(Radio Iowa) – Former Governor Terry Branstad says as President Trump’s ambassador to China, he routinely accepted criticism of the United States from Community Party officials in a formal setting. Branstad says the process has a name in diplomatic circles. It’s called a demarche.  “A demarche is getting chewed out by the other country,” Branstad says. “…I represented the United States of America. I’m the highest official there, so the Chinese would call me in to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and they’d call me in to chew me out…and then I’d dutifully promise to deliver that message to the president.” Branstad was called to hear complaints about statements other Americans were making about China or if someone from Taiwan had visited the United States.

“When Uighurs are denied their religion or their culture in Xinjiang, China, or if the people of Hong Kong no longer have freedom of speech or assembly, that’s of concern to us. Unfortunately, the Chinese have a different viewpoint on that,” Branstad says.

Terry Branstad

“They look as what’s happening in Xinjiang or Hong Kong as their internal business and we have no business even asking about it.” Branstad, who held weekly news conference when he was governor, says as an ambassador, it was often frustrating to clear his own public statements through the U.S. State Department. “There were times when the Chinese said something that I wanted to counter and it’s 12 hours difference between Beijing and Washington, D.C., and then it would take two or three days to get it cleared,” Branstad says. “By that time, it might be too late.”

Branstad says he’s able to freely talk about much of his work in China, now but some of it must remain top secret. Branstad hosted China’s president twice in Iowa, once in 1985 when Xi Jinping was a lower-level community party official and then just before Xi became president of China. Xi uses the phrase “old friend” to describe Branstad and others, including President Biden. “The Chinese term ‘old friend’ is kind of a term of art for them. If they have known you for a long period of time and you’ve had a good relationship, they call you an ‘old friend,’ so Xi Jinping calls me an ‘old friend’…because we treated him very well and he feels real good about it,” Branstad says. “I think that’s a good thing, having that personal relationship.”

Branstad, who is 75, has set up an office on the Drake University campus and has been given the title of “ambassador in residence.” He is planning to host a conference and U.S. and Chinese relations next October.

The broadcast News at 7:07-a.m. from Ric Hanson.

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(Radio Iowa) – State Ag Secretary Mike Naig says he is hearing good things as the harvest is almost done. “They’re telling me that they are thrilled with the yields and the grain quality given what they thought could be the case with the drought that we had across the state,” Naig says. “We really had historic levels of drought this year and folks are seeing yields that are much better than we had expected as we were coming through the summer months.” He says farmers are also thankful for replenishing fall rains. “We got rain late in the season — and even as we got into fall we started to get some rain — which is a double-edged sword — we desperately needed the moisture and if you were still working on the harvest, of course, that delays things some. But we’ve seen a dramatic improvement,” according to Naig.

He says there will be less worrying about soil moisture heading into the spring. “We’ve still got some areas that have rain deficits of six plus inches — but we’ve had exactly the kind of fall we needed — good moisture coming, it’s soaking in, the ground is not frozen, it’s absorbing into the soil profile and that’s good news,” he says. Naig says supply chain issues were a concern during the harvest — and they are not over yet. “Logistics continues to be a great challenge in ag — and certainly, that’s getting input to the farm and then also getting grain off the farm,” Naig says. “Farmers have a mix of things, many will have, most will have some ability to haul their own grain, but they do rely on coops and trucking companies and ag retail to help them out as well. Finding drivers we know has been a challenge for folks this year.”

Naig says there’s a lot of good to reflect on over the Thanksgiving holiday. “It’s a time to be thankful. We’ve had a very good year all things considered from a weather standpoint, and the markets are strong. But with that has come an increase in input costs. So when you look at the ’22 growing season farmers are looking at the price of fertilizer, the price of the crop protection things they need, feed and equipment — all of those things are on the rise. And of course with the issues around logistics — can you get the things that you need?”

The soybean harvest is completed and the corn harvest has less than five percent of the crop still in the fields.

(Radio Iowa) – With its first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses, Iowa is always a focal point for politics and some campaigns are already launching fundraising efforts — but who can you trust when a caller asks for money? Consumer protection specialist Lara Sutherlin says you should treat unsolicited messages to donate to a political campaign the same way you treat spam or possible scams. Sutherlin says, “Pop-up emails, pop-up social posts, pop-up texts, all of those things could have nefarious links in them, could lead you into a space where they’re trying to actually steal your information, steal your money.”

Earlier this year, she says some political action committees — or PACs — were caught signing people up for high monthly donations without giving them the proper notice. “There was a recent report in the New York Times about elderly individuals spending an inordinate amount of money on PACs,” she says. Sutherlin says some political action committees have been masquerading as charities or representing themselves as donating money to candidates when they really aren’t. “Sometimes you can’t tell who you you’re talking to, right?” Sutherlin says. “Sometimes you think it’s a charity and it’s actually a PAC and there’s very, very little money going to the actual cause that they’re calling you about and it’s really hard to figure it out.”

Much like donations to charities, Sutherlin says you should investigate the groups you’re considering sending money, and find out how much of that money actually goes toward a candidate or a cause before making a donation.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Officials with the Iowa DCI said Wednesday, that a former Pleasantville police officer charged with having sexual contact with a 15-year-old now faces more charges as part of the investigation. Authorities say 24-year-old  Alec Veatch,  was originally charged in Warren County with one count each of third-degree sexual abuse, lascivious acts with a minor and enticing a minor. Court documents show the former Pleasantville officer brought a 15-year-old to his Norwalk home and gave them alcohol. He then undressed the teen, touched them inappropriately and cut their thigh.

Criminal complaints show on the evening of Nov. 11, Veatch had a 15-year-old in his patrol car as a ride-along. Veatch concocted and fabricated a story to see the teen after his late shift, court documents note. He then contacted the teen’s mother under false pretense and told her he needed to pick up the teen to complete a witness statement during the ride-along. According to court documents, he then picked up the minor early the next morning and brought them to the police station in Pleasantville.

According to court documents, “While at the Police station, Veatch and the minor had inappropriate contact. The contact was sexual in nature. Veatch was observed on video from inside the Police Department kissing the minor and fondling the minor’s buttocks, over the minor’s clothing, in a sexual manner. Additionally, Veatch was seen on video placing the teen in a ‘sleeper hold’ causing the minor to momentarily pass out.”

The document said also, “Veatch was interviewed by the Iowa DCI and admitted that he was in a romantic relationship with the minor and had lied to the minor’s mother in order to see the minor again. Additionally during this interview Veatch admitted to touching the minor’s buttocks, for sexual purposes.”

DCI officials said he was taken to the Mahaska County Jail without incident Tuesday. The investigation continues.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Iowa DCI Special Agent in Charge Adam DeCamp said Wednesday, at the request of Appanoose County Sheriff Gary Anderson and Centerville Police Chief Tom Demry, the Division of Criminal Investigation conducted an investigation into the November 21, 2021, officer-involved shooting in rural Appanoose County. All investigative findings will be forwarded to the Appanoose County Attorney’s Office and the Office of the Iowa Attorney General for review and determination.

Law enforcement officers involved in the shooting were identified as Centerville Police Officers Jacob Downs and Greffe Holmes, along with Appanoose County Sheriff’s Deputy Allen Buckallew. Officer Downs has been with the Centerville Police Department for 4 year. Officer Holmes has been with the Centerville Police Department for a month. Deputy Buckallew has been with the Appanoose County Sheriff’s Office for 2 years. He spent the previous 19 years with the Centerville Police Departments.

Deputy Buckalew

Officer Downs

Officer Holmes

Centerville police officers had been dispatched to a domestic assault in the 21000 block of 560th Street outside Centerville at about 3:43 Sunday (Nov. 21st). “While investigating the incident, two Centerville officers and an Appanoose County sheriff’s deputy were engaged in an officer-involved shooting that resulted in one person killed. The law enforcement officers were not injured,” DPS officials said through a news release.

According to authorities, 45-year-old Kevin Arbogast was shot and killed. What led to the officers firing is still unclear. The officers involved were placed on critical incident leave, as is standard practice.

(Radio Iowa) – Songs, prayers, and drumbeats were part of the 19th annual Memorial March to honor lost Native American children in Sioux City, Wednesday. Co-organizer Terry Medina says the march remembers the Native American children who have been removed from their homes since the 1880s and placed into foster care. “I was thinking this morning about the children who never came home. Thinking of their families. I am always trying to preach the word of forgiveness, then thinking about these families who lost a son, daughter, grandchildren. It’s hard to let it go,” Medina says.

He says the march is a time of healing for everyone. “That was our theme this year — Heal the People. In Indian country, it seems like we are always mourning. We are in mourning because of the loss of a relative, a child, heartbreaking,” Medina says.

Three riders on horseback accompanied the nearly 100 marchers as they left War Eagle’s grave at War Eagle Park to walk more than two miles to the downtown Sioux City Convention Center.

Tribal leader Manape Lamere’s father Frank Lamere organized the first march 19 years ago.

“When are we going to take responsibility for ourselves? And I think of my father a little bit to unify under a cause — but then it’s gonna translate between the marches,” he says. “And so, I really hope that we are able to do that. Our allies that have helped us with this over the last 19 years are waiting for use. We were waiting for them — now they are waiting for us.”

Tribal members and supporters shared a meal after the march.

(Radio Iowa) – A coalition of agencies and organizations is preparing to help as many as 13-hundred Afghans resettle in central Iowa by the middle of next year. Mak Suceska is head of the Iowa Bureau of Refugee Services, the state agency that’s providing technical assistance to organizations sponsoring Afghans evacuated from their home country this summer.  “The situation is ever changing and ever fluid with respect to numbers and when folks will be arriving. We currently have families and individuals that have been resettled today and will continue to arrive,” he says.

Iowa officials working on the resettlement process get a couple of weeks notice that a group of Afghans will be flying into the Des Moines Airport. “Refugees don’t just show up. They are resettled through resettlement organizations and through a process of travel and assurance before they are set to arrive in their respective community,” Suceska says. Kerri True-Funk is the director of the U.S. Committee for Refugee and Immigrants in Des Moines. She says the Afghans who were evacuated in August were fleeing persecution and violence, often because of their work with or support of the U.S. military over the past 20 years.

“One of the things that we have to remember about the people who have been evacuated from Afghanistan is that they may have never lived in a country that was not actively at war,” she says. “From the Soviet invasion in the 1970s up until now, there has been constant conflict and the government has moved back and forth and at different times has been authoritarian and democratically elected.”

The tens of thousands of Afghans flown to airports overseas underwent initial screenings there to determine if they were eligible for resettlement, then once they arrived at eight different military installations in the United States, there were more extensive medical checks. “The people that were evacuated and processed received two-year humanitarian parole. The clock on that started when they actually had their passport stamped and came into the U.S..” she says. “One year after they have been here they must apply for asylum in order to stay legally in the U.S. and continue to work and they are all authorized to work while here.”

Once the Afghans arrive in Iowa, they’ll get financial support and assistance from government agencies and private organizations for three months. “They’re coming to a country without Social Security numbers, without work authorizations. Many of them don’t speak English and so they need their kids registered for school, they need places to live, they need help accessing health care — and that’s really what those first 90 days are for,” True-Funk says. A federal program to help Afghans enter the U.S. workforce lasts for eight months.

Most of the Afghans who were flown out of their country in August were living in cities like Kabul, which has a population of more than four million and Kandahar, which is about the same size as Des Moines. True-Funk says there are no restriction on where the Afghan evacuees may live here and many are likely to choose to stay close to urban areas, but some may relocate to rural America.

“Afghanistan has a very strong agriculture and farming culture and Afghan people are very used to owning their own homes and having their own gardens,” True-Funk says, “and so we may see over time as they get more adjusted — working more, speaking more English — populations moving outside of the city centers.” A handful of Afghans had resettled in Cedar Rapids by the end of October. In mid-November, an agency leading the resettlement process in Cedar Rapids indicated about 115 more are likely to arrive by next fall.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says they are getting the documentation together to provide justification for spending $450,000of federal COVID relief funding on staff salaries last spring. “I just want to remind people that that was March, April, and May. That was when we just didn’t know a lot about the pandemic. We were working seven days a week….we had a morning meeting, I did a press conference every single day to let Iowans know what we were working on,” Reynolds says.

Reynolds is a Republican and Democrat State Auditor Rob Sand released a report last week accusing her of improperly using the funds. Reynolds says they had to be sure the state had all the ventilators, supplies, and tests needed, and that took all of their time.

Gov. Kim Reynolds (RI Photo)

“They said that it’s an allowable expense — they just need the documentation. We’ll have no problem providing them with the documentation that they need. Because that’s what we were doing,” she says. Reynolds says most governors and their staff were doing the same thing across the country as the pandemic took hold. “Projections were horrific, and we were doing everything that we could to make sure that Iowans were safe and secure and that we weren’t overwhelming our hospitals,” Reynolds says.

Auditor Sand accused the governor of trying to hide the use of the money because it wasn’t listed as an individual department expense for the employees who worked on her team. “Because we were working on COVID 100 percent of the time we didn’t think that it was fair for the agencies to pay for the team — because we weren’t working on policy-specific issues that were related to each one of the agencies. We were actually working on COVID,” according to Reynolds.

The governor says all the supporting information will soon be ready soon to send to federal officials to verify the use of the funding.

(Radio Iowa) – More than 180 insurance companies are now headquartered in Iowa — and Iowa Economic Development Authority director Debi Durham says no other state gets a higher percentage of its Gross Domestic Product from the insurance and finance industry.

“I have to say this is bragging rights for the state of Iowa. We took over the number one place in the nation ranking as far as GDP growth for insurance,” Durham says. “It used to be Delaware, Connecticut, then Iowa, but we were kind of far behind Connecticut and then Nebraska and so we took that number one space.”

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the insurance industry accounts for at least 16% of the jobs in metro Des Moines. Durham says manufacturing remains the dominant industry in the entire state of Iowa, however. “Manufacturing is actually our DNA,” Durham says. “It is the largest part of our Gross State Product.”

Sixty-four percent of Iowa’s exports come from Iowa manufacturing plants and 15% of Iowa’s entire workforce is employed by a manufacturer. “A large amount of research and development happens in this space,” Durham says.

According to the Iowa Economic Development Authority, manufacturing jobs in Iowa pay 25% more than the average wage for a private sector job.