(Radio Iowa) – The first pair of bills to come out of the governor’s child care task force has cleared initial review in the Iowa House. One bill deals with low income families who get government-funded child care assistance or C-C-A. It would let child care centers to collect more money from those low-income parents to help make up the difference between what the government pays and the actual cost. Representative Ann Meyer, a Republican from Fort Dodge, says they’d have to agree in writing to pay extra. “This is not going to be a requirement,” she says. “CCA spots at their current pay rate will still be available. This is an option for families if they choose to take it. It’s not a requirement.”

Democratic Representative Tracy Ehlert of Cedar Rapids, says her child care center took a loss because she accepted families receiving assistance. “But I also was a working single mom who was on CCA myself and had my kids in a program and there’s no way I would’ve ever been able to pay the difference,” she says. “And I did have a co-pay and some weeks that was not manageable for me because it was a decision between am I going to pay the copay or am I going to pay food or am I going to pay a bill?”

A Department of Human Services official says the proposal could put the poorest of the working poor at a disadvantage when it comes to getting child care. The other bill that advanced would loosen the minimum staffing requirements for child care centers, so one worker could care for eight two year olds and the minimum ratio would be one worker for 10 three year olds. Child care advocates say the higher staff-to-child ratios could add to employee burn-out and safety concerns.

(Reporting by Iowa Public Radio’s Katarina Sostaric)

(Radio Iowa) -A massive winter storm system will blow into Iowa on Friday which forecasters say may drop nearly a foot of snow on a wide region of the state. Senior meteorologist Rod Donavon, at the National Weather Service office in Johnston, says it’s likely all 99 counties will get at least -some- snowfall, but northern and central Iowa may be in for the worst of it. “Our current forecast right now is in that six-to-ten, seven-to-11 inch range,” Donavon says, “and that’s generally a good portion of our forecast area which includes from Estherville to Mason City and southward, through the Des Moines metro right now looks to be the target area.”

Winter Storm Watch (counties in blue); Winter Storm Warning (counties in pink)

While northern and central Iowa may bear the brunt of the approaching storm, eastern and western Iowa may get three to six inches, with less in the far northeast. It’ll likely snow most of the day, so if you have somewhere to go on Friday, Donavon suggests the going will get tougher as the day wears on, while the Friday evening commute could be a mess. “We are having snow moving into the area from northern Iowa towards the south, getting into the Des Moines metro by mid-morning and by the southern Missouri border by around noon,” Donavon says. “The heaviest accumulations right now are looking like during the afternoon into the early evening hours. We could have some accumulations approaching one inch per hour at times.”

As far as winter storms go, he reminds, it could always be a lot worse. “The fortunate part is, at least the precipitation type is going to be mainly snow with this and no ice,” Donavon says. “It’s going to be generally lighter winds with it, initially. We are going to have some increasing northeast winds later in the event. It’s not going to be blizzard criteria by any means.”

Keep an eye on the changing forecast at weather-dot-gov.

(Corning, Iowa)  – In anticipation of anywhere from 5-10 inches of snow falling from Friday into Saturday morning, officials with the City of Corning have declared a 24-hour snow emergency, effective at 12:00 p.m. on Friday, January 14. No parking will be allowed on marked snow route streets during the first 12 hours of this snow emergency.

Except for the business district, parking during the first 12 hours on all other streets will be on the South and West side only. For the remainder of this snow emergency, parking will be allowed on the North and East side of the street if not prohibited by signs. All No Parking signs and direction of travel parking will be enforced.

(Wiota, Iowa) – Joining forces, the Wiota Fire Department and Wiota Community Boosters are excited to announce their annual fundraiser, a comedy night, is back! It happens Friday, February 11, 2022, and Saturday, February 12, 2022, at the Wiota Fire Department. Doors open both nights at 6:30 pm with the comedian starting at 8:00 pm.

After putting the annual fundraiser on hold last year due to COVID, officials with the Wiota Fire Department says they’re gearing up to bring back their annual Valentine’s Day weekend fundraiser event. To that end, they are currently raising funds to purchase a much-needed new truck for their department. Officials say Wiota has seen a recent surge in revitalization with the Wiota Community Boosters banding back together around a shared goal and vision of renovating the city park. Because of this, the Wiota Fire Department has decided to combine forces with them to put on this fundraising event, which will now benefit both the Wiota Fire Department and the Wiota Community Boosters. Proceeds for the Wiota Community Boosters will be ear marked for their “Let’s Build a Playground” initiative, which serves as phase one for the city park renovation project.

Tickets for the comedy night are $30/person and good for one night only. Be sure to specify if you’d like tickets for the Friday night or Saturday night event when purchasing. Your ticket gets
you in the door and a robust charcuterie board at your table. A bar will be available all evening, and drink tickets can be purchased at the door upon arrival and throughout the evening. The
doors will open each evening at 6:30 pm for drinks, food and mingling and then the comedian, Mark Poolos, will start at 8:00 pm. Seating is limited each evening and tickets are anticipated to
sell quickly!

To get your tickets for the Wiota Community Fundraiser Comedy Night, contact Mitch at 712-250-0078, stop into the Wiota Steakhouse or Venmo your ticket cost, which night you’d like to
attend and your mailing address to @wiotafire.

A man from Montgomery County was arrested Wednesday night on a warrant for Contempt of Court. The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports Deputies picked-up 48-year-old Jerry Lee Dawson, of Red Oak, from Montgomery County Deputies, at around 9:30-p.m. The transfer of custody took place at the Mills/Montgomery County line. Dawson was being held in the Mills County Jail, without bond.

The Cass and Audubon County Community Foundations are reminding nonprofit organizations in both counties, that the deadline to apply for grant funds is Tuesday, February 1. Applications are currently being accepted online for the spring grant cycle with approximately $125,000 available in each county to support their respective county nonprofit organizations and community projects. Full application details, a fact sheet, and a link to the application form can be found online at www.swiowafoundations.org, and selected either Cass or Audubon County. Applications will only be accepted through the online system, and only from nonprofit organizations in each county. For example, Cass County nonprofits cannot cross over and apply for funds in Audubon County, and vice-versa.

This cycle of grants is made possible through the State of Iowa County Endowment Fund Program and is funded by a percentage of the state’s commercial gaming tax revenue, which is distributed annually to participating community foundations associated with counties without a state-issued gaming license. Only organizations providing services in Cass or Audubon County are eligible to apply. In each county, those organizations must be able to demonstrate broad community/county support and be an IRS-approved 501(c)(3) public charity, a local municipality, or a fiscally sponsored project.

For Spring 2022, the Community Foundations will entertain requests for capital and program support. General operating support will only be considered for extenuating, non-recurring circumstances. Please contact Stacey Goodman (stacey@omahafoundation.org) or Sydney Calcagno (sydney@omahafoundation.org) at 800-794-3458 with application-related questions. All completed grant applications will be considered at the March board meeting, with applicants being notified of funding decisions by the end of March.

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(Radio Iowa) – Cedar Falls native and astronaut Raja Chari, who’s aboard the International Space Station, did a long-distance question-and-answer session today with cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Chari, who graduated from the academy in 1999, was asked via NASA-TV about how his mission on the orbiting station is related to future missions to Mars. “We’re increasing our sample size of people who’ve been here longer than six months, up in space,” Chari says. “The reason we’re doing that is we want to see — is the progression of human change linear, with months to years as we look at Mars, or is there a cliff? Does something happen at a year? Does something happen at 15 months? We’re trying to solve that problem. As we look at a Mars mission, we need to understand that.”

Beaconsfield native Peggy Whitson spent a record 665 days in space during three separate missions. Chari is in his second month of what’s scheduled to be a six-month stay on the space station. With current technology, it would take about six months for astronauts to fly to Mars. Chari appealed to the academy cadets who are studying rocketry and astrophysics to seek out new ways to propel our spacecraft. “If we can get there faster, that will solve the problem. Most of our problems, whether it’s radiation, human psychology, water, consumables, getting there and back and living there, it’s all because it takes so long to get there,” Chari says. “If we could have a quantum leap in propulsion technology, whether it’s electric, whether it’s nuclear propulsion — getting to accept that politically and socially — I think that would solve a lot of our problems.”

Astronaut Raja Chari talks with cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy from International Space Station. (NASA-TV)

While astronauts endure many months of training for all types of tasks, Chari says there’s one aspect about being in space for which no amount of preparation could ready you. “The thing that you can’t ever completely experience is the weightlessness and then actually how your brain is going to respond to that,” he says. “Everyone responds a little differently and you can’t quite train for that on the ground. For me, I think that was the most — not unexpected — but the most surprising thing, but what’s most amazing is how quickly your brain does adapt to it and it eventually becomes something you just naturally do, just like breathing.”

Chari is a 44-year-old Air Force colonel and this is his first mission in space, though he’s flown a multitude of aircraft, including the F-15E Strike Eagles during combat over Iraq. He’s only the 8th Iowan to reach space. His wife, Peggy, is also a Cedar Falls native and they have three children.

(Radio Iowa) – The shout of “Go Hawks!” can be heard frequently around Iowa City, but it might be more appropriate to yell, “Go Eagles!” The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is in the midst of its annual bald eagle population survey and D-N-R wildlife biologist Stephanie Shepherd says they’re seeing remarkable numbers in Johnson County — in the heart of the University of Iowa campus. “This is the Iowa River that goes through Iowa City, so around the Iowa City area both north and to the south,” Shepherd says. “Our staff counted over 700 eagles on this stretch of river and in one mile, counted over 400.”

The Mississippi River has traditionally hosted Iowa’s highest eagle numbers — both resident and wintering — but in recent years, the Iowa and Des Moines rivers have hosted even more. The new figures represent a stunning recovery when one considers eagles had nearly vanished from the landscape a matter of 50 years ago. The recovery has been gradual, but steady. “In Iowa, in the late ’90s, we were talking about a hundred nests across the state,” Shepherd says. “Now, it’s easily up to 500 and that’s probably a conservative estimate.” All indications point to 2022 being an exceptionally good year for eagles wintering in Iowa, though Shepherd says this may be about as large as the state’s eagle numbers will grow.

“Populations tend to grow to a certain level and then when they’ve filled in all of the appropriate habitat, they will level off a little bit,” Shepherd says. “That’s one of the things that this winter survey gives us. We are starting to see a little bit of a leveling off of the population, which is not a bad thing.” Many Iowans enjoy spending time outside during the winter with a pair of binoculars, hoping to spot a few eagles in flight. While some of this week’s temperatures were well above normal, the recent very cold weather created a lot of ice, which shifts how the big birds hunt and gather.

“Those really cold temperatures froze up a lot of the water and that tends to concentrate eagles,” Shepherd says. “So, what you’re looking for is basically areas along any of our major rivers that have openings, below dams, or anywhere else where there’s a big chunk of open water, you’ll probably find eagles.” During three routes of the survey, more than 1,500 eagles were reported on the lower stretch of the Des Moines River. Keokuk is holding its annual Bald Eagle Appreciation Days this coming weekend, while eagle-watching events were held in Clinton and Davenport last weekend.

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