(Radio Iowa) – Traffic deaths on Iowa roadways are down 32 compared to this day (9/11) last year. D-O-T director Scott Marler told the Transportation Commission they are happy to continue to see the drop. “We’re on a good trajectory, but I think you know us at the Department well enough to know we’re never satisfied with that,” he says. There have been 191 traffic deaths so far this year, with six in September as of today (Thursday).

“One fatality is one too many and until we get to zero, we’re not going to stop, we’re going to continue to push and do the things that are so vital to keeping Iowans safe,” Marler says. Marler says he recently attended the Mid America Association of State Transportation officials conference where they signed a joint resolution to deploy safety technology across our region. He says the focus will be on work zones, commercial motor vehicles and traffic management.

“Things like long-wait detection systems, and notifications. Technologies like these hold a lot of promise, a lot of potential to really help us go further with safety, and to save lives, quite literally save lives,” he says. “So we’re excited that as a as a region in the Midwest, we could join together in signing this safety technology resolution.”

The state is 43 fatalities behind the average number of traffic deaths for this date from 2020 through 2024.

(Radio Iowa) – A former Storm Lake city employee has pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography. Brian Oakleaf was serving as Storm Lake’s finance manager in July of last year when investigators got warrants to search his office in Storm Lake City Hall as well as his home. He resigned from his city job the following month.

According to the Justice Department, Oakleaf used the alias of “Dan Dyle” to look at and trade child pornography. In his plea agreement, Oakleaf admits he had over 20-thousand images of child pornography on two cell phones and a video that lasted over 90 minutes.

Oakleaf, who is 52, faces a sentence of up to 40 years in federal prison and a fine as high as half a million dollars.

(Radio Iowa) – A University of Iowa professor has developed an app to help first responders communicate with patients who can’t speak during emergencies. Krista Davidson, a U-I professor of communication sciences and disorders, says the app is called RescueVoice, which she says has the potential to be life-changing. Davidson says, “It’s a speech-generating app and it’s designed specifically for first responders and medical personnel to help them effectively communicate with individuals who have limited or no speech, or maybe who are unable to speak because of a current medical event.”

The innovative app can be used in all sorts of settings, including emergency responders, medical workers in E-Rs, nursing homes, and schools, so helpers can communicate quickly with patients. “You can press buttons, tap-to-talk icons. It has symbols on it, but it also has text-to-speech capability where you could type and it will speak what you type,” Davidson says. “We have vocabulary related to symptoms, pain, body parts and we also have a Spanish option now where the text is in Spanish but it will speak English to the first responder.”

This RescueVoice screen enables a patient to show pain levels for various body parts.

She hopes to include more languages in future versions of the app, as well as to make it available for smartphones, as it’s now just for tablets. Davidson developed the app after hearing feedback from first responders. “I don’t think it’s necessarily something that’s needed constantly every day, but I think it can make a real big impact when you do need it,” Davidson says. “When that situation arises where someone’s unable to communicate, it could be life-changing in those moments.”

The app costs $9.99 in the Apple and Android app stores, as Davidson says it was very costly to produce. Her initial funding to create it came from grants and local non-profits like the Solon Lions Club and the North Liberty Optimists. She also appealed to the U-I’s entrepreneur center. “They have these contests like pitch contests, and to me, it’s very much like Shark Tank. You go and you have to pitch your idea to these folks and then they select a winner. Lots of people compete. In one of them, I got second place and won $10,000 and that is how I was able to create the Spanish option in the app.”

An Ohio children’s hospital is among the first users of RescueVoice.

https://rescuevoice.uiowa.edu/

September 11, 2025 (DES MOINES, IA) — The Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) today (Thursday) announced $35.9 million in workforce housing tax credits to support development in 36 counties across the state. The awards will fund 63 projects expected to create nearly 2,000 new residential units — 1,217 in large communities and 752 in smaller towns.

Among the recipients (in the “Small” project category) is local non-profit organization Vision Atlantic, which will add 10 duplex-style homes in the Camblin Hills Workforce Housing Project in Atlantic. Located near school facilities, a planned child care center and other services, the properties are expected to appeal to workers at large employers like Cass Health, where nearly half of employees currently commute into town. The project received total tax credits amounting to $381,675.

Other projects in the “Small” category include:

• McCarthy Construction, Inc.: Avoca Workforce Patton Street Project (Tax credit of $216,000)
• Janbur, LLC: $142,500 Tax Credit for Manning duplexes (In Manning) – 4 units.
• Origin Homes 2025, LLC: $199,999 tax Credit for the Panora-Dream Acres Housing Project in Panora (5 units)
• MK Purple Martin, LLC: Purple Martin, in Shelby ($1-million Tax Credit) – 36 units.

In the “Large” housing project category:

• WE Roost, LLC: $1-million Tax Credit for the West End Roost Project in Council Bluffs (89 Units)
• First Avenue Freeze Out, LLC: $1-million Tax Credit for the 145 unit, 30th & 1st Avenue Project in Council Bluffs.

Debi Durham, director of IEDA and the Iowa Finance Authority, said in a new release, “When families can find quality, affordable homes, they put down roots — and that gives businesses the steady workforce they need, It’s that kind of stability that keeps our communities strong and our economy moving forward.”

IEDA received 137 applications requesting about $83 million in tax credits. Of the $35 million available for fiscal 2026, $17.5 million was specifically reserved for projects in Iowa’s 88 least-populated counties. Applications were evaluated on readiness, financing, community impact, developer experience and innovation.

Other examples of funded projects include:

• Charles City (Floyd County) — Urbandale-based Kading Properties will construct Union Place, a 74-unit rental townhome community on land donated by the city and the Charles City Area Development Corp. The site is within a half mile of major employers including Cambrex, Floyd County Medical Center and Zoetis.
• Cumming (Warren County) — Diligent Development of West Des Moines will create a mixed-use building with 32 apartments, 16 garages and ground-floor retail in Middlebrook, Iowa’s first agrihood and an extension of the city’s historic downtown. The investment will help address workforce housing needs near Hy-Vee’s new distribution center and other growing employers.
• Oskaloosa (Mahaska County) — West Des Moines-based Hubbell Realty Co. will develop about 50 two-bedroom, two-story townhomes off Coal Mine Road on the west side of town. The effort responds to strong rental demand driven by expansions at Clow Valve Co., Mahaska Health and Musco Lighting.

The Workforce Housing Tax Credit program supports projects that redevelop abandoned, vacant or deteriorated properties. For more information about the program, visit iowaeda.com/workforce-housing-tax-credit.

Download a complete list of awards.

(Radio Iowa) – Figures out today (Thursday) show two of the three state universities saw enrollment increases for the fall semester. The University of Iowa saw enrollment increase by 784 student to 31-thousand-563, as the school says it had its second largest incoming class ever. Iowa State University saw it’s third straight increase in overall fall enrollment, up by 673 students to 31-thousand-105.

I-S-U says it retained a school record 89 percent of first-year students. The University of Northern Iowa saw overall enrollment drop by 79 students to nine-thousand-204. The drop comes after two straight years of increases.

The U-I took over the top spot for largest enrollment among the three state schools from I-S-U last year, and maintained that spot with this year’s number.

DES MOINES, Iowa – An Oskaloosa man was sentenced on September 10, 2025, to 18 years in federal prison for the sexual exploitation of a child. The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa says, according to public court documents, 42-year-old Matthew Scott Beal produced child pornography of a minor child. Beal also used the internet to distribute four videos of child pornography to an undercover law enforcement account operated by the Homeland Security’s Newark Child Exploitation Task Force. Later, law enforcement seized Beal’s phone during a search of his home in Oskaloosa. Beal’s phone contained over 100 images and videos of child pornography, including prepubescent children engaged in sex acts with adults.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Beal will be required to serve a five-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system. Beal was also ordered to pay $15,938.50 in restitution to multiple victims.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security Homeland Security Investigations Newark Child Exploitation Group, the Oskaloosa Police Department, and the Iowa Department of Public Safety Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.

(Radio Iowa) – Charlie Kirk, the prominent conservative activist who was shot to death yesterday (Wednesday), helped an Iowa politician launch a national group called Run Gen Z. Joe Mitchell had just been sworn into office as a state legislator when he met Kirk at an event in Des Moines. “He asked me to stay after the event to chat with him and we sat down for over two hours and talked about how do we get more conservatives to run for local and state office,” Mitchell says. Kirk’s group “Turning Point U-S-A” gave Mitchell the seed money to pay staff and start Run Gen Z in 2020. Mitchell was in a group chat with Kirk this past Sunday — the day before Mitchell announced he was running for congress in Iowa’s second congressional district. On Tuesday, Michell was making plans to have Kirk come to Iowa to campaign with him.

“And then this happened,” Mitchell said. “…It was an incredibly emotional day yesterday.” Mitchell adds that Kirk was killed on the sixth anniversary of the day he first met Kirk — September 10th, 2019 — and Kirk’s death adds more urgency to his campaign. “We’re not going to be intimidated and we’re not going to back down and we’re not going to mumble our voices,” Mitchell said. “We’re going to speak louder and stronger and we’re going to stand up for the truth.”

Governor Kim Reynolds has ordered flags at all public facilities in Iowa to be lowered to half staff until sunset on Sunday in Charlie Kirk’s honor. Flag lowering had already been scheduled for today (Thursday) to mark the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports a Pottawattamie County man was arrested late last week on a drug charge. 54-year-old Kevin Shawn Frieze, of Council Bluffs, was arrested Sept. 5th, on a Possession of Controlled Substance charge. Frieze was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked-in, and later released on his own recognizance.

(Radio Iowa) – State health officials believe a cooling tower may be the cause of the recent outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease in Marshalltown, though the investigation is still underway. There are 34 confirmed cases and one death. Dr. Jeff VanGundy, at the Marshall County Public Health Department, is urging people to get checked immediately if they’re showing symptoms of the disease.  “You might experience fever, chills, fatigue, muscle aches, eventually a cough that is typically dry and when if the illness advances, you could get short of breath,” VanGundy says. “Some people also have diarrhea and that’s madding, because then it acts more like a GI illness.” Matters are being complicated by recent cases of COVID as well as a summer virus, all which have similar symptoms, but VanGundy says if you think you might be sick, get tested right away.

“Fortunately, testing for Legionella is super easy. It’s just a urine test. You don’t have to even have your blood drawn, and that comes back in six to 24 hours,” VanGundy says. “The provider that you see might very well want to also check you for COVID or some of these other illnesses depending on the presentation of your symptoms. But just know that you don’t have to come to the ER. You can see an urgent care. You can see your family provider.” Unlike with COVID or a virus, VanGundy says Legionnaire’s disease isn’t highly contagious.  “The only way you can really get this is by inhaling contaminated aerosolized water droplets,” he says. “So please don’t change your social behaviors. Go out to restaurants, go see your friends.”

VanGundy says treatment of Legionnaire’s disease involves taking a course antibiotics like a Z-pack, which are widely available, inexpensive and are typically well tolerated.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A powerpole and lines owned by MidAmerican Energy sustained a company-estimated $30-to 40-thousand dollars damage, Wednesday, in Red Oak, when the pole was hit by a tractor that was pulling a 123-foot long auger. Red Oak Police say the accident happened at around 11-a.m., in the 200 block of W. Oak Street. Authorities report a 1982 John  Deere 4640 tractor hauling an AGI auger, and driven by 38-year-old Thomas Michael Ryan, of Northboro, was pulling out of the New Cooperative south lot and attempting to turn west onto 200th Street.

Ryan failed to notice the auger would not make the turn. The result was the implement struck the power pole, which was snapped in-two. That caused the power lines to fall across the ground. The tractor continued west on 200th Street. Information was obtained by New Cooperative employees that both the tractor and auger are owned by the company. Thomas Ryan works for the Co-Op out of their Essex location.

There was no damage to the tractor or auger, and no injuries were reported. No citations were issued. Red Oak Police provided traffic control while Red Oak MidAmerican Energy crews replaced the pole and power lines.