(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Joni Ernst says the economic stimulus package will be a campaign issue for Republicans in 2022 even though it means many people are getting checks. Ernst says there are many people who think the relief should have been more targeted.  “They come to me. I heard even over the weekend when I was out doing county tours folks saying ‘you know I really don’t need this 14-hundred dollars payment, what do I do with it?,” Ernst says. “So you do have people who have been working and they don’t understand, why I’m getting a payment.”

Ernst says the euphoria of getting the checks will eventually wear off when people realize the long-term cost. “At some point in the future, very near future, we do expect that the Democrats to pay for all of this will end up raising taxes — and that will be extremely unpopular — for all the goodies that were handed out in this package,” according to Ernst. She says she’s also heard from government leaders who don’t like the bailouts in the bill for poorly run states and cities.

“That have said, hey we had to tighten belts during COVID, we did the right thing, we balanced our city’s budget, and now our taxpayers’ dollars are going to go to the city of Chicago or the state of Illinois,” Ernst says. Ernst says the enthusiasm seen as the payments start arriving this week will subside when people realize the real cost of the bill. “When all of that other stuff comes to light — that’s when it becomes extremely unpopular. And we have seen this in previous administrations too, if you go back to times when previous economic stimulus plans were used,” Ernst says.

The relief bill was pushed through by Democrats without any votes from Republicans. Ernst made her comments in a call with Iowa reporters.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill that’s making its way through the legislature could expand the number of people eligible to serve as substitute teachers in Iowa. It would let the Iowa Board of Education Examiners authorize people to be substitute teachers if the person has earned as associates degree or completed at least 60 credit hours as an undergraduate. These AUTHORIZED substitutes would be limited to 10 days per month, while LICENSED substitutes have no such restriction. Representative Garrett Gobble, a social studies teacher in Ankeny, says if this bill had been law when he was a student, he would have had the chance to substitute.

“This bill will allow the next generation of teachers to have the opportunity to experience the classroom and develop into the teacher they want to be in a real world experience,” Gobble says. The bill would make permanent a provision in the governor’s public health emergency proclamation that was designed to help schools find substitute teachers during the pandemic. Margaret Buckton is a lobbyist of the Rural School Advocates of Iowa and the Urban Education Network. She says because of the governor’s emergency order, schools were able to find substitutes who hadn’t considered teaching before.

“So it was great to use that as not just fulfilling that need, but also recruiting new professionals to the classroom,” Buckton says. Senator Tim Goodwin of Burlington is a former teacher, coach and school administrator in southeast Iowa. “(The) teacher sub shortage has been around for quite some time and I can remember where it went from having to have teacher licensure to then a bachelor’s degree and now what’s being proposed now,” he says, “and so any way that we can help bridge that gap, I’m going to be in support of.”

The bill has no registered opposition. It has just cleared a Senate subcommittee and the full House approved it unanimously earlier this month.

ATLANTIC, IA (March 14, 2021) – Anyone thinking about being a vendor at Produce in the Park this summer is invited to attend the 2021 Vendor Meeting Friday, March 19 at 6 PM. The meeting can be attended in person or virtually. Those attending in person are asked to bring their own lawn chairs, and mask and distance. Those interested in attending virtually should contact Market Manager Brigham Hoegh at produceintheparkatlanticiowa@gmail.com or 712-
249-5870 for connection information. RSVPs are appreciated but not required.

Produce in the Park is held every Thursday evening (4:30-6:30 PM) from the beginning of June through the end of September in the beautiful Atlantic City Park. Both food and craft vendors are welcome. Vendors can register for the entire season, or sign up for just a few weeks. Fullseason vendor registration fees are $75 for vendors registered by June 1. More information on Produce in the Park can be found at www.produceintheparkatlanticiowa.com.

Spring Celebration Market
Produce in the Park continues to welcome vendors for Spring Celebration Market. Spring Celebration Market is a pre-order only market. Pre-orders will be accepted from March 25 –April 1, and customers will drive-through pick-up their purchases at the Cass County Community Center on Saturday, April 3 from 12-2 PM.

Spring Celebration Market is being held the day before Easter, so customers can pick up treats for Easter Baskets and local foods for Easter meals. The market will offer baked goods including Miss Nini’s pies and macarons and The Kringleman’s Danish Kringle, in addition to local meats, produce, eggs, and more.

Vendors interested in participating in Spring Celebration Market should contact the market manager at produceintheparkatlanticiowa@gmail.com or 712-249-5870 by March 19. Spring Celebration Market event details, including vendors, and information on pre-orders will be posted on Produce in the Park’s website www.produceintheparkatlanticiowa.com and on the Produce in the Park Facebook page www.facebook.com/ProduceInThePark.

Produce in the Park 2021 farmers markets are sponsored by the Atlantic Community Promotion Commission, First Whitney Bank & Trust, and Cass County Tourism.

(Radio Iowa) – A University of Iowa study finds things you post on social media could prevent you from getting your dream job, even though it’s a fuzzy, gray area for potential employers to be scouring your online accounts. Chad Van Iddekinge, U-I professor of management and entrepreneurship, says they reviewed the Facebook pages of 140 job applicants and compared it to recruiters’ evaluations of those applicants. “Recruiters tended to give higher ratings to people who were in a relationship or married than to single job seekers,” Van Iddekinge says. “They also gave lower ratings to people who included some information about their religious beliefs than to people who didn’t include any religion information on Facebook.”

The study found potentially job-relevant information, like education, work-related training, and written communication skills that were displayed on social media were associated with better evaluations. “More negative behaviors, such as profanity, substance use, information about sexual behavior, and even information about illegal activities,” he says, “recruiters picked up on these types of information and gave lower ratings to the job seekers whose Facebook pages included such information.”

Anyone who’s looking for a job would be wise to “scrub” their social media accounts before applying, he says, because potential employers will certainly be looking. “We would never ask applicants to report on an application information about their race or ethnicity, sexual orientation, their religious beliefs, political beliefs and so on,” Van Iddekinge says, “but all of this information is widely available on social media. There’s really nothing regulating or prohibiting employers from looking up this information.”

Caution is recommended on all sides, when you’re posting information about yourself online and for potential employers who are harvesting those personal tidbits. “It’s hard to blame organizations who very easily can look up a job applicant to see if there are any red flags,” he says, “but the problem is, once you get exposed to this information, it’s very difficult to set it aside and focus on more job-relevant information.”

The study is being published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

DOW CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Crawford County woman has pleaded not guilty in the shooting death last month of her boyfriend. The Sioux City Journal reports that 44-year-old Beth Guzman, of Dow City, pleaded not guilty Friday to a count of first-degree murder in the shooting death of 46-year-old Jeremy Frank. Crawford County Sheriff’s deputies say they found Frank unresponsive and bleeding after being called Feb. 21 to the home he and Guzman shared.

Frank was taken to a hospital in Denison, where he was pronounced dead from a single gunshot wound. Prosecutors say Guzman told investigators she and Frank had argued and that she shot Frank in a bedroom as he tried to leave.

A man from rural Page County faces a charge associated with an open burning ban. Authorities say Page County deputies responded March 11th to a complaint about a field fire east of Braddyville, near 3133 310th Street, in rural Page County. Three days earlier, the State Fire Marshall’s Office, in response to a request of all of the Fire Chief’s in Page County and Page County EMA, had issued a burn ban for open burning in all of Page County.

An investigation into the illegal burn of a field fire showed that 53-year old Henry Joseph Tamagni III, of rural Braddyville, intentionally used fire to burn a field during the burn ban. A complaint against Tamagni was filed in Page County Magistrate court for violation of an open burn during a burning ban. This is a Simple misdemeanor charge.  Fire departments from Braddyville and Clarinda responded to the fire along with Page County Emergency Management.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports four arrests: This past Sunday, 30-year old Jordan Allan Andreesen, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office, on a warrant for Sexual Abuse. He remains in the jail without bond; 40-year old Philip Jay McClish, of Clarinda, was arrested on at the Cass County Jail a warrant for Failure to Appear on an original Possession of a Controlled Substance charge. Bond was set at $2,000; and, 40-year old Lindsey Renee Kent, of Omaha, was arrested at Mills County Corrections, Sunday, for Possession of a Controlled Substance in a Correctional facility. Her bond was set at $5,000.

Kent had previously been arrested Saturday, following a traffic stop, during which she was charged being a Fugitive from Justice. She was being held without bond on that charge.

The Adair County Sheriff’s Office reports a woman from Menlo was arrested March 8th, on three warrants. 21-year-old Payton Allyssa Hill was taken into custody at the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office on three Adair County warrants for: failing to appear on charges of Domestic Abuse Assault/2nd offense & Possession of a Controlled Substance/Meth – 1st offense; Failure to appear on a charge of Domestic Abuse Assault/2nd offense; and a felony warrant for Violation of Probation. Hill was being held in the Adair County Jail on bonds totaling 3,000 (a $2,000 cash-only bond, & $1,000 cash or surety bond).

Also arrested March 8th, was 59-year old Robert Edward McCrory, of Greenfield. He was taken into custody by Greenfield Police on a charge of assault causing serious injury, after allegedly pushing his sister down the stairs, causing her to break her hip.  McCrory was released the following day on a $5,000 cash-only bond.

On March 9th, 39-year old Stormy Crawford, of Greenfield, was arrested following a brief pursuit at around 9:30-p.m.   She was charged with OWI/1st offense, after she was observed failing to stop at a controlled intersection in Orient, and for speeding 79 mph in a 45 mph zone. During an investigation, an Adair County Deputy saw there was an opened can of beer on the floorboard of the pickup she was driving. Crawford also had bloodshot and watery eyes, and was slurring her speech. She was given a standard field sobriety and preliminary breath alcohol test, the latter of which indicated at BAC of more than .08%.  Crawford consented to a separate breath alcohol test, which indicated her BAC was .162, or twice the legal limit. She was released later that night on a citation.

And, on March 11th, 35-year old Lafayette Allen Easterling, of Ft. Worth, TX., was arrested at the Dollar General Store in Adair. He was taken into custody at around 4:20-p.m. for Trespass. The Sheriff’s office had received a 911 call from the store at around 1:50-p.m. about a man walking behind the counter, bothering the workers and refusing to leave. While enroute to the store, authorities were informed the suspect had knives in his possession, and was attempting to pour lighter fluid on himself.

The man cooperated with a sheriff’s deputy and was taken into custody. Easterling told the deputy he had taken ecstacy during the past 24-to 36-hours, to help keep him awake while driving. Easterling was released from custody the next day on a $300 cash or surety bond.

Sheriff’s deputies in Page County, Sunday, received a complaint about a vehicle sitting on private property that had driven through a fence in the 1400 block of Highway 71.  An investigation determined 21-year-old Brodee Allen Means, of rural Villisca, was operating a 2008 Chevy pickup northbound on Highway 71 at approximately 11:00 PM on March 13th. Means told authorities that he was the only occupant of the vehicle when it hydroplaned on the wet road, entered the west ditch, and struck a residential drive at 1465 HWY 71. The vehicle then struck a MidAmerican Energy-owned power pole before driving through a fence owned by Richard Negley. The pickup came to rest in Negley’s pasture.

Means said he then left the vehicle and went to his residence for the night. There were no injuries reported from the accident. Damages amounted to $9,000. No charges were filed.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says Iowa has “turned the corner” when it comes to vaccinating Iowans. “We just hit our one-millionth vaccination here in Iowa. That’s great news,” Reynolds says. “Ninety-five percent of 65 years old and (above) have had at least one dose and we just continue to see those numbers increase.”

The state website tracking vaccinations shows the state has distributed 72-thousand-500 doses of vaccine over the past seven days. The federal government is shipping additional doses directly to participating pharmacies like Walgreens and C-V-S. “We’ve actually turned the corner,” Reynolds says. “We’ve worked with a lot of our local pharmacies. We’ve worked with a lot of our local hospitals and clinics. HyVee has been a tremendous partner in helping us get those out as well as our local public health teams have also been from and center in helping us really distribute the vaccine, set up mass vaccination clinics.”

Nearly 409-thousand Iowans have had both doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. About 30-thousand Iowans have gotten the single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Information updated Monday morning on the state website shows on impact the vaccines are having in Iowa. There are just two Iowa nursing homes listed as having Covid outbreaks. There are 18 active infections among staff or residents at facilities in Davenport and Wapello. At the end of November, more than 150 nursing homes had Covid outbreaks. State officials have confirmed more than 22-hundred nursing home residents died of Covid.