(Radio Iowa) – One of the 15 “Sleep in Heavenly Peace” chapters in Iowa is holding a bed building event tomorrow (Wednesday), in Manchester. Keith Kramer is leader of the Delaware County chapter that formed four years ago to provide beds to kids who didn’t have one. “Once you see it, you get so involved with it,” Kramer said.

So far, Kramer’s group has made 450 beds for kids who’d been sleeping on floors or couches. Kramer said people in the community are helping to provide not just the bed frame, but sheets and pillows “Had a gal drop off six brand new quilts. She just made them,” Kramer says. “And talk about a labor of love with these quilts for these kids. It’s the one thing they’ve got. It’s something to hang onto.”

A previous “Sleep in Heavenly Peace” bed building event in Delaware County. (Photo by Janelle Tucker, KMCH)

Wednesday’s bed building event starts at 10 o’clock in the Beef Barn on the Delaware County Fairgrounds. Kramer and his team have assembled all the tools necessary to build the bed frames, they’re inviting more volunteers to join the effort. “Come for the experience,” Kramer said. “…Probably the bed thing is when they go back home and they’re talking to someone on the phone and they’re saying, ‘What did you do today?’ ‘Well, let me tell you. We built beds.’”

The Delaware County chapter of “Sleep in Heavenly Peace” is making beds not only for kids in their county, but has expanded to build beds for children in some of the cities and towns in neighboring Buchanan and Dubuque Counties. The national “Sleep in Heavenly Peace” website has an application form. It can be filled out by the legal guardian of a child between the ages of three and 17 or some other family member, a school or government agency can contact the group and request a bed for a child who doesn’t have one.

The organization’s website shows more than 325 “Sleep in Heavenly Peace” chapters nationwide have made almost 290,000 beds and have requests to make nearly 164,000 more. The group has chapters in the Iowa cities of Ames, Camanche, Des Moines, Muscatine, Shenandoah, Sioux City and Spirit Lake, plus the following counties have chapters: Jackson, Johnson, Jones, Linn, Union, Warren and Washington.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s economy improved slightly during August, along with the Midwest as a whole, according to a monthly survey of supply managers in Iowa and eight other states. Despite the minor gains, Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says the region’s economy is moving sideways, as it’s been seeing similar gains and losses for months.

Goss says tariffs enacted by the Trump administration — and by other nations in retaliation — are slowing everything down. “Tariffs are having some significant impacts and I think the impacts are, it’s just spreading across the globe and it’s not just the U.S., it’s other nations and it’s hurting the economy, hurting the U.S. economy, hurting the global economy,” Goss says. “Four out of five report tariffs pushing prices higher, not significantly higher, but higher.”

Ernie Goss (Creighton University photo)

The survey shows weakening confidence about the future, as Goss says only one in ten supply managers expect improving economic conditions for their firm over the next six months. The survey showed employment losses for the region during August for the fifth straight month, as Goss says the Producer Price Index for the month rose.

“That’s been growing, but it’s not being passed on to the consumers. So where is it going? It’s cutting profit margins,” Goss says. “In other words, businesses are absorbing the price increase, the tariff increase and also the importers and the distributors, and of course the exporters, that’s outside the U.S. exporting into the U.S.”

Federal reports say Iowa’s manufacturing sector exported more than $7-billion dollars in goods for the first half of 2025, compared to just over $8-billion for the same period in 2024. That’s a drop of nearly 11-percent. Goss says the nation saw an increase in non-farm jobs of less than one percent, while manufacturing alone lost about 13,000 jobs. “The region is actually, over the last year, I’m talking about year-over-year, has gained some jobs but you wouldn’t know it,” Goss says. “We’re just not seeing enough growth in manufacturing jobs and it’s showing up in the manufacturing economy.”

On the survey’s zero-to-100 scale, growth neutral is 50. The survey says Iowa’s overall Business Conditions Index for August stayed below growth neutral, but rose to nearly 46 from just under 44 in July. Across the region’s agricultural sector, Goss says there’s concern as bumper crops will only push prices south, while lowering net farm income.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Joni Ernst has released a video statement to announce she will not seek reelection in 2026. “This was no easy decision. I love my state and country,” Ernst said.”It’s the very reason I decided to wear our nation’s uniform and run for election in the first place.”

Ernst, who is 55, served in the Iowa National Guard, did a tour of duty in Iraq, and was the first female combat veteran elected to the U.S. Senate. She also served as Montgomery County’s Auditor and a state senator before running for the U.S. Senate in 2014. “Having been raised in a family that has given me so much love and support now, as our family ages and grows, it’s time my time for me to give back to them.”

Ernst’s first grandchild was born in February of last year.

(Radio Iowa) – University of Iowa researchers are recruiting farmers with dementia and their caregivers to participate in an educational series tailored to their specific needs. U-I associate professor of public health, Kanika Arora says most dementia safety programs are focused on residential settings.  “If you look at the standard dementia safety recommendations that are used in residential settings, like removing power tools or removing tractors or seizing work completely, that can be impractical, at least in sort of the early stages of dementia, which can feel — this can feel intrusive, and this might not even work,” she says.

The Farm Families Coping with Dementia series consists of four weekly sessions that covers the entire scope of agricultural hazards.  “Like livestock or heavy equipment, firearms, even residing in an agricultural sort of like a farmstead or being farm adjacent, like you know, you still have concerns related to wandering in a cornfield, for instance, which can be extremely dangerous,” Arora says.

The next training starts in October. State data shows more than 66 thousand Iowans who are 65 and older have Alzheimer’s Disease.

(Radio Iowa) – A police chase early this (Tuesday) morning led to hundreds of central Iowans losing electricity. Des Moines police say an officer spotted a stolen SUV about 3 AM and when trying to pull the vehicle over, the driver sped away, leading to a chase that lasted about four minutes. Police say the driver lost control, hit a utility pole and took off on foot, and police say the teenager was captured about a block away.

The pole that was hit resulted in about 1,400 Des Moines customers losing power. MidAmerican Energy says all were restored within about four hours.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Sheriff’s Office reports a man was cited last week for Driving While Barred. An Adair County Deputy conducted a traffic stop August 26th at around 7:24-p.m., on a pickup truck in the 1700 block of Hiughway 25, and found the registered own/driver, 45-year-old Kenneth James Partlow, of Menlo, was driving while being barred for being an habitual offender. Partlow was issued a summons to appear in court, and a written warning for unlawful use of license, and failure to provide proof of liability. He was released from the scene.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The driver of a semi tractor-trailer was injured during an accident this (Tuesday) morning, off of westbound Interstate 80, in Cass County. As we reported earlier, the accident happened just before 7-a.m.  Cass County Sheriff John Westering said the Cass County Communications Center received a call about the crash, which led to the dispatch of rescue personnel and law enforcement.

Buck Creek Road was blocked by the semi for a time. It’s a road that gets minimal traffic, according to the Sheriff, who said the accident could have been much worse if the semi hadn’t gone into the median and into eastbound traffic. It could have resulted in a head-on crash.

Photo courtesy Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon.

Des Moines, IA (September 2, 2025) – Des Moines International Airport (DSM) has launched a new EZ Pickup program designed to simplify the passenger pickup process, reduce congestion at the front curb, and improve the travel experience during ongoing terminal construction. The program allows drivers to wait for up to two hours, free of charge, in a designated section of the airport’s parking garage while their passengers make their way from the terminal. “DSM is committed to making travel easier for Iowans, and EZ Pickup is one more way we’re keeping that promise,” said Brian Mulcahy, Chief Executive Officer of Des Moines Airport Authority. “With passenger numbers climbing and construction reducing roadway space into the pickup and drop-off lanes, this system helps relieve pressure on the terminal front curb while
providing a smoother, less stressful pickup experience.”

The EZ Pickup process is simple:

• Drivers follow signage to the EZ Pickup area inside the parking garage.
• Once waiting at a numbered stall, the driver texts their stall number to the arriving passenger.
• The passenger exits the terminal, follows signage to the EZ Pickup area, and meets the driver at their designated spot.
• Drivers may remain in their vehicles for up to two hours, free of charge.

The program is a key component of DSM’s #FlyingProgress initiative and will remain in place through the construction and opening of the airport’s new terminal. “With the temporary limitations on space during construction, curbside pickups are no longer a sustainable option,” Mulcahy said. “EZ Pickup is designed to shift the pickup process to a safer and more convenient location.” To help enforce this change and ensure safety, curbside pickup will be strictly limited to active pickups only, meaning the passenger must be present and ready with their luggage. Vehicles waiting or left unattended at the curb will be subject to citations.

For those wishing to wait offsite, DSM’s Cell Phone Lot remains available for up to 20 minutes of free waiting. A step-by-step instructional video and fully detailed webpage have been created to help drivers
and passengers adapt to the new system. Full details are available at http://www.flydsm.com/EZ-Pickup.