(Radio Iowa) – Iowa is known for its many thousands of acres of fertile farmland which help to feed perhaps millions of people around the world, and a new report details just how valuable the agriculture industry is to the state. Brent Johnson, president of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, says the report just confirms what we already know, that agriculture is vital to our state’s economy and identity.

The report says Iowa has 326-thousand jobs that are directly tied to agriculture with an economic impact of more than 96-billion dollars tied to those jobs. When that 96-billion figure is trickled down to Main Street and other industries, he says it quickly more than doubles to nearly 222-billion dollars. Even through the past few years with the pandemic, Johnson says agriculture saw steady gains, and farmers are growing significantly more food on less land.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak arrested a woman and a man on separate charges, Thursday. Authorities say 40-year-old Mandy Marie Knapp, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 8:15-p.m. in the 1500 block of N. Broadway Street. Knapp was taken into custody on Adams County warrants for Trespass/1st offense, Open Container as a driver (21+) and Felony Burglary in the 3rd Degree. She was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 bond.

And , at around 5:25-p.m., Thursday, Red Oak Police arrested 24-year-old Austin Alexander Thompson, of Red Oak, for Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana – 1st offense, and Poss. of Drug Paraphernalia. He was being held on a $1,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks says congress cannot let TikTok stockpile sensitive information and spy on Americans. Miller-Meeks and other members of the House Commerce Committee quizzed TikTok’s C-E-O for more than five hours yesterday (Thursday).

“Certainly, as you can see, in a bipartisan way we have concerns,” Miller-Meeks told TikTok’s CEO, “and those concerns are valid.” The app, which has 150 American users, is owned by a Chinese company and the Biden Administration is demanding that the Chinese sell their stake in the company — or the app will be banned in the U.S. Miller noted the hearing began hours after China announced its opposition to the sale of TikTok.

“Why would China or the Chinese Communist Party be opposed to a forced sale of TikTok?” Miller-Meeks asked. “…That leads people to believe that there’s something more nefarious and that there is, in fact, data that is captured, is stored and poses a risk not only to children in the United States, but also poses a risk to national security.” Miller-Meeks, a Republican who represents Iowa’s first congressional district, says she believes TikTok is gathering personal data from Americans and sharing it with our adversaries.

Republican Ashley Hinson, Iowa’s second district congresswoman, says TikTok needs to be banned.  “I believe the time to act was yesterday here,” Hinson says. Hinson says the U.S. Treasury Department has been negotiating with TikTok’s owners for three years — since the Trump Administration — and cutting ties with China and it’s time to ban what Hinson calls a Trojan horse app. Hinson made her comments during a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Thursday.

(Sidney, Iowa – Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope reports that a man from northwest Iowa was arrested on Monday for driving a stolen vehicle, faces additional charges following the alleged assault of a Sheriff’s Deputy at the Fremont County Jail, on Wednesday. The deputy suffered minor injuries during the incident.

The Sheriff said that on Monday (March 20), Sheriff’s Office received a report of a possible stolen vehicle near a truck stop at the intersection of Highway 2 and Interstate 29. Deputies located a 2015 Chrysler 200, reported stolen out of Dickinson County, Iowa at that location. The driver, 20-year-old Kendel Cole Schmidt, from Spirit Lake, Iowa was arrested for Theft in the 1^st Degree. Schmidt also had a warrant for his arrest out of Dickinson County, and was being held at the Fremont County Jail on $10,000 cash/surety bond.

Kendel Cole Schmidt

On Wednesday, Schmidt assaulted a Fremont County Correctional Officer, tearing the correctional officer’s uniform in the process, and attempted to steal items from their person in an attempt to escape.

Schmidt was additionally charged with:

• Criminal Mischief 5^th Degree, a Simple Misdemeanor
• Assault on persons in certain occupations, an Aggravated Misdemeanor
• Attempted Escape, a Class D Felony
• Robbery 2^nd Degree, a Class C Felony

He remains in the Fremont County Jail on an additional $17,300 cash bond.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – March 23, 2023 – Drivers who travel on Iowa 44 in Portsmouth need to be aware of an upcoming bridge deck replacement project that may slow down their trip beginning on Monday, April 3 until Friday, July 28, weather permitting. During this project, drivers on Iowa 44 will follow a marked detour around the work zone by using Iowa 191, Shelby County roads F-32 and M-16.

Help keep everyone on the road safer. Drive with caution, obey the posted speed limit and other signs in the work area, and be aware that traffic fines for moving violations are at least double in work zones. As in all work zones, you should stay alert, allow ample space between vehicles, and wear seat belts.

The latest traveler information is available anytime through the 511 system.

March 23, 2023 (Des Moines, Iowa) — The Iowa Tourism Office presented 25 awards recognizing excellence in the tourism industry during the 2023 Iowa Tourism Conference in Altoona this week. Council Bluffs and Winterset won awards for “Outstanding Community” (Council Bluffs in the Metro category & Winterset in the Rural category). Council Bluffs also won an award in the Metro category for Outstanding Event: “Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience.” In the same award went to Sidney, Iowa for their “Championship Rodeo” event in the Rural category.

Outstanding Event (Rural): Sidney Championship Rodeo

Outstanding Event (Metro): Council Bluffs’ Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience

“We continue to see tourism rebound in Iowa,” said Amy Zeigler, state tourism manager for the Iowa Tourism Office. “Events are definitely back, as evidenced by the 25 nominations we received for Outstanding Event. We look forward to continuing the positive momentum in 2023.”

Awards, divided into metro and rural distinctions, were made in 13 categories. In addition, conference attendees voted for the People’s Choice Award; nominees were the second-highest scoring nominations. (See the complete list and more photo’s, HERE)

The Iowa Tourism Office, part of the Iowa Economic Development Authority, works closely with community partners, attractions and events, to promote the state’s beautifully vast scenery and unique history. Tourism in Iowa generated $1.8 billion in tax revenues in 2021, with more than $1 billion supporting state and local governments, while employing a total of 65,000 people statewide. For more information on everything Iowa has to offer tourists, visit traveliowa.com.

(Radio Iowa) – The governor of Minnesota is blasting Iowa and Florida for efforts to ban books. Democrat Governor Tim Walz is installing a Little Free Library in the anteroom of his State Capitol office and says, “For every book you ban in Iowa and Florida, we’ll put ten of them out in Minnesota.”

Walz says, “We’ve got folks that want to make it harder to get ‘Lord of the Flies’ than to get a dang AR-15.” Books with obscene or graphic sexual content would have to be removed from Iowa school libraries if a bill that cleared the Iowa House becomes law. The Iowa Senate version calls for removing books from school libraries that describe or depict sex acts. Minnesota’s governor was asked if people on the other side of the political aisle can also put their books in his Little Free Library.

“Absolutely, you can put any book you want to in here,” Walz says. “We all know what the most-banned book in history is: the Bible. Bring it! Put it on there. That’s what this is about! This is about freedom.” Members of the Iowa group “Moms for Liberty” have led efforts to remove books they consider obscene from Iowa school libraries. They also support a bill to ban materials or instruction about gender identity in kindergarten through eighth grade classrooms.

Governor Walz acknowledges his actions are a pro-active effort “to make it very clear to Americans there is a vast number of people who disagree with these policies.” “This is a state where reproductive choices are yours,” he says. “This is a place where you can bring your authentic self and be protected. This is a state where you read what you choose to read.”

Walz says, “I want to be very clear: If you’re on the side of book-banning, they have never been on the right side of history.” The press secretary for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis indicates only pornographic and inappropriate books are being removed from that state’s schools and says, “We find it kind of strange that a governor would put pornography in a library outside of his office.”

(Thanks to Bill Werner, Minnesota News Network)

(Radio Iowa) – House Speaker Pat Grassley says Republicans in the House plan to increase the rate Iowa nursing homes are paid to care for residents enrolled in Medicaid.

The Medicaid program pays for the care of over half of Iowa nursing home residents. Grassley says the current reimbursement rate was set before COVID hit, based on nursing home costs in 2018. Since then, nursing homes have been dealing with inflation and paying higher wages to try to keep and attract workers. Seventeen nursing homes closed last year due to financial strain and advocates warn more closures will happen if the Medicaid reimbursement rate doesn’t rise.

“We recognize that there is that need,” Grassley told reporters during a news conference on the House floor.

According to the Iowa Health Care Association, the daily rate Iowa Medicaid pays is covering just 80% of the costs of providing nursing home care.

“I don’t know if we can fix it in one year as it was created over a couple year period, this gap that now exists again, but that’s why we went higher with our budget target.” Grassley said.

House Republicans have a handful of state spending priorities like this one that put their overall state spending plan about $50 million above the target amount Governor Reynolds recommended in January. Republicans in the Senate have signaled they’re building a budget with a bottom line number of about $8.5 billion — identical to the governor’s budget plan.

Governor Reynolds is recommending the state spend $15 million on the Medicaid reimbursement rate for nursing homes. Grassley says Republicans in the House have not yet decided on an amount.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has released a summary of PFAS testing of public water supplies from October 2021 to December 2022. Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are chemicals used in water-resistant, stain-resistant, and heat-resistant products such as carpets, clothing, fire-fighting foams, non-stick pans, and food packaging. Ingestion of these chemicals may increase cancer risk, affect the ability to become pregnant and interfere with pancreatic, thyroid and liver function. The DNR began sampling public water systems in October 2021 using a tiered system prioritizing locations in close  proximity to potential locations of PFAS storage or use and surface water or groundwater sources at higher risk of being contaminated.

The 116 drinking water supplies tested represent approximately 46% of Iowa’s population. Water samples included both treated finished, or treated, water and raw/untreated water from wells and surface water bodies used for drinking water.  Samples were analyzed for 25 different PFAS compounds, four of which currently have health advisory (HA) levels set by the Environmental Protection Agency: PFOA, PFOS, PFBS, and HFPO DA (also known as Gen X Chemicals). Although one or more PFAS compounds were found in 52 finished water samples, just 15 (12%) of the finished water samples reported PFAS concentrations above the current health advisory levels.

If a PFAS chemical with a health advisory is found at a community water supply in either treated or untreated samples, the DNR will revise operation permits to the public water supply. To date, 20 water supply operations permits were revised to require quarterly monitoring.

This summary report was written prior to EPA’s recent announcement of proposed drinking water standards for PFAS chemicals. Once standards become effective, possibly by the end of 2023, water supplies that exceed the standards in finished water will be required to develop and execute treatment plans. In the meantime, many communities have already adjusted their operations to reduce or remove PFAS.

The DNR will continue to sample PFAS in raw and treated water at public water supplies over the next few years. The Environmental Protection Agency will also require testing of finished water supplies as part of the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule #5, which includes communities with 3,300 or more people and 18 smaller communities, between 2023-25.

The complete summary and results can be found at iowadnr.gov.

(Radio Iowa) – Numbers out today show Iowa’s unemployment rate dropped below three percent in February. Iowa Workforce Development director, Beth Townsend, says that’s one of the positives for the state. “The unemployment rate went down to two-point-nine percent (2.9%), which is a tenth of a point decrease from last month, which is always good news. And our labor force participation rate, we maintained the strong gains we had made in December in January. So we’re still at, we’re at 68point-one percent which is a good sign,” Townsend says.

She says the participation rate is important as they have been working to get more people back into the workforce. “In January I think we gained almost a half a point, that was a pretty good increase. We had been trending up, but it was pretty small increments, and then we saw a big jump in December,” she says. Townsend says manufacturing added 700 jobs in February. “They’re up about four-thousand-300 jobs over the course of the year. Iowa’s economy is really reliant upon advanced manufacturing. So that’s a good sign,” she says. “We do see that transportation and warehousing is down a little bit over the last year about two-thousand jobs, which probably is related to supply chain and inflation and more indicative of what’s going on federally, nationally.”

Townsend says leisure and hospitality jobs are up almost 45-hundred jobs over the course of the year, and the service industries had the biggest increase in jobs this past month “Gained 13-hundred jobs. So we’re seeing some good indications that our economy is is resilient and riding the storm out of what’s going on nationally from an economic standpoint,” Townsend says.

The construction industry did lose 16-hundred jobs in February — which Townsend says is probably related to bad weather. She says they expect to see the industry gain back jobs as the weather improves and more projects get underway outside.