Montana Governor Steve Bullock says he’s in Iowa today (Friday) to help his fellow Democrats prepare for the 2018 election and deliver an economic message to voters. There’s a 2020 calculation here, too. Bullock isn’t ruling out the idea he might run for president and this IS Iowa — host to the first round of voting in the nominating process.

“Being a western governor in a state that Donald Trump won by 20 points, yet being able to get progressive things done, I have an important voice for the party and it is an important voice as we go toward 2020,” Bullock says. Bullock, who spoke with Radio Iowa Thursday afternoon, won re-election to a second term as Montana’s governor in 2016. He’s a Democrat working with a Republican-dominated legislature.

Many Democrats seem enthused about potential White House candidates from the party’s liberal wing, but Bullock is unapologetic about being labeled a moderate. “If the idea of being a pragmatist is that I’m willing to work with folks on the other side of the aisle to get things done that matter, that I’m o.k. with,” Bullock said. “We can’t just be against and, unfortunately, what we’re seeing a lot, in a lot of places, is just: ‘We’re against Donald Trump.'”

Bullock says Democrats must channel their energy toward reshaping the party’s brand and convincing voters Democrats care about “pocketbook issues” and share their desires for a good job and a safe community. “We as a party and individuals need to actually be showing up in places other than the coasts,” Bullock says. Bullock rejects the notion that “microtargeting” and assembling constituency groups under the banner of the Democratic Party can win the presidency.

“Even if you can do that, you’re going to lose the ability to have a governing majority if you’re not talking in places like Michigan or Wisconsin or Montana or Iowa when it comes to the General Election,” Bullock says. Bullock, who by law cannot seek a third term as Montana governor, will become chairman of the National Governors Association this summer. He’s formed a political action committee which is financing his political travels. He also plans to use his Big Sky Values PAC to make contributions to Democratic candidates around the country in 2018. It’s all the kind of positioning presidential candidates of the past have made.

“I would hope that anybody that even contemplates the discussion is humbled a little bit by what that takes,” Bullock says of a presidential race, “but hopefully that anybody that contemplates it, too, says that we’re at our best and when we can bring people, a state or a nation together.” Bullock, who is the former attorney general of Montana, headlined a campaign fundraiser for Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller last night. He’s met with Democrats in the statehouse and he’ll have a meet-and-greet with Polk County Democrats this (Friday) evening.

(O.Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A judge has upheld an Iowa elections panel’s conclusion that a former Cedar Rapids mayor fell eight signatures shy of the 4,005 needed to challenge Gov. Kim Reynolds in the Republican primary. Ron Corbett, who has also served as speaker of the Iowa House, said Thursday that he accepts the ruling and that it will always “haunt” him that he didn’t collect more signatures. Reynolds will be the only Republican on the ballot. Six Democrats and two Libertarians are also running for governor.

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s faceoff with China over trade has exposed an unexpected political vulnerability in what was supposed to be Republicans’ strongest region: rural America. The clash with China poses a direct threat to the economies in both red and blue states, from California to Washington through Minnesota and across Missouri into Ohio. They are regions where the GOP’s quest to retain its congressional majorities is tied to voters’ views about their pocketbooks and Trump’s performance.

MAXWELL, Iowa (AP) — A pilot was injured when his small plane crashed in northeastern Polk County. The Des Moines Register reports the man, whose name wasn’t released, was hurt when the plane he was piloting crashed Thursday about five miles south of Maxwell. Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Nathan Ludwig says the crash happened about 4 p.m. The pilot was the only person on the plane. The pilot was taken by a helicopter to a hospital. Ludwig didn’t know the extent of his injuries.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa woman has been indicted on fraud charges for allegedly stealing $175,000 from her now-dead fiancee and his elderly mother. Robin Ann Bertelli has been arrested Thursday on a 35-count indictment and is expected to make an initial appearance Friday in Cedar Rapids. Bertelli is charged with stealing from accounts that belonged to her fiancee _ former Navy SEAL Ken Martin Jr. _ and Martin’s mother.

MAXWELL, Iowa (AP) — A pilot was injured when his small plane crashed in northeastern Polk County. The Des Moines Register reports the man, whose name wasn’t released, was hurt when the plane he was piloting crashed Thursday about five miles south of Maxwell.

Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Nathan Ludwig says the crash happened about 4 p.m. The pilot was the only person on the plane. The pilot was taken by a helicopter to a hospital. Ludwig didn’t know the extent of his injuries, but some reports say he suffered from a broken leg.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa woman has been indicted on fraud charges for allegedly stealing $175,000 from her now-dead fiancee and his elderly mother.
Robin Ann Bertelli was arrested Thursday on a 35-count indictment and expected to make an initial appearance Friday in Cedar Rapids.

Bertelli is charged with stealing from accounts that belonged to her fiancee — former Navy SEAL Ken Martin Jr. — and Martin’s mother. Bertelli allegedly started a relationship with Martin around 2013 after a prior husband died and lived with his family in Central City, Iowa.

Martin died in 2016 while on vacation with Bertelli in Puerto Rico from what Bertelli told others was an accidental drowning after hitting his head on a rock. He was 57. The indictment alleges that Bertelli stole checks that belonged to the Martins before and after his death and wrote them payable to herself, forging their signatures.

Officials with the Southwest Iowa Planning Council (SWIPCO) say the organization is preparing a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application on behalf of the City of Villisca, for a housing rehabilitation project with the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA). If awarded, Villisca would receive grant funding to rehabilitate at least six (6) homes in the city over a three (3) year period.

Under the program, up to $24,999 in repairs can be made to each home. Additional funds are available for lead abatement. The City’s application is due to IEDA no later than May 4, 2018.

SWIPCO will hold a town hall meeting on Tuesday, April 24, 2018 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in the Villisca City Community Building located at 207 South 3rd Avenue. The town hall meeting will start immediately after a special city council meeting that starts at 5:30 p.m. SWIPCO staff will present information on the CDBG housing rehabilitation program, answer questions, and assist home owners interested in participating in the project to complete pre-applications for submission with the City’s CDBG application to IEDA.

The pre-application is a one-page document asking for the individual’s name and address, whether they are the home owner, the household’s annual income, and a brief description of the home’s repair needs. All citizens are welcome to attend, especially those living in the designated target area. The target area includes all houses south of 4th Street.

SWIPCO Community Development Director Dan Lee says, “We’re excited that Villisca wants to pursue another CDBG housing grant. This program can have a tremendous impact on a City and greatly improve the lives of home owners. We have a relatively short amount of time to build a strong application, but I’m impressed with the City’s response and commitment to making this happen. I encourage everybody to attend the town hall meeting on the 24th. The more home owner pre-applications we can submit with our grant application, the better, to help show there’s an existing need for housing rehabilitation in Villisca.”

Community Development Block Grants are awarded annually by the Iowa Economic Development Authority with funding from the department of Housing and Urban Development with SWIPCO’s assistance. Villisca has received CDBG funds for housing in 2006 and for past water and sewer improvements.

SWIPCO is a council of government serving the eight counties of southwest Iowa with public transportation, community development, and housing. SWIPCO is an equal opportunity employer, provider, and lender.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources will conduct its annual spring wildlife surveys this month. Wildlife research biologist, Jim Coffey says the surveys start around one hour after sunset and can last until just about sunrise. “It’s going to cover what we call our nighttime animals or nocturnal animals — we kind of call it the second shift,” Coffey says.

“It started out in the 70’s as a raccoon survey in a response to that we were over harvesting raccoons — or people thought we were — and they were going to become extinct. And we started to do this survey at that time.” The survey then expanded to include deer and eventually all animals they would see. The information helps them chart how each species is doing.

“What we look at is trends over time and are we seeing animals in the same places or are we seeing animals in different places than we have in the past. How do we see comparatively numbers from not just from last year — but from maybe the last five or tens years — so are we seeing more or less in those areas,” Coffey explains. He says they can used all the statistic to make some predictions about where they should see the various animals. Coffey says the deer survey is one that everyone always pays attention to, but he says the fun part is the diversity of wildlife you can see on a survey run.

“You pick up the occasional animals that we’re not used to seeing. So, we might see a bobcat in a county where we are not used to seeing it in, so it becomes documented that. It’s always fund to get to see some of those odd creatures. If you get to see a grey fox — that’s an anomaly — we know they are out there, we just don’t get to see them very often,” according to Coffey. The surveys are always done in April as Coffey says they try to do them in the same type of weather conditions each year to take that variable out of the equation. They often begin in southern Iowa.

He says they want to be in line with an early spring or late spring. Coffey says they are seeing some green grass and buds appearing in southern Iowa, indicating it’s time to start the surveys. “We also want to time it with the actual humidity and the temperature. Because what we know is animals like raccoons and possums usually don’t like to come out until it gets into the mid 30’s. If it’s too cold they are not going to come out,” Coffey says. He says each D-N-R staff member has their own way of keeping track of the animals they see.

“I’m kind of an old schooler — I still use a pen and paper and I document it on my map. We’ve got some guys who use G-P-S locations and we’ve got some guys who are actually stepping up into the 21st century and are using I-Pads now that will download the data directly into our computer and actually saves us some calculation times,” he says

Coffey says each county has a pre-selected route covering 50 miles of varying habitat. Surveyors will follow the route shining spotlights from both sides of the vehicle to document the animals they see.

(Radio Iowa)

Iowa is seeing an increase in both reported cases of child abuse and confirmed cases of abuse. Alli Moerman, spokeswoman for Prevent Child Abuse Iowa, says an increase in the number of reports doesn’t necessarily translate to an increase in cases. “Iowa’s rates of child abuse are higher than the national average,” Moerman says. “We are actually seeing an increase in confirmed cases of child abuse in Iowa which rose, between the years 2015 and 2016, by about 8%. It’s a serious issue and we need to take action to prevent abuse from occurring.”

The laws defining child abuse vary from state to state, which may account for why Iowa’s numbers are higher than the national average. “What Iowa code says is abuse may be different compared to other states,” Moerman says. “We also think one of the main factors is that there are cultural differences around the country as far as communities that are more likely to report abuse and, frankly, communities that may be more aware of the signs of abuse and more likely to report things that are going on.”

The agency is sponsoring its annual Child Abuse Prevention and Family Support Conference in Des Moines next week. The event — scheduled for Monday through Wednesday — should draw about 600 people from across the state. “People that are focused in the fields of family support, social work, education, a lot of professionals who work with families and children,” Moerman says. “We really aim to bring collaboration across sectors that will ultimately help strengthen families and develop components that will lead to greater community change, all with the aim of prevention of child abuse.”

In 2015, Iowa had some 47-thousand referrals for child abuse and neglect. Of those, more than 23-thousand reports were referred for investigation. That same year, the Iowa Department of Human Services says there were nearly 83-hundred children found to be abused statewide, while 12 Iowa children died from abuse or neglect. The Child Abuse Hotline is 800-362-2178. http://www.pcaiowa.org

(Radio Iowa)

Officials with the Page County Sheriff’s Office say they have received complaints of a scam call going around in the area.  The caller states that the person contacted is in trouble with the Federal Government and is given a number to contact within a short time period or they will be jailed. Sheriff Lyle Palmer says “This is definitely a scam.  Law Enforcement does not contact persons in this manner.  Do not call the number given nor give any information to the caller.”

Another scam is a robo-call stating your Itunes account has been breached. The voice leaves a message telling you return the call to protect your account. Apple does not call its customers to tell them there is a problem. If you have any doubts as to the status of your account, log-in as normal as see if you have any messages, or your designated customer service rep on their official line.

Page County Sheriff Lyle Palmer reports a man who was involved in a rollover accident wasn’t found until nearly seven-hours later, laying in a ditch, suffering from hypothermia. A Sheriff’s Office was notified shortly after 7-a.m. Wednesday, about a single motor vehicle accident that took place near the intersection of 172^nd street and Taylor / Page Avenue, or about six-miles northeast of Clarinda.

A Deputy arrived and found the vehicle upside down with no persons in or under the vehicle.  A search for the person was conducted and a Deputy located 65-year old Steven Richard Olson, of rural Shenandoah, lying in a ditch showing signs of hypothermia.  Clarinda ambulance service was contacted to assess Olson at the scene.  They arrived and transported him to the Clarinda Regional health Center for further evaluation.

The investigation into the accident showed that Olson was driving a 2010 Hyundai westbound on 172^nd street at around 12-a.m. Wednesday, and had attempted to turn left (south) onto Taylor / Page Avenue.  He missed the turn, drove over a Yield sign, and rolled the vehicle in the ditch.  Olson then walked a short distance and passed out in the ditch.  The outside temperature that evening was 14 degrees Fahrenheit.

Citations are pending for Olson.

Leaders of Iowa’s largest employers are predicting economic growth over the next six months, but they’re also concerned about an ongoing shortage of qualified workers. A new survey from the Iowa Business Council (IBC) shows 80-percent of its members expect higher sales through summer. IBC executive director Georgia Van Gundy says those employers are struggling to attract and retain a quality workforce “We have our 2.8 percent unemployment rate and Iowa ranks fourth as far as the number of people already employed in the workforce,” Van Gundy said. “We just don’t have a lot of people to draw from.”

The IBC recently formed a Business Education Alliance to get at the root of the problem. “Our first meeting was great in February. Our members had the opportunity to talk about what their challenges are and we had a great conversation about how we start moving forward,” Van Gundy said.

According to the survey, half of the IBC members say they will increase capital spending and nearly half forecast hiring more workers over the next six months.
…..
link to survey:
https://www.iowabusinesscouncil.org/news/eos_q1_2018/
(Radio Iowa, w/Thanks to Rob Dillard, Iowa Public Radio)