(Bayard, Iowa) – A water boil advisory was issued Monday, for the Guthrie County town of Bayard. According to officials with the Bayard Water Supply, crews began conducting maintenance on the water treatment plant, Monday. The City is recommending the use of bottled water or alternative sources for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth and food preparation. Bayard Water Supply will notify the public when the boil advisory ends.

(Radio Iowa) – As we start the month of March, many Iowans are looking ahead to spring. Despite this week’s unseasonably warm weather, a prediction from the Farmers’ Almanac indicates winter will be holding on a little longer. Managing editor Sandi Duncan says we shouldn’t expect to be sporting shorts and t-shirts anytime soon. “Spring officially arrives on the calendar on March 20th, but it looks like it’s going to take a little time for it to warm up,” Duncan says. “However, overall it doesn’t look too extreme. We’re seeing pretty much average temperatures and normal precipitation in your neck of the woods.”

But, Duncan says to keep those boots and snow shovels handy as there is the possibility of a blizzard late in April. “So just when everyone thinks winter is long gone, Mother Nature might throw us all a curve ball,” she says. The Farmers’ Almanac is predicting that once spring-like temperatures do settle in, we are likely to see slightly warmer-than-normal temperatures here in the Midwest.

“It’s going to be a little warmer in the northern half of the country — which includes your area — than it is in the South,” she says. “So some people might refer to this spring as a backward type of spring, but overall the Farmers’ Almanac is showing your area is going to have pretty much average temperatures. Starting off slightly cool, going back and forth and the possibility of a big storm at the end of April.”

Looking ahead, Duncan says much of the upper Midwest will experience a sizzling summer. The Almanac’s forecasts extend out from six to 16 months and they’re based on a formula established two centuries ago. “It was set on a bunch of rules that we’ve altered slightly but we still consider a lot of the rules that our founding editor in 1818, we still follow them,” Duncan says. “They are rules that talk about sunspot activity, tidal action, the Moon, the position of the planets. They apply them to different weather conditions and they’ve been doing a pretty good job for us.”

She says those who follow the publication’s long-range outlooks say they’re 80 to 85% accurate.

The Council Bluffs Police Department reports a collision between a truck and a motorcycle Monday afternoon resulted in life-threatening injuries to the motorcyclist. The accident happened at around 4:45-p.m., at the intersection of S. 24th Street and Veteran’s Memorial Highway (Vets).

A preliminary investigation revealed that the 2006 Harley Davidson operated by 51-year-old Richard Davenport, of Omaha, was eastbound on Vets Hwy when a 2016 Ford F-150 driven by 41-year old Jacob Eyberg, of Council Bluffs, made a left turn in front of the cycle.

Davenport was transported to an area trauma center in critical condition. Eyberg was not injured.  The crash was under investigation by the Council Bluffs Police Traffic Unit.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has unanimously voted to get rid of the exit exam college graduates must pass in order to get a teaching license in Iowa. Representative Tom Moore, a Republican from Griswold, was a teacher for 33 years. He’s been trying to get rid of this test for new teachers since 2015.

“These exams they have been forced to take to gain a license have no bearing on their abilities, their knowledge or their ability to become a quality teacher,” Moore says. “In fact, it simply was a barrier for some and an added expense for all.” A decade ago, Governor Terry Branstad asked legislators to require both an ENTRANCE exam for college students entering Iowa teacher preparation programs and an EXIT exam before graduates could be licensed to teach in Iowa. The bill gets rid of both requirements.

“I think it’s important that we get this done for our students that we have right now in the teacher prep institutions and I think it’s important that we, here in the House…go to our senators and say: ‘We’ve got to have this,'” Moore said, pounding his desk as he spoke, “‘…so that we can combat this teacher shortage that we have.” In the past decade, lawmakers made entrance exams for college teaching courses optional and lowered the passing grade for the test required for a teaching license.

College graduates who fail that test also have been able to teach for up to a year, as they re-take the test to try for a passing score. Representative Sue Cahill, a Democrat, is a teacher in Marshalltown. At the start of this school year, Cahill unexpectedly was assigned to be substitute teacher in a second grade classroom for nine weeks after a rookie teacher learned she hadn’t passed her proficiency test.

“This young lady who had a year of successful teaching is waiting for us to pass this bill,” Cahill says. “She is back as a long-term sub in that classroom, but our superintendent even mentioned that if this bill passes, he’s going to have that contract ready for her to sign that very day.” Cahill says students aren’t judged on one piece of data and teachers shouldn’t be either. The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill that’s passed the Iowa House forbids educational institutions in the state from having COVID-19 vaccination mandates for students. The ban would last until July 1st, 2029. Republican Representative Henry Stone of Forest City was the only supporter to speak about the bill. “House File 2298 is a bill that does not allow licensed child care centers, elementary, secondary and post-secondary schools to require the COVID-19 vaccine for enrollment whether virtual or in person,” Stone said.

The ban would apply to both public and private schools, including private colleges like Grinnell College which required students be vaccinated against COVID before the fall semester. The bill passed on a 57-to-36 vote, with two Democrats joining all Republicans present to support it. Representative Sharon Steckman, a Democrat from Mason City, was the only lawmaker to speak against the bill.

“I thought we were to stay out of private business,” Steckman said. “This tells private day cares, private K-12, private colleges what they can do, what they can’t do, so for that reason, and for childrens’ safety, I am a no on this bill.” The bill was debated and passed by the House in just three minutes and sent to the Senate for a vote.

A hit-and-run incident in Creston, early Monday morning (Feb. 28) caused $700 damage to a parked 2019 Toyota Tundra Crewmax pickup truck and $2,000 damage to a garage. According to Creston Police, the owner said she heard a bang at around 4-a.m., but thought the wind knocked over her trash can.

An investigation determined an apparently red vehicle was traveling south on N. Birch Street in Creston, and pulled into the driveway at a high-rate of speed. The unknown vehicle hit the curb in the driveway before colliding with the rear end of the pickup. The force of the impact caused the pickup to be pushed into the garage.

The unknown vehicle then backed out of the drive, leaving car parts through the yard. The vehicle “Peeled out,” continuing southbound on Birch.

Red Oak, Iowa – Officials with ISU Extension and Outreach in Montgomery County said Monday (Today), Sadie Graham has accepted the position of Program Coordinator with the County Extension Office. As Program Coordinator, Graham will provide leadership to the Montgomery County 4-H and Youth program, develop local programming based on county needs, and build community collaborations. Graham will begin her new duties on a part time basis in mid-March, and start full time on May 9.

Graham holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Agricultural Science from Northwest Missouri State University and will be completing her Master’s in Business Administration from Northwest this Spring. She brings experience with business, agriculture and event coordination to Montgomery County Extension.

Sadie Graham

Of her new position, Graham said “I am inspired by the opportunity to work with a team that promotes agriculture to the youth in the community. ” Mike Thomas, Chairperson of the Montgomery County Agricultural Extension Council, said “In addition to her passion for agriculture, Sadie will bring communication and relationship building skills to the position. We congratulate and welcome her to Montgomery County Extension.”

ISU Extension and Outreach brings research-based programming from Iowa State University directly to local counties in four educational areas:

4-H & Youth Programming
Ag & Natural Resources
Human Sciences
Community & Economic Development

For more information about ISU Extension and Outreach in Montgomery County, visit www.extension.iastate.edu/montgomery.

(Winterset, Iowa) –The Iowa State Patrol, Monday evening, released the names of the victims of Sunday morning’s crash in Madison County. The Patrol reports the driver of the 2003 GMC Sierra pickup, 16-year-old Jacob Ryan Short, of Indianola, was trapped in the vehicle and died at the scene.

The accident happened as the pickup, which was traveling at excessive speeds in the 2400 block of 195th Trail at around 2:30-a.m., Sunday, went out of control, entered a ditch and struck a tree. The driver, who was trapped, died at the scene.

Three passengers in the pickup were injured: 15-year-old Halley Renee Brown, and 17-year-old Blake Charles Feuring, both of Winterset, along with 18-year-old Cameron Ryan Johnson, of Lorimor. None of the victims were wearing their seat belts. The Patrol says Brown was transported by personal vehicle to the Madison County Hospital, in Winterset. Feuring and Johnson were not transported to the hospital.

Alcohol is a suspected contributing factor in the crash. The Madison County Sheriff’s Office and Madison County EMS assisted the Patrol at the scene.

(Radio Iowa) – The superintendent of Iowa’s largest school district will be stepping down at the end of this school year – a year earlier than expected. Last spring, the Des Moines School Board voted not to extend Superintendent Thomas Ahart’s contract beyond June 2023. Ahart now says he plans to resign June 30th of this year.

“Des Moines Public Schools is in a really good place right now considering especially the record low funding that we’ve had over the last decade,” Ahart said, “and so I feel it’s a good time for me to take a step away to reevaluate where I want to go with my career.” At the start of school in the fall of 2020, Ahart led the Des Moines district’s defiance of state rules requiring in-person attendance. Republican lawmakers reduced state support for the district in early 2021 in response.

“The last two years didn’t feel like two years,” Ahart said. “You know, it felt more like, you know, four or five years.” Ahart, speaking at a news conference this (Monday) afternoon, told reporters the work has been tough. He sent school employees an email before the news conference to announce his departure, saying there’s a fine line between a groove and a rut.

Ahart has been the district’s superintendent since 2012. The school board will appoint an interim superintendent for the upcoming school year and conduct a nationwide search for Ahart’s replacement.

(Radio Iowa) – U.S. Senator Joni Ernst says it’s astounding that — in less than a decade — two Republican women from Iowa have been chosen to deliver the G-O-P’s response to a Democratic president’s State of the Union address. Ernst spoke in 2015 after President Obama’s speech to congress. On Tuesday night, Governor Kim Reynolds is scheduled to deliver the Republican rebuttal to President Biden’s State of the Union address.

“I just think she has an incredible story to tell about how she has led Iowa through so many different challenges,” Ernst says, “and she can do a direct comparison to Iowa, our strong economy, how we’ve led through COVID-19 and compare that to President Biden’s disastrous time thus far in office.” Ernst had been a senator for just days when she gave the televised address shortly after Republicans took majority control of both the House and Senate in 2015. Eight years later, Ernst says she is not offering an advice to Reynolds about what to say.

“I know she is going to do a great job,” Ernst says. “No pressure coming from me.” The Republican leaders in the U.S. House and Senate select the person who’ll speak after a Democratic president’s State of the Union address. Ernst, who is among the G-O-P leadership in the U.S. Senate, says she had no role in lobbying for Reynolds to get the slot. “I didn’t have to make a recommendation because she shines all on her own,” Ernst says. “Leader McConnell and Leader McCarthy came to that conclusion all on their own. She’s just an outstanding leader.”

Twenty-eight states are led by Republican governors, but Reynolds is one of just three Republican women who’re serving as governors today. Ernst says speaking on behalf of the national party tomorrow (Tuesday) night will bring national attention to Reynolds, who is seeking reelection in 2022. “And that will help in that race, but it also raises awareness of Iowa, our First In The Nation status, the fact that we do turn out tremendous leaders like Governor Reynolds,” Ernst says, “and it brings attention to our legislators in the statehouse and at the federal level.” Republicans hold five of the six spots in Iowa’s congressional delegation and Republicans in the state legislature have just sent Reynolds a big tax cut package.

Reynolds will sign that into law tomorrow (Tuesday). After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it’s unclear how much of President Biden’s speech will be spent on domestic issues. Ernst says Reynolds can cover it all in her speech, regardless of what Biden may say beforehand. “In my estimation, he’s failed on the economy, he’s failed on COVID, he has failed on foreign policy and Kim will be able to cover of of that within one speech,” Ernst say, “just how we’ve been so supportive of our military men and women in the state of Iowa and really done quite well through COVID and the overall economy.”

Iowa Democrats like Senate Minority leader Zach Wahls have been saying Reynolds needs to thank President Biden for the pandemic relief he and Democrats in congress approved for the State of Iowa. Wahls says Reynolds was publicly opposed to the spending, but has been happy to take credit for doling out the dollars.