A House committee has adjusted a Senate bill that would have ended mandatory charges on utility bills that are used to finance energy efficiency rebate programs. The Senate voted to give consumers the option of making the monthly payment and participating in the programs. Advocates say making the program optional would be a death knell to energy efficiency efforts. Attorney Robert Kelter is with the Environmental Law and Policy Center. “In the long term, energy efficiency means fewer power plants, fewer transformers and lower bills,” he says.

Dave Hein of Bulb Guy Lighting in Des Moines says without the rebates from utility companies, small businesses and churches won’t be able to afford installing energy efficient lighting.  “I’ve been in lighting long enough to see us go from incandescent to halogen, from halogen to flourescent, from flourescent to LED,” he says. “…But innovation comes at a cost and, without an incentive, most people aren’t going to do it.”

The House Commerce Committee has voted to continue the mandatory charge, but limit it to two percent of the total bill. Some customers were being charged up to nine percent.

(Radio Iowa)

Denise O’Brien, a Cass County farmer, announced today (Friday), that she is running for Iowa House District 21. The district is comprised of Adams county, Union county and parts of Cass and Pottawattamie counties. In a statement, O’Brien said “My husband and I have lived in Cass county nearly all our lives and have farmed in the county for over 42 years. We know our community and see how rural areas across the state have been ignored by politicians in Des Moines for too long. I am running for the Iowa House because I want the voice of rural Iowans to be heard. We need to put people over politics rather than letting our state crumble while catering to special interests. As a wife, mother, grandmother and farmer I have the knowledge and work ethic along with roots in my district to represent southwest Iowa well.”

Denise O’Brien

O’Brien and her husband, Larry Harris, maintain seventeen acres of the original Harris farm, 5 of which are in in certified organic fruit and vegetable production. O’Brien utilizes a greenhouse and high tunnel production to extend beyond Iowa’s normal growing season. Chickens and turkeys are also raised for meat and egg production. Denise has mentored women many of whom are the next generation of farmers. She cares deeply about the future of rural Iowa and has spent her life ensuring a bright road ahead for agriculture in Iowa.

She said that she “Will be an advocate for hardworking Iowa families like my own at the Iowa Legislature.” Her priorities include finding a solution to health care, prioritizing education, creating good jobs with benefits, and protecting our farms and environment. O’Brien said “I think we need folks in the legislature who are deeply invested in their communities rather than in the pockets of donors. Let’s create a state of Iowa that we are proud of as we move into the future.”

Denise has been involved in her community as well as in the agricultural sector. She is a co-founder of Women, Food and Agricultural Network, an Iowa based national network. She currently serves as President of the Board of Pesticide Action Network and co- Chairs the board of Sustainable Iowa Land Trust. O’Brien is an Assistant Soil and Water Commissioner for Cass county. From 2001 to 2003 O’Brien was a Food and Society Fellow, a W.K. Kellogg funded program. In 2012 O’Brien completed a year assignment with the United States Department of Agriculture as an Agriculture adviser in Afghanistan.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Officials say nearly 30 odor complaints have been traced to a livestock nutrients plant in Sioux City’s former stockyards area. The Sioux City Journal reports that city staff confirmed this week that 17 new odor complaints have been traced to Kay Dee LLC’s processing facility since Monday. Kay Dee is an independent manufacturer of mineral and protein supplements. City Utilities Director Mark Simms says this week’s complaints are in addition to 11 complaints received over the past three months that also were traced to the facility.

Kay Dee has released a statement, saying harsh winter weather has “caused unexpected problems” at the plant and that they’re cooperating with the city to fix the issue. Simms says the plant is expected to produce a plan to mitigate the odors by March 31.

Three people already serving time in the Pottawattamie County Jail, were served with warrants, recently. The Sheriff’s Office reports 26-year old Justin Tyme Rocha, of Beloit, WI., was served with a Felony warrant March 14th, for Forgery. 37-year old Melson Antonio Arecalo, of Council Bluffs, was served March 13th, with a warrant for Violation of a No Contact/Protective Order – Contempt of Court. And, 47-year old Shawn L. Sweet, of Omaha, was served March 15th, with a warrant for being a Fugitive from Justice. All three subjects were then returned to the custody of jail staff.

And, 36-year old Jennifer Lee Kell, of Council Bluffs, turned herself-in to the Pott. County Sheriff’s Office on March 13th. Authorities confirmed she was wanted on a warrant for Violation of Parole. Kell was subsequently turned over to corrections staff.

A program at the University of Iowa that’s been researching ways to help people who can’t hear has won another five-year grant from the National Insitute Health. Doctor Bruce Gantz leads the research in using what are called cochlear implants. “Which are devices to actually stimulate the inner ear nerves so that people can understand words again if they are deaf,” Gantz explains. “And we have explored this technology for over 30 plus years.” He says the Iowa Cochlear Implant Clinical Research Center has focused on finding ways to maximize the use of the device. “We developed a new strategy in which you can use some residual low-frequency hearing and combine it with the electrical processing of the cochlear implant,” Gantz explains. “And people do much better in noise and they do much better in word understanding if they they have a little bit of residual hearing than if they are so deaf that they can’t hear anything.”

The new funding allows them to continuing to improve the hybred implant. “Trying to figure out with this new grant where people separate speech and noise in the brain. And looking at functions of the central auditory processing to see how we can improve this technology to expand it to more people,” Gantz says. Gantz says they were excited back when they first started the research when they were able to get someone to understand a a few words. He says they’ve advance now so that most people can use the implant and talk on the phone without needing to lip read. And for some it helps them hear in many situations where it wasn’t possible before. “Those people who have residual hearing — we are bringing them back into a world in which they can go to a restaurant or be in a loud social environment in their church and actually communicate,” according to Gantz.

The research will examine patients on an individual basis, helping researchers to understand why one person hears things differently than another. Gantz says losing the ability to hear and interact with others is a big problem for people as they age. “It’s the third most common chronic disorder in people over the age of 65. You have hypertension, and arthritis and hearing loss are the big three,” he says. Doctor Gantz says they’ve look at some national numbers of hearing issues to get an idea of how many people could benefit from their advanced implant.  “There’s about one-and-a-half million people who could benefit from a standard cochlear implant. We know that if we look at the audiograms of people who would fit the hybred model….it’s three-point-five million people,” Gantz says. “So, it’s three times the number of people who could use the hybred compared to a standard cochlear implant.”

He says they believe the number of people who could benefit from the hybred implant may double to seven million by 2060. He says their research will involve scientists from multiple disciplines across the University of Iowa, including computer science, neurosurgery, radiology, psychology, psychiatry, audiology, and music. The new grant is for 12 million dollars. (Radio Iowa)