former Davenport City Administrator Craig Malin alleged the newspaper libeled him in articles published in 2014 and 2015, which limited his employment opportunities.

While that case was working its way through court, a 2019 editorial was published by the chain referencing Malin’s “backroom wheeling and dealing” and saying the lawsuit threatened to chill aggressive journalism. Malin called for the court to issue a summary judgement.

The district court reviewed the cast and found no merits to his claim of defamation.

Lee Enterprises is one of the largest newspaper operators in the state, owning the Quad-City Times, Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier and the Sioux City Journal.

Harvest Public Media

Midwestern states consider bans of the popular – but invasive – Bradford pear tree

Posted January 24, 2024 at 12:45 PM CST

Ohio became the first state in the country to ban the popular but invasive Callery pear trees — a species usually sold under cultivar names such as Bradford, Cleveland Select and Chanticleer.

Now legislation is being proposed in Missouri for a similar ban, while the Kansas Department of Agriculture also considers how to curb the spread of the popular but invasive ornamental pear trees.

The Missouri proposal would prohibit nurseries from selling or distributing several invasive species, including the Callery pear, Japanese honeysuckle and climbing euonymus. The proposed legislation would take effect Jan. 1, 2025.

The Kansas Department of Agriculture's proposal would prevent anyone from bringing a Callery pear into the state or moving one within the state as of Jan. 1, 2027.

Read the full story from Harvest Public Media.

IPR News

Waterloo library expresses concern over new statewide tax law

Posted January 23, 2024 at 3:28 PM CST

A new property tax law will soon start phasing out more than $100 million in tax levies. That change could hurt services such as libraries.

House File 718 was passed last year and will go into effect across the state this July. The bill will provide property tax relief and limit local government spending, and for cities like Waterloo, that means less money for the library.

David Eckert, the library’s director, uses the levy for staffing, which is a quarter of his budget. He says if he loses his staff, his library could lose programs and accreditation.

“We have an accreditation process that we go through every three years, and that would knock us down from a Tier 3 to a Tier 1 if I go below a certain number of hours that we have to be open.”

Tier 1 libraries are not considered accredited by the state. The Waterloo Public Library received about $640,000 from the levy last year.

IPR News

Protester charged in Iowa City demonstration goes to trial

Posted January 23, 2024 at 2:06 PM CST

A protester facing charges for a demonstration in October has rejected a plea deal and is going to trial.

Coralville resident Tara McGovern was one of seven people arrested under the state’s new penalties for protest-related crimes. They were protesting a lecture by a California activist who opposes gender-affirming care for minors.

It took University of Iowa Police a month before they charged protesters for blocking traffic for 20 minutes and interfering with police.

The Johnson County Attorney’s Office has offered plea deals to drop the serious misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges while preserving a simple misdemeanor charge for interfering with police. McGovern has rejected the deal, saying the actions were within the scope of lawful assembly.

“I don’t believe that anybody at that protest did anything wrong. And I don’t want to plead guilty to something that isn’t wrong.”

McGovern’s trial is scheduled for late February.

IPR News

Ahead of tax season, Iowa professor proposes using free government system

Posted January 23, 2024 at 12:04 PM CST

Americans spend an average of $200 to prepare their taxes, but University of Iowa Accounting Professor Ryan Wilson says there’s a better system that should be made available to Americans, called ReadyReturn.

It’s where the government prepares taxes automatically for free and taxpayers sign off on them. Wilson says ReadyReturn is widely used in Europe and could work in the United States.

“So much of the information is captured by third parties, employers and banks and based on your past returns. The IRS already has access to a lot of this data. Think they could do it, pretty accurately, for a significant number of taxpayers.”

He says former presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush proposed systems like ReadyReturn. Wilson says more complicated returns would still need to be completed by a professional, and even if they’re eligible for a ReadyReturn, people still can prepare their own taxes.

IPR News

Homeless advocates worry boards and commissions consolidation would impact funding 

Posted January 23, 2024 at 9:31 AM CST

The Iowa Legislature is looking to act on a plan that does away with about a quarter of the state’s more than 250 boards and commissions. Advocates for the homeless worry the move would impact funding for some of the most vulnerable.

The proposal to cut or merge boards is part of Gov. Kim Reynolds’ plan to reorganize state government passed by the Legislature last session.

Tim Wilson, the chair of the Iowa Council on Homelessness, one group on the list for elimination, said on IPR’s River to River that without advocates working together on the issue, there’s a risk that opportunities to apply for federal grants would come and go without someone taking action.

Some other boards that could be impacted are the Iowa Drug Policy Advisory Council, Local Food and Farm Program Council and the State Building Code Advisory Council.

There’s also a recommendation to remove a gender balance requirement for boards.

IPR News

Reynolds promises to continue fight for abortion ban at rally

Posted January 22, 2024 at 4:32 PM CST

Gov. Kim Reynolds told Iowans gathered for an anti-abortion prayer rally Monday that she’ll “never back down” from banning abortion.

The governor also highlighted her proposals for helping pregnant women.

Last summer, Reynolds signed a fetal heartbeat law that bans most abortions as early as six weeks of pregnancy. It’s held up in the courts and can’t be enforced.

In the meantime, Reynolds is asking lawmakers to extend Medicaid health insurance for mothers to a year after giving birth instead of the current 60 days. But she would also tighten income requirements for pregnant women to qualify for Medicaid coverage. She told anti-abortion activists gathered at the Statehouse it will help build “a robust culture of life.”

She says her proposed state-run network that would connect people in need to nonprofits would also help people navigate unintended pregnancies.

AP

Mourners fill church to remember Iowa principal who risked life to save kids in school shooting

Posted January 22, 2024 at 12:42 PM CST

The longtime Iowa principal who risked his life to save students during a shooting earlier this month was remembered Saturday not just for his heroic actions that day but for the unconditional love and compassion he showed his family and students during his years at Perry High School.

Mourners filled the Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines just over 30 miles away from where Dan Marburger had worked since 1995 and been principal since 1997. He died on Jan. 14 in the hospital ten days after the shooting.

Marburger, 56, was critically injured during the Jan. 4 attack, which began in the joint middle and high school’s cafeteria as students were gathering for breakfast before class. An 11-year-old sixth grader was killed in the shooting, and six other people were injured. The 17-year-old student who opened fire also died of a self-inflicted gunshot.

Investigators said after the shooting that Marburger “acted selflessly and placed himself in harm’s way in an apparent effort to protect his students.” Perry Superintendent Clark Wicks said Marburger was a “hero” who intervened with the teenage gunman so students could escape.

But his family said at the funeral that they will remember the way Marburger loved them most of all.

Read the full story from the Associated Press.

Harvest Public Media

More Midwest states move to block foreign ownership of farmland

Posted January 22, 2024 at 9:52 AM CST

Worries over foreign ownership of U.S. farmland don’t appear to have ebbed in the new year.

Across the Midwest, state lawmakers are proposing ways to prevent foreign companies and individuals from buying agricultural land. New bills have been filed in several states, including Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Michigan.

In recent years the issue grabbed headlines and politicians' attention, after Chinese companies bought farmland near military properties in North Dakota and Texas. Last year saw a big uptick in legislation, with proposals introduced in more than 35 states and ten new states adding restrictions.

This year, many proposed laws are specifically targeting “foreign adversaries,” including countries like China and Iran. There are also multiple policy proposals related to farmland near military installations.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is also looking to increase enforcement. The state has some of the strongest foreign ownership laws in the country, but in her Condition of the State address early this month, she called for legislation to raise penalties and improve transparency around the issue.

While tightening restrictions on foreign ownership of land is a hot topic, others have seized the moment to bring a spotlight to corporate and investor ownership of farmland.

Rep. J.D. Scholten, D-Sioux City, is crafting a policy he hopes will increase transparency to address both foreign and corporate ownership. He said that’s especially important as a generation of older farmers retire and sell their farmland in the coming years.

The legislator said he’s working to find Republican colleagues to partner on a proposal this session.

Read the full story from Harvest Public Media.

IPR News

Waterloo opens first permanent warming center

Posted January 19, 2024 at 3:05 PM CST
Ten green cots in a room.
Grant Leo Winterer
/
IPR News
One of the warming center's rooms with modular cots.

Waterloo has opened its first permanent overnight warming center, which looks to do more than just keep occupants warm.

The Cedar Valley Warming and Resource Center has been operating temporary warming centers since 2020 in different locations each winter.

The group has opened a new permanent center in the past week. It will be staffed by volunteers and individuals who have had similar experiences and struggles to those using the shelter.

Chris Schwartz, who serves on the center’s advisory committee, says the shelter’s peer support system is based on mental health care models and is key to healing.

“We know that somebody’s lived experiences can do so much more to connect with somebody and give them the sense of hope that we can provide.”

The center will also provide access to area housing, counseling and transportation resources.

Read the full story.

Radio Iowa

Grassley discharged from D.C. hospital

Posted January 19, 2024 at 11:38 AM CST

Sen. Chuck Grassley has been discharged from a hospital in the Washington, D.C. area where he was being treated for an infection.

On Tuesday, Grassley’s U.S. Senate office announced Grassley was receiving antibiotic infusions as treatment for an infection. His office announced late Thursday afternoon that he’d been released from the hospital and expects to be back to work next week.

Just over an hour after that announcement, Grassley posted a message on the social media platform X: “Thx for ur well wishes & prayers Happy to be home I look fwd to getting back to work.”

Grassley, who is 90, had hip surgery in January of last year to repair a fracture. He is the oldest serving member of the U.S. Senate.

IPR News

19-year-old sentenced to 65 years in prison for fatal Starts Right Here shooting 

Posted January 19, 2024 at 11:37 AM CST
 Police cars sit in the parking lot of the business park complex occupied by alternative education program Starts Right Here.
Natalie Krebs
/
IPR News
Police cars sit in the parking lot of the business park complex occupied by alternative education program Starts Right Here.

sA Polk County jury has sentenced a West Des Moines man to 65 years in prison for killing two students and injuring the founder of the Starts Right Here alternative schoolin Des Moines almost one year ago.

Jurors found 19-year-old Preston Walls guilty in September of second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter and assault causing serious injury.

Walls shot 16-year-old Rashad Carr and 18-year-old Gionni Dameron at the alternative school program near downtown Des Moines. Walls also shot and wounded Will “Keeps” Holmes, the Starts Right Here president and founder.

Under Iowa law, he must serve a minimum of 40 years of his term. He also must pay $150,000 in restitution to the heirs of both Dameron and Carr.

IPR News

After poor showings at the Iowa caucuses, two Republicans drop out of race 

Posted January 16, 2024 at 1:09 PM CST
Republican Vivek Ramaswamy speaks to the crowd at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition's spring kickoff event while Republican Party of Iowa chair and Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird watch on April 22, 2023.
Clay Masters
/
IPR
Republican Vivek Ramaswamy speaks to the crowd at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition's spring kickoff event while Republican Party of Iowa chair and Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird watch on April 22, 2023.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has become the second Republican to drop out of the race for the party’s presidential nomination following Monday night’s Iowa caucuses.

Hutchinson says his message of being a principled Republican and telling the truth about frontrunner Donald Trump did not sell in Iowa. Hutchinson finished sixth with support from just 0.2% of caucusgoers.

Fourth-place finisher Vivek Ramaswamy suspended his campaign Monday night.

IPR News

GOP caucusgoers share experience in Sioux City

Posted January 16, 2024 at 1:07 PM CST
Voters at the Western Iowa Tech precinct in Sioux City, one of the largest precints in NW Iowa during the 2024 Iowa caucuses.
Sheila Brummer
Voters at the Western Iowa Tech precinct in Sioux City, one of the largest precints in NW Iowa during the 2024 Iowa caucuses.

Turnout exceeded expectations at a caucus site in Sioux City, where organizers estimated more than 350 people showed up at Western Iowa Tech Community College.

That’s an increase of 25% from four years ago.

About a third of the crowd were first-time caucusgoers, including 19-year-old Aydin Cheht, who chose to caucus for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis after hearing the caucus captains speak.

“The supporter for him was really good at speaking clearly, and I just kind of supported a lot of what that was. There were quite a few candidates, though, that I was wrestling between. So, it was a hard choice.”

Cheht says even though he was a bit stressed about being around a big crowd, he felt the process moved along calmly and smoothly.

Sioux City is a deeply red part of the state, but former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley did attract a small number of Democrats, including Chandler Todd.

“It was kind of underwhelming, you know, she just flipped to second in the recent Des Moines Register poll, and it's kind of upsetting to see that she didn't have the biggest turnout tonight.”

Todd says he believes Haley is the candidate who can reach across the aisle, and if she isn’t the nominee, he’ll vote for a Democrat in November.

Haley came in third place at the Iowa caucuses with 19% of the vote. Former President Donald Trump easily won with 51%.

R. Doc Zortman, who served as caucus captain for Trump at a precinct location in Sioux City, says he’s not surprised the former president did so well.

“He understands how important law enforcement is in the military. And no one has been a better friend to the military or law enforcement than Donald Trump.”

IPR News

Haley comes in third at Iowa caucuses, warns a Trump vs. Biden election would be ‘a nightmare’

Posted January 16, 2024 at 1:05 PM CST

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley closed caucus night in third place with 19% of the vote.

Speaking in West Des Moines, she opened her speech by congratulating former President Donald Trump for winning.

But she says if Trump and President Joe Biden are the eventual nominees, their rematch in the November election will be a nightmare.“Trump and Biden both lack a vision for our country's future, because both are consumed by the past, by investigations, by vendettas, by grievances,” she said. “America deserves better.”

In her speech, Haley did not acknowledge Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who came in ahead of Haley by about 2 percentage points.

Read the full story.

IPR News

DeSantis claims momentum after coming in second in caucuses

Posted January 16, 2024 at 1:02 PM CST

High profile endorsements were not enough to push Ron DeSantis to the front of the pack in the Iowa caucuses, but the Florida governor is claiming momentum in the GOP presidential race after a second place finish.

DeSantis landed 30 points behind former president Donald Trump in the caucus results, but managed to edge out former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley by 2% in the race for second.

DeSantis told supporters in West Des Moines Monday night that his campaign has new energy going into the New Hampshire primary.

“In spite of all of that that they threw at us, all of them against us, we’ve got our ticket punched out of Iowa.”

The DeSantis campaign was upset that multiple news outlets declared Trump winner of the caucuses so early in the night. They said some Republican voters saw the race was called for Trump while they were still in the process of voting.

Read the full story.

IPR News

Trump celebrates overwhelming win at Iowa caucuses 

Posted January 16, 2024 at 1:01 PM CST
Trump addresses the crowd at his caucus watch party, Jan. 15, 2024, following his win.
Lucius Pham
Trump addresses the crowd at his caucus watch party, Jan. 15, 2024, following his win.

Former President Donald Trump won Iowa’s Republican caucuses Monday night. His record-breaking margin of victory matched the high expectations set by polling ahead of the caucuses.

Trump was declared the winner just half an hour after the caucuses started, before his supporters could even arrive at his caucus night watch party.

Later in the night, when it was clear he won about half the vote, Trump thanked his supporters in downtown Des Moines.

“This has been an incredible experience. The people have been -- this is the third time we’ve won. But this is the biggest win. They said well if you win by 12% that’s a big win that’s gonna be very hard to do. Well I think we’ve more than doubled that I guess, tripled it maybe.”

Trump won the first contest in the presidential nominating process as he faces 91 felony charges across four separate indictments, some related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

He says it’s time for the country to come together. He congratulated his primary opponents and called them smart and capable.

Read the full story.

Tightening of laws around foreign ownership of farmland proposed by Gov. Reynolds

Posted January 16, 2024 at 8:56 AM CST

As part of her Condition of the State address last week, Gov. Kim Reynolds called on legislators to tighten laws governing foreign ownership of farmland in Iowa. Among her proposals is requiring more extensive reporting by foreign entities, including ownership structure and a complete list of landholdings in the U.S. Reynolds also wants to hike penalties for failing to comply with these requirements and expand the state attorney general’s subpoena powers to investigate foreign landholders.

Bryan Whaley, CEO of the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association, says producers support closing any loopholes in the law.

“It really is a food security and national security issue. As well as the opportunity for our young producers to have the opportunity to own some of this land, or to use some of this land to get their operations started as we think about the next generation of farmers and ranchers here in the country.”

Jennifer Zwagerman, director of Drake University’s Agricultural Law Center, says Iowa already has some of the strictest laws in the nation governing foreign ownership of farmland. She says many states are tightening such laws with a focus on China and other countries deemed hostile to the U.S. However, she worries making laws too restrictive may deter multinational corporations from investing in Iowa.

IPR News

After 30 years in the Legislature, Senate Minority Leader Pam Jochum won’t run for reelection

Posted January 12, 2024 at 10:18 AM CST
pam jochum stands in the law library at the iowa capitol
Lucius Pham
Senate Minority Leader Pam Jochum says she will not seek reelection in 2024.

Iowa Senate Minority Leader Pam Jochum has announced she’s not running for reelection this year. The Democrat from Dubuque has been in the Legislature for three decades.

In a statement this Friday morning, Jochum said it’s been an honor to serve and that she’s “excited to pass the torch to the next generation of leaders who will champion a brighter future for Iowa.”

Jochum says she will focus on fighting for Iowans during this legislative session and on getting more Democrats elected to the Iowa Senate this year.

Republicans hold a supermajority in the Iowa Senate after the 2022 elections. Last summer, Democrats ousted Sen. Zach Wahls over his staffing decisions and voted Jochum into the top spot.

Read the full story.

IPR News

Here’s everything Reynolds proposed in her Condition of the State address

Posted January 10, 2024 at 11:24 AM CST
Gov. Kim Reynolds gives the annual Condition of the State address at the Iowa State Capitol, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024.
Zach Boyden-Holmes/The Register
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PDEM
Gov. Kim Reynolds gives the annual Condition of the State address at the Iowa State Capitol, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds gave her seventh Condition of the State Address on Tuesday evening, establishing her priorities for the 2024 legislative session. Here’s what she proposed:

  • Deeper tax cuts. Under current law, Iowa’s income tax would drop to a flat 3.9% at the start of 2026. A new plan would bring Iowa’s top income tax rate of 5.7% for 2024 down to 3.65%, retroactive to the beginning of 2024. In 2025, that would drop to 3.5%. 
  • Raising minimum teacher salaries to $50,000, up from $33,500. This would also set a minimum salary of $62,000 for teachers with at least 12 years of experience. She also proposed a $10 million merit-based grant program to reward high-performing teachers.
  • Overhauling special education. The state’s Area Education Agencies would be opened to competition. Reynolds wants to cut teacher training and media services from Iowa’s AEAs so that special education would become their only focus. School districts could continue to use the same AEA to support special education, but they could also opt out and use a different AEA, or work with a private company.
  • An $8.9 billion state budget. This would be a 4.3% increase from the current year, far below the state’s projected revenue, and her staff estimates there would still be a $970 million budget surplus with the proposed tax cuts.
  • Reducing unemployment taxes. 
  • Expanding Medicaid health insurance coverage for new moms. This would bump it up from the current 60 days post-birth to 12 months for people who make less than $42,000 per year.
  • Allowing Iowans to get birth control over the counter.
  • Four weeks of paid parental leave for state workers.
  • Reducing the number of state boards and commissions by 43%. This also includes eliminating the requirement that boards have an equal number of men and women.
IPR News

Statehouse leaders say they’ll discuss school shooting prevention, but won’t commit to passing new gun control laws

Posted January 8, 2024 at 4:49 PM CST
Grant Gerlock
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IPR

Iowa Republican Statehouse leaders say they’ll have discussions about how to prevent more school shootings after a deadly shooting at Perry High School last week, but they’re not committing to passing new gun control laws.

Hundreds of high school students came to the state capitol Monday to call on lawmakers to pass gun safety laws. House Speaker Pat Grassley says he’s willing to look at their proposals, but said expanding gun rights has been House Republicans’ driving principle.

Grassley says he wants to focus on enhancing school security and protecting children’s mental health.

Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver says he’s still gathering more information about the Perry shooting.

“I think you have to step back and take a look at what is the reason this happened in Iowa. What is the reason — we’ve now had a couple of school shootings over the last couple of years — and look at the reasons why it’s happening before you just rush to judgment on any bill we might pass or any policy change you might do.”

Whitver says he doesn’t know if the Senate will take up a House bill this year that would allow Iowans to have a gun in their car while driving on school property. The leaders made their comments on IPR’s River to River.

Read the full story.

IPR News

State board reviews abortion ban rules 

Posted January 8, 2024 at 2:47 PM CST

The Administrative Rules Review Committee, a legislative state board that oversees state agency rulemaking, met on Monday to review rules related to Iowa’s new abortion law that passed last session.

The law bans abortion in Iowa as early as six weeks of pregnancy, and is currently not in effect as it’s been blocked by a legal challenge. The Iowa Supreme Court is expected to rule by June as to whether it can be enforceable.

Rep. Rick Olson, D-Des Moines, was one of two Democrats who commented. He told state officials the rules should better define the use of the word “prosecutable” in regards to how doctors determine if they can perform an abortion due to rape.

“Maybe we should define ‘prosecutable' by way of a definition that would encompass what you just indicated, that there would be sufficient facts, sufficient identities, things like that. Or do we just leave it up to the practicing physician to understand what that word means?”

Politics

Former President Donald Trump returns to Iowa

Posted January 8, 2024 at 9:17 AM CST

Former President Donald Trump campaigned in Iowa over the weekend on the three-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Trump has continued to make false claims that the 2020 election was “rigged” against him as he campaigns in Iowa ahead of the caucuses.

He also says, without evidence, that his supporters who broke into the US capitol and violently tried to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden as president were patriotic and peaceful.

Trump calls his supporters who have been convicted of crimes the “J6 hostages.”

“Nobody’s been treated ever in history so badly as those people. Nobody’s ever been treated in our country. But I think, you know they always show, I think it was 1,000 people coming down. Remember the words, ‘march peacefully and patriotically,’ right?”

Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart says Trump is trying to rewrite history and deny his role in inciting a deadly insurrection.

Trump also told Iowans he’ll be caucusing with them on Jan. 15. But he’s not an Iowa resident, so he doesn’t meet the Republican Party’s requirements to caucus.

Read more on Trump's latest visit to the state ahead of the caucuses.

IPR News

Cedar Rapids Schools facility plans further delayed by zoning commission

Posted January 5, 2024 at 4:03 PM CST

A Cedar Rapids commission has delayed deciding whether to allow the Cedar Rapids Community School District to build a higher-occupancy school where one of its elementary buildings sits.

For years, the school has planned to demolish Harrison Elementary and build a larger consolidated elementary school in its place. But demolition opponents would rather see a new addition on the existing building.

Cedar Rapids City Council’s Ashley Vanorny sat on a school district facilities committee. She says the school district is essential to future growth in the city, but putting the commission’s delay in context of contentious meetings in May and October, she says residents have been clear that their preference is to add onto the school, not demolish it and start from scratch.

“This is the third signal to the school board that this is not the direction the community supports or wants to go in,” she said.

The school’s director of operations Chad Schumacher says after November’s failed bond for middle and high school facilities, the district is reconsidering its plans for all facilities.

“We felt the school would be responsible in stopping or holding on moving forward with construction at Harrison until we could have a full picture of what that plan looked like for K-12 facilities,” he said.

Schumacher says whether the elementary is completely rebuilt or additions are added, the property will need to be rezoned.

Agriculture

U.S. experiences agricultural trade deficit

Posted January 5, 2024 at 11:24 AM CST

For the third time in five years, agricultural trade in the United States will be at a deficit — when a country imports more than it exports.

As of November, the U.S. imported $20 billion more in agricultural products than it exported in 2023, which would set a record for biggest deficit in a calendar year in nearly a century if the trend continues through the last month of the year.

For some farmers, this year’s big deficit is a sign that trade has taken a hit and other countries may be out-trading the U.S. However, some economists argue there are logical explanations behind what has created such an eye-popping deficit — including rising imports, a strong American dollar and basic supply and demand.

Read more from Harvest Public Media about the U.S. agricultural trade deficit, and whether there’s cause for concern.

Several Iowa cities to conduct census recount

Posted January 5, 2024 at 11:00 AM CST

Four years after the last census, almost a dozen small communities in the Midwest are going to be counted again in hopes of getting a new grocery store or more state funding to build roads, fire stations and parks.

Eleven small cities in Illinois and Iowa are the only municipalities so far to have signed agreements with the U.S. Census Bureau for a second count of their residents in 2024 and 2025, in a repeat of what happened during the 2020 census. The first year in which the special censuses can be conducted is 2024.

With one exception, city officials don’t think the numbers from the original count were inaccurate. It’s just that their populations have grown so fast in three years that officials believe they are leaving state funding for roads and other items on the table by not adding the extra growth to their population totals. Some also believe that new results from a second count will open up their community to new businesses by showing they have crossed a population threshold.

The cities in Iowa paying for a Census Bureau-run second count — Altoona, Bondurant, Grimes, Johnston, Norwalk, Pleasant Hill and Waukee — are fast-growing suburbs of Des Moines. The reason special censuses are popular in Iowa is because the state uses the once-a-decade head count as the official population when it comes to funding based on population size, said Gary Krob, coordinator for the State Data Center at the State Library of Iowa.

Read more about how several Midwestern cities are going to be counted again like it’s 2020.

Another 2022 Des Moines East High School shooter sentenced

Posted January 5, 2024 at 9:45 AM CST

A leader of the fatal drive-by shooting at Des Moines East High School in 2022 has been sentenced to 70 years in prison.

The Polk County Attorney’s office says 18-year-old Octavio Lopez Sanchez Jr. pleaded guilty in August to second-degree murder and two counts of willful injury.

The shooting left East High student Jose Lopez dead and students Kemery Ortega and Jessica Lopez Torres critically injured. They were part of a group of teens outside the school when multiple gunshots were fired from three vehicles driving past. Prosecutors say Lopez Sanchez was driving the lead car.

Ten teens were charged in the incident. All have pleaded guilty. Two have not been sentenced yet.

IPR News

Shooter and 1 other student dead, 5 injured in Perry High School shooting

Posted January 5, 2024 at 8:33 AM CST
An enormous number of emergency vehicles surrounded the building that houses Perry's middle school and high school. Police said there was an active shooter situation on the morning of Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024.
Natalie Krebs
An enormous number of emergency vehicles surrounded the building that houses Perry's middle school and high school. Police said there was an active shooter situation on the morning of Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024.

Authorities say a student was killed and five others were injured at a shooting at the high school in Perry Thursday morning. According to law enforcement authorities, the shooting happened just after 7:30 a.m.

Mitch Mortvedt with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation said at a press conference Thursday afternoon that the shooter has been identified as 17-year-old Perry High School student Dylan Butler. Mortvedt says Butler was armed with a handgun and a pump action shotgun.

“Once inside, they located multiple individuals with gunshot wounds. Officers immediately attempted to locate the source of the threat, and quickly found what appeared to be the suspect, with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. As additional officers responded, a systematic search of the school took place. Officers located, during the search of the school, an improvised explosive device.”

Mortvedt says the device was neutralized. He says a sixth grade student died from their injuries. One of the injured is a school administrator.

Read the full story and follow our liveblog for updates.

IPR News

Waterloo neighborhood forms committee to address green spaces

Posted January 4, 2024 at 4:19 PM CST

One of northeast Iowa’s most diverse neighborhoods has formed an action committee to bring its parks back to life.

There are nearly 15 languages spoken between the 1,300 residents in Waterloo’s Church Row neighborhood.

Over the past several months, those residents have formed a committee to express their concerns about park safety to city officials.

Stephanie Shavers, the neighborhood services coordinator for the city, says it’s the neighborhood’s parents who have been the most vocal.

“A lot of neighbors were like, ‘I don’t have any place to send my kids to play. If I send them out, it’s either too far from our house or the park isn’t safe.’ There’s trash, there’s glass, there’s all that stuff.”

Cleanup is already underway in a nearby park. The committee plans to raise money this spring for playground equipment, basketball hoops and shelters. Church Row has the highest concentration of children in the city.

Radio Iowa

Historic cross will nearly double in height, get new lights

Posted January 4, 2024 at 2:33 PM CST

The rebuilding of a Dubuque County landmark, the Centennial Cross, is scheduled to start soon.

Also known as the Blue Cross, it’s located in the town of Key West, about ten miles south of Dubuque.

Centennial Cross Inc. President Tim McCaffery said the cross has been part of the skyline in the Dubuque area since 1937, built in commemoration of the 100-year anniversary of the archdiocese.

Construction is expected to last four to six weeks. About $150,000 of the $350,000 needed to pay for construction and future maintenance of the cross has been raised.

The current cross is 75 feet tall and has been blocked from sight for a number of years by trees. The new cross will stand at 137-feet tall and will have LED lighting on both sides.

IPR News

DeSantis again calls on Trump to debate

Posted January 4, 2024 at 9:38 AM CST
Sheila Brummer
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IPR News

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis traveled through northwest Iowa to try and gain traction in the first-in-the-nation GOP Iowa caucuses where he trails in the polls.

At Johnnie Mars Family Restaurant on Wednesday afternoon, a dozen days before the caucuses, DeSantis touted his record as Florida governor and called on frontrunner former President Donald Trump to debate.

“He's not willing to get on the stage. He's not willing to answer questions. You know, he's in Mar-a-Lago. I mean, show up and debate. Let’s do it.”

The final Republican debate before the caucuses is scheduled in one week and will only feature DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. and U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley. Polls show they are in a tight race for second place.

Meanwhile, Trump announced plans for another televised town hall the same night.

IPR News

Shooting at Perry high school

Posted January 4, 2024 at 9:36 AM CST
Andrew Harnik
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AP Photo

Police say multiple people have been injured at a shooting at the high school in Perry. According to law enforcement authorities, the shooting happened just after 7:30 a.m. on Thursday morning.

Dallas County Sheriff Adam Infante declined to release many details.

“We're still unclear exactly how many are injured, or what the extent of those are, but we're working on that right now. There is no further danger to the public. The community is safe.”

Infante says the shooting happened before school started so there were few students and faculty inside the building.

Police say they have identified the shooter, but declined to provide more details about their status.

Follow our live blog for updates.

IPR News

Fire chiefs call for legislative changes to attract crucial volunteers

Posted January 2, 2024 at 10:59 AM CST

Community leaders are urging state lawmakers to provide incentives to attract much-needed first responders.

Woodbury County Emergency Services Director Scott Mitchell says many small towns and cities across the state struggle with finding enough people to serve as firefighters, ambulance drivers and EMTs.

“The volunteers aren't there anymore, and I don't know if it's community dedication isn’t like it used to be, but it's becoming a very, very large issue.”

Mitchell made his comments during a recent legislative forum in Sioux City, where county supervisors and city clerks challenged lawmakers to find creative ways to attract recruits. Some suggestions include providing state-issued health insurance, access to IPERS and training grants.

Read the full story.

IPR News

No. 1 ranked Iowa women’s wrestling sends two Hawkeyes to Olympic trials

Posted December 20, 2023 at 2:39 PM CST

Midway through their inaugural season, the Iowa women’s wrestling team is ranked number one in the nation. The Hawkeyes are also sending two members to the U.S. Olympic trials.

One of them is senior Marlynne Deede. After a standout career at Augsburg College in Minnesota, Deede says she felt she still had more to achieve, so she came to Iowa.

Even with years of experience at the collegiate level, she says the first meet at Carver-Hawkeye Arena was special.

“That was crazy,” she recalled. “That was definitely unlike anything I have ever experienced before in my whole life. It was like, such a surreal, special moment. Just for the whole women’s wrestling team to walk out there and see all those people come together to support something that’s kind of bigger than ourselves. It was an amazing experience.”

Deede and freshman Rose Cassioppi qualified for the 2024 Olympic Trials by placing in the top five in their weight class at the Senior Nationals this past weekend in Texas. The trials will take place in State College, Penn., April 19 and 20, 2024.

IPR News

Nikki Haley says U.S. 'won’t survive' second term of Trump

Posted December 20, 2023 at 1:15 PM CST
Ambassador Nikki Haley is a Republican presidential candidate campaigning before the Iowa caucuses in Nevada, Iowa. 12/18/2023 Photo by John Pemblre
John Pemble
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IPR
Ambassador Nikki Haley is a Republican presidential candidate campaigning before the Iowa caucuses in Nevada, Iowa. 12/18/2023 Photo by John Pemblre

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is holding a series of town halls across the state as the Iowa caucuses draw near.

The former U.N. ambassador is blasting Trump in her stump speeches for praising dictators around the world.

“You can't have someone who's so focused on the past that they can't see the future,” she told IPR in Nevada. “And that's why I think Donald Trump shouldn't be president. Not only does chaos follow him, but he's not in the right state of mind to really look forward. He's too busy wanting to fix the grievances of the past. We can't have that, we won't survive it.”

Polls continue to show former President Donald Trump dominating the Republican presidential race ahead of Iowa’s Jan. 15 caucuses. The former president will likely not participate in a CNN debate in Des Moines on Jan. 10. So far, Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will be the only two on the stage at Drake University.

Read the full story.

Legislative Session

Gender balance and state boards and commissions adjustments likely priority in upcoming legislative session

Posted December 19, 2023 at 5:01 PM CST
Iowa Statehouse capitol dome
Natalie Krebs
Lawmakers will consider an overhaul of Iowa's boards and commissions in 2024.

Iowa lawmakers will likely soon consider repealing a law that requires state boards and commissions to be “gender balanced.”

The law passed in the late 1980s requires state boards and commissions to have an equal number of men and women, or nearly equal for boards with an odd number of members.

Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver, R-Ankeny, says it’s sometimes difficult to find people to serve on state boards, especially those that oversee professions dominated by men or women.

“Everyone assumes that you’re just trying to put men on every board. That’s not necessarily the case. There are boards that you might want more females. And ultimately, we want the best people on there, the best people that we can find.”

House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst, D-Windsor Heights, says state officials should work harder to fill those positions instead of giving up.

“I’m trying to understand why, in 2024, we’ll be talking about whether it’s the right thing to do to ensure that we have an equal number of men and women deciding what’s happening in our state. Gender balance is important. A diversity of perspectives on these boards and commissions is important.”

Ending the gender balance requirement is expected to be part of Governor Kim Reynolds’ proposal to streamline state boards and commissions. That could also including eliminating more than 40% of the state’s boards and commissions.

Read the full story.

IPR News

House, Senate Republicans want to speed up income tax cuts 

Posted December 18, 2023 at 3:55 PM CST

Top Republicans in the Iowa House and Senate say they want to speed up existing income tax cuts. It’s not clear how much more they’ll cut taxes after that.

Iowa’s personal income tax is already on track to drop to a flat 3.9% in 2026, but House Speaker Pat Grassley and Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver say Republican lawmakers want to make that happen sooner.

After that, Whitver says he’s not sure if this will be the year the Legislature accomplishes Senate Republicans’ goal of eliminating the income tax.

Grassley says for House Republicans, there are two driving factors that will determine if they push income tax rates below 3.9%.

“We obviously want to put ourselves in a position to give more money back to Iowans, but I don’t think we should be lowering taxes if we can’t maintain the commitments that we make,” he said. “And I also don’t think we should be raising taxes on Iowans to cut taxes.”

Income taxes bring in nearly half of the state’s revenue, and Democrats say the state would have to boost the sales tax to offset the loss of the income tax.

Radio Iowa

Another northwest Iowa turkey operation hit with bird flu

Posted November 1, 2023 at 10:41 AM CDT

State and federal officials have confirmed bird flu has hit a third commercial turkey operation in northwest Iowa.

The facility in Buena Vista County had about 30,000 turkeys on site. Another turkey production facility in Buena Vista County was hit by bird flu two weeks ago. On Oct. 23, officials announced birds in a commercial turkey operation in neighboring Pocahontas County were being euthanized after bird flu had been detected there.

From April through September, there were no cases of bird flu reported in the state.

According to the Iowa Department of Agriculture, though, there were two outbreaks of bird flu at the beginning of the year — one in late January at a Buena Vista County turkey production facility and another in mid-March in a backyard flock in Chickasaw County.

IPR News

UNI program to address climate change in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands

Posted November 1, 2023 at 10:40 AM CDT

The University of Northern Iowa will begin a collaboration with four other schools to address climate change in Alaska over the next four years.

The university has received a $13.9 million grant from the National Science Foundation to research the social and economic impacts of climate change on the Aleutian Islands’ Indigenous population.

Professor Andrey Petrov, the director of UNI’s ARCTIC center, says most of his scientists’ work will go toward goals beyond the initial grant.

“We think of this project not as one big thing that happens in four years. We think of it as a long-term study that creates local capacity,” he said. “The main problem in these local communities is they don’t have the local capacity to study what they want to study.”

The UNI group will look to recruit, train and educate research team leads from local populations as part of a workforce development initiative. The project launches on Nov. 15.

IPR News

Nitrate levels are often higher in the rural Midwest. How does this affect health?

Posted November 1, 2023 at 10:39 AM CDT

Recent studies have found elevated levels of nitrates in drinking water correlates with health issues like cancer and thyroid disease — even below what current federal standards deem as safe.

But health research necessary to take federal action is slow-going, and some environmental health experts are concerned officials aren’t acting fast enough.

Iowa's Nutrient Reduction Strategy was introduced ten years ago as a roadmap to curb the amount of nitrogen and phosphorous contaminating the state’s waterways and contributing to a massive "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico. IPR News is looking at what has — and hasn’t — changed in the decade since.

Read the full story.

IPR News

Kirk Ferentz says he’s ‘focused on the season ahead’ when questioned about the end of Brian Ferentz’s contract

Posted October 31, 2023 at 4:19 PM CDT

Iowa Hawkeyes head football coach Kirk Ferentz says he respects the chain of command, even if it means his son and offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz is coaching his last season.

The decision to make this Brian Ferentz’s last season comes as the Hawkeyes’ offense sits at the bottom of the pile both compared to its own history and compared nationally. It also comes during the middle of the season, right as the Hawkeyes prepare to take on Northwestern this Saturday.

Kirk Ferentz says his approach has always been to evaluate players and coaches in the postseason.

“In season, we’ve got a lot on our plates,” he said. “That’s kind of just been the nature of it. It’s been that way probably since I got started full-time in ’81. There’s just not enough time in the day.”

But when asked about the decision to end the contract with his son, Ferentz says he is focused on the games ahead.

“You move on. You block it out,” he said. “It’s like anything else that could be a distraction, if you let it be one, it will be. We’re all adults. And Warren Parker used to say it all the time. Boys do what they want to do. And men do what they have to. I don’t mean that in a sexist way. Adults do what they have to do.”

The Hawkeyes are 6-2 this season.

Radio Iowa

App for mobile IDs available for download

Posted October 31, 2023 at 3:46 PM CDT

State officials say there’s a free Iowa Mobile ID app for smartphones now, which creates a digital version of an Iowa driver’s license or state-issued ID.

The app is available in the Apple Store for iPhones and in Google Play for Android smartphones.

Users can register their phone number and scan the front and back of their ID to create a digital version of their driver's license.

The app was soft-launched over the summer. Mobile IDs are now accepted at the airports in both Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, as well as many other U.S. airports. Smith says the Mobile ID is accepted at some businesses, but it requires a scanner that can read the unique QR code that’s generated for each individual who has a Mobile ID.

The Iowa DOT’s website has information for businesses that want to give customers a Mobile ID option. DOT officials emphasize that users will still need to carry their physical driver’s license since the digital version isn’t accepted as an ID everywhere.

Iowa joins Arizona, Colorado, Georgia and Maryland as states that are offering digital IDs in both the Apple and Google Wallets on smartphones.

IPR News

Biden administration announces $7 million for system that provides water to some of northwest Iowa 

Posted October 31, 2023 at 2:38 PM CDT
View from inside a 24-inch water pipe used to connect Minnesota to the Lewis and Clark Rural Water System
Lewis and Clark Rural Water System
View from inside a 24-inch water pipe used to connect Minnesota to the Lewis and Clark Rural Water System

This week, the Biden administration announced that $7 million in infrastructure money for FY 2024 will go to the Lewis and Clark Rural Water System, a nonprofit organization that provides water to a portion of northwest Iowa.

Troy Larson, the executive director of the Lewis and Clark Rural Water System, says the money will help with the final phase of a water treatment plant in Vermillion, South Dakota.

“You can’t get water to Iowa if we don't have a treatment plant,” he said.

Larson says the ongoing drought has shown the vulnerability of water sources across the region.

“It's the cornerstone of economic development, quality of life,” he said. “If you don't have good quality water and have it at an abundant level, your community or water system is going to suffer in the long run.”

The water system serves 20 communities in three states, including Sioux Center, Hull and Rock Rapids in northwest Iowa. Sheldon is expected to go online in November, and Sibley in 2025.

Read the full story.

WVIK

Mississippi River bridge replacement to be announced in November

Posted October 31, 2023 at 1:32 PM CDT

On Nov. 15, the Interstate-80 bridge study team will reveal which option it has selected for replacing the Mississippi River bridge near the Quad Cities.

The Illinois and Iowa departments of transportation will host a fourth public meeting online as part of the study. A year ago, the team narrowed the options from seven to four to replace the bridge that is more than 50 years old. Since then, the Illinois and Iowa DOTs and a consultant have been studying the four options.

Two options feature building a new bridge either 50 feet east or west of the existing bridge. The other options propose construction of two side-by-side bridge spans, either 20 feet east or west of the existing bridge. The study team will also announce a preferred alternative.

All four options would allow traffic to continue on I-80 during construction. They all feature a total of six lanes plus two exit lanes, similar to the new, I-74 bridge. The project also includes six miles of interstate and the re-configuration of the I-80, I-88 interchange.

The team will accept public comments through Nov. 29. A final decision could be made in 2024.

Side Effects Public Media

Iowa sees fewer abortions after Dobbs decision

Posted October 31, 2023 at 11:30 AM CDT

One year after the U.S. Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion, the number of legal abortions actually increased nationwide, according to a new report by the Society of Family Planning.

The report found that Iowa saw about 700 fewer abortions in the year after the Dobbs decision, even though abortion is still legal up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.

The WeCount report tracked abortions across the country from July 2022 to June 2023. It found almost 115,000 fewer legal abortions took place in states with near or total abortion bans. But that was met by an increase of legal abortions in states where the service remains legal.

Researchers suggest this slight increase in numbers is due to more assistance for people seeking out-of-state abortions.

They also suggest that new clinics opening up in states where abortion is legal and expanded access to telehealth services are behind the national increase.

The report does not capture abortions that happen outside of the U.S. health care system, where people may order pills online from overseas pharmacies.

Read the full story from Side Effects Public Media.

Radio Iowa

Brian Ferentz won’t return as Hawkeye’s offensive coordinator

Posted October 31, 2023 at 11:28 AM CDT

Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz will not return for the 2024 season.

Iowa Interim Athletic Director Beth Goetz says she informed the son of head coach Kirk Ferentz that this will be his final season with the program and made the decision after consulting with the head coach and university President Barbara Wilson.

“Making this known today is in the best interest of the program and its loyal fans; it provides clarity during this pivotal time in the schedule,” Goetz said. “It is not my practice to be involved in assistant coaching decisions and certainly not to make public such a change during a season. Our priority is to put all our student-athletes in the best position to have both short-term and long-term success, on and off the field.”

Brian Ferentz is in his seventh season as offensive coordinator. The unit has become a national punchline the past couple of years.

This season, the Hawkeyes are 6-2 despite an offense that ranks last nationally by averaging just over 232 yards per game. Iowa has scored only 14 offensive touchdowns in eight games. Prior to being named offensive coordinator, Brian Ferentz served as offensive line coach from 2012 to 2016 and also had a four-year stint on the staff of the New England Patriots.

IPR News

Preston Hollow takes issue with UI calling its bid for Mercy ‘unviable’

Posted October 30, 2023 at 12:37 PM CDT

Texas-based private equity firm Preston Hollow is taking issue with the University of Iowa calling its bid for Mercy Iowa City hospital “unviable.” It says that’s for a judge to determine.

Just last week, Mercy named the UI’s $28 million bid the winner of its auction. However, Mercy’s primary creditor, Preston Hollow, maintains its $30 million bid is the best and highest.

A few weeks ago,Preston Hollow was named the winning bid. But after Preston and Mercy had a “material disagreement” involving the fate of money belonging to the hospital’s charitable foundation, the auction was reopened. The UI’s bid – which did not involve foundation money – was named the winner.

The ball is now in a judge’s bankruptcy court. The hearing is scheduled for next Monday.

IPR News

Three months out, the Iowa caucuses are 'Trump's to lose'

Posted October 30, 2023 at 12:34 PM CDT
Former President Donald Trump waves.
AP
Former President Donald Trump downplayed his legal challenges while campaigning in eastern Iowa on Tuesday night, just hours after announcing he’d received a target letter in the Justice Department’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. (July 19)

There are fewer than three months until the first contest of the Republican presidential primary cycle: the Iowa caucuses. Campaigns are busy organizing in an effort to get voters to show up on caucus night for a race where former President Donald Trump seems to already have a lock on winning.

"How many of you are planning on caucusing?" Polk County Republican Party Chair Gloria Mazza asked a crowd of Iowans munching on pizza and fried chicken at a Pizza Ranch restaurant in suburban Des Moines.

"I better see all the hands," she said with a laugh.

Some — not all — of the hands go up. The crowd, waiting to hear from presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, is reminded that caucuses are not like a primary election.

Voters have to be motivated enough to show up for their candidate on caucus night. Republicans have to wait around to hear speeches before they fill out their secret ballot. And according to Iowa State University Political Science Professor David Peterson, the Iowa caucuses are Trump's to lose.

Read the full story.

Radio Iowa

Iowa Poll shows Trump leads, Haley tied with DeSantis

Posted October 30, 2023 at 12:33 PM CDT

A new Iowa Poll from the Des Moines Register and NBC News shows former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley tied for second place with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, but both trail former President Trump by 27 points.

Trump’s lead has increased slightly from the Register’s Iowa Poll in late August.

Haley and DeSantis both registered 16% support in the latest poll, which found Haley has a growing amount of support among independents who plan to register as Republicans to vote on caucus night. A third of independents said they plan to vote for Trump. Haley got 22% and DeSantis got 12% of independents.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who recently announced he was ‘all-in on Iowa,” was a distant third in the poll, with 7% support. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has not campaigned in Iowa this year, got 4%, as did businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.

The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 4.9%. It was conducted from Oct. 22-26 and includes responses from 404 likely Iowa caucusgoers. Former Vice President Mike Pence dropped out of the race on Oct. 27.Pence had 2% in the Iowa Poll, but all respondents were asked who their second choice candidate was and those second choice responses were added to other candidates.

Radio Iowa

Dry crops lead to issues during harvest

Posted October 30, 2023 at 12:32 PM CDT

Dry weather has created some yield loss in soybean and cornfields in north-central Iowa.

ISU Extension Field Agronomist Angie Rieck-Hinz says some soybean pods were shattering in the fields before a combine would enter, or the pods shattered as the cutter bar of the combine hit them. The beans that fall out of the shattered pods can’t be harvested.

Rieck-Hines says the crops turned so quickly that it made it tough to respond.

“They kind of went from wet to dry like literally overnight,” she said. “Most people will tell you we went from green stems, which was hard to combine, to dry pods and beans and that made for some harvest losses.”

She says many producers are making bales out of corn and soybean stover, but that can lead to a loss of important materials in the process.

Rieck-HInz says corn yields in her territory have been averaging 210-220 bushels an acre. Soybeans have been averaging about 62 bushels an acre.

IPR News

Trump predicts an easy Iowa caucuses win during Sioux City campaign stop

Posted October 30, 2023 at 12:31 PM CDT

A big crowd came to see former President Donald Trump during a campaign stop in Sioux City Sunday. The GOP candidate and frontrunner predicts he will easily win the Iowa caucuses in January.

Trump started his speech before 2,300 people at the Orpheum Theatre by mistakenly calling Sioux City “Sioux Falls.” But that misstep didn’t dim the enthusiasm of the crowd that approved of his put-downs of President Joe Biden and views on agriculture, the southern border and international diplomacy.

Trump says he is not taking the Iowa caucuses for granted. In 2016, he landed second behind Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in Iowa. The campaign stop marks his eighth Iowa campaign event in a little more than a month.

“I was very disrespectful to Iowa. I'd like to apologize because I go around saying of course we're going to win Iowa and my people said you cannot assume that to this extent,” he said. “Well, we are, I think we're up by 47 points or something, which we should.”

Trump says because of his support, Iowa kept its first-in-the-nation caucus status, and he plans to win this time around.

The former president spoke for around 80 minutes. He did not mention his former vice president, Mike Pence, who dropped out of the race over the weekend. However, he did slam GOP rivals, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who trail him in the polls.

“We’re seeing numbers we have never seen before. But we’re going to crush crooked Joe Biden. We’re going to make America great again. We’re going to put America first,” Trump said.

Harvest Public Media

Pumpkin farmers bring in harvest in time for Halloween, despite drought

Posted October 30, 2023 at 12:30 PM CDT

Despite drought conditions in parts of the country, pumpkin farmers have been bringing in their harvest in time for Halloween.

Among the top pumpkin-producing states, drought conditions were most severe in Texas, where they reduced yields, according to Texas A&M’s extension service. In Michigan, drought conditions were brief and mild. But farmer Mike Houghtaling said his pumpkin crop was still smaller than usual.

“We had a drought in May and June, and a flood in July and August,” he said. “It’s probably the worst conditions you can have.”

Illinois, the nation’s top pumpkin producer, also saw drought conditions. But University of Illinois crop sciences professor Mohammad Babadoost says the big Libby’s pumpkin cannery in central Illinois was reporting above-average yields.

John Ackerman, who grows and sells pumpkins at his farm in central Illinois, says despite drought conditions in parts of the state this year, his pumpkin crop came through.

“You know pumpkins, they like it dry but not too dry,” he said “And they was getting bad. We are so blessed that we caught enough rains to end up with a magnificent harvest. Pumpkins look great this year.”

Read the full story from Harvest Public Media.

IPR News

Absentee ballots must be mailed soon in order to be counted

Posted October 30, 2023 at 12:29 PM CDT

Election officials say anyone planning to vote absentee needs to get their ballot in the mail soon, if they haven’t already.

In order for a voter’s absentee ballot to be counted it must be received by their county auditor by 8 p.m. on Election Day, which is coming up on Nov. 7.

Ringgold County Auditor Amanda Waske, president of the Iowa State Association of County Auditors, recommends voters get their ballots in the mail in the next couple of days.

“You want to make sure that your vote counts, so the more time you can allow for that mail to make its way through the system, the better,” she said.

Ballots can be tracked online atvoterready.iowa.gov. If voters are running late, Waske says absentee ballots can be delivered in-person during early voting hours or placed in secure drop boxes in counties that have them.