(Radio Iowa) – Since Iowa leaders decided to turn down federal aid for summer food assistance programs for low-income households, communities like Le Mars are working to fill the gaps. Le Mars Community School District Superintendent Steven Webner says the northwest Iowa city is creating its own program that will be available to any students.

“The Summer Food Program is one in which all students are able to get food from distribution sites that the district has yet to finalize, during the month of June,” Webner says. “The school district is reimbursed the cost of the meals and the labor to make the meals.”

Late last year, Governor Kim Reynolds announced Iowa would not participate in the federal program because of administrative costs to the state, and because she said it “did nothing to promote nutrition at a time when childhood obesity has become an epidemic.” Other Republican governors in about a dozen states made similar announcements.

Webner describes how the community program will work in Le Mars. “What we’re looking at doing is providing, a couple of times a week potentially, a bag of meals that the students can take home that will last a few days,” Webner says. “We’re looking at breakfast and lunch-type meals and any student can take part in this, if they like.”

The district will initially offer the program just during June, and if there’s a good response, it may be extended into July and August. While it’s aimed at latch-key kids, Webner says all Le Mars district students are eligible for the program.

“The intent is just for students whose parents may be working all day, or parents who qualify for free and reduced lunches, those types of things,” he says. “We’re just trying to help the community out.”

Webner says the director of food services and other employees will prepare and package the meals, and bring them to delivery sites in the district. They are also recruiting students to help distribute the meals.

(Radio Iowa) – A few of the legislators who aren’t seeking reelection say it’s time to raise the pay for those who’ll be serving in the Iowa General Assembly next year.

Republican Representative Phil Thompson of Boone got his colleagues to laugh when he brought up the subject earlier this month. “Today I get to deliver my retirement speech at the age of 33,” Thompson said. “Unfortunately for me, I have to make up for all the money I lost these last six years and probably won’t get to do one of these ever again.”

The current salary for an Iowa legislator was set 18 years ago. “You all know how hard we have to work just to get here — all the doors, the events, the fundraisers, the parades. It’s a grind. My wife and I really did enjoy it most of the time. It was a fun run, but honestly we just can’t afford to do another round of it with our first kiddo on the way. I owe it to her to put my head down, earn and be a super dad,” Thompson said. “As rewarding as this work is, it really isn’t cut out for working age families. You guys should really fix that if you want a representative government.”

Sixty-four-year-old Representative Brian Best, a Republican from Glidden, is not seeking reelection after serving 10 years in the Iowa House. “I’m leaving, so it’s easy for me to say this,” Best said during his retirement speech. “What we pay you, me and those who will be elected — maybe we should think about paying a little bit more because it does really leave it to a really small portion of our population that can run for the Iowa House because of the wages that we pay.”

Iowa Capital Building

The six lawmakers who have leadership roles in the House and Senate are paid a salary of $37,500 a year. The other 144 legislators are being paid $25,000 a year. Most legislators get over $17,000 in expense payments each year as well to cover things like mileage and renting hotel rooms or apartments in Des Moines during the legislative session. Polk County lawmakers get less since they have homes near the Capitol. Polk County Representative John Forbes, a Democrat from Urbandale who’s not seeking reelection, said serving in the legislature has become a full-time job and he wouldn’t have been able to make it work financially when he was younger. “I would hope that the legislature looks at a salary increase at some point in time,” Forbes said, “to make sure that people who really want to run have that opportunity and not making salary a barrier for running for public office.”

The governor’s annual salary of $130,000 was set in 2005. More than a thousand state employees are paid more than Governor Reynolds. The salary for Iowa’s attorney general is about $123,000. The salaries for the four other statewide elected officials is just over $103,000.

(Radio Iowa) – The maker of a well-known brand of sour cream and cottage cheese is planning to open a production facility in Boone

The Boone City Council has voted to submit an application for Daisy Brand to the Iowa Economic Development Authority. The application is for tax incentives from the state’s High Quality Jobs program. Boone Mayor Eli Stine says a state board is expected to approve the application Friday.

The City of Boone has agreed to a number of infrastructure improvements to attract Daisy’s investment and over 250 jobs. Stine says Daisy is “an incredibly well run company” and its $708 million project is by far the largest capital investment the community has seen.

The headquarters of Daisy Brands is in Dallas, Texas, and the company currently operates plants in Arizona, Ohio and Texas.

(Exira, Iowa) – The Audubon County Sheriff’s Office reports a man who was allegedly breaking into a home in Exira, Friday night, was stabbed by the home’s owner. The incident occurred a little after 10-p.m., in the 100 block of E. Depot Street, in Exira.

Deputies were on scene within minutes and both parties were identified.  The alleged intruder was transported by private vehicle to the hospital, for medical attention. No names were released.

The case is still under investigation.

DES MOINES – Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate has announced a record high 43 high schools have been recognized for registering eligible students to vote as part of the Carrie Chapman Catt Award for the 2023-2024 school year. The Carrie Chapman Catt Award goes to Iowa schools that register at least 90 percent of their eligible students to vote. The Carrie Chapman Catt Award was created by Secretary Pate in 2019 to encourage voter registration in Iowa high schools. Studies show that students who report being encouraged to vote or taught how to register to vote in high school are more likely to vote and be more invested in elections throughout their lifetimes. Secretary Pate says….

This year, approximately 3,500 high school students registered in conjunction with the Catt Award initiative. Currently, there are over 4,500 17-year-olds registered to vote in Iowa. This number is a thousand more than the 3,500 17-year-olds who were registered to vote in the fall of 2023 when the Carrie Chapman Award program opened for the 2023-2024 school year. Iowa law allows 17-year-olds to register to vote and to vote in primary elections if they will be 18 years of age by the time of the general election.

A total of 64 schools are being recognized this year as part of the Carrie Chapman Catt Award program:

• 43 schools won the Carrie Chapman Catt Award trophy for registering more than 90% of eligible students.
• 3 schools won the Capitol Award plaque in its inaugural year, which goes to schools with 300 or more students that registered at least 100 students.
• 9 schools are receiving a banner for registering at least 70% of eligible students.
• 9 schools are receiving a certificate for registering at least 50% of eligible students.

The record 43 Iowa schools who have been awarded the Carrie Chapman Catt Award surpasses the 2023 record of 31 recognized schools. Each of the 43 Iowa schools being recognized with this award is invited to host or attend a special award ceremony and trophy presentation with Secretary Pate.

A full list of the 63 schools that are being recognized is available below.

A total of 43 schools are being recognized with a trophy for the Carrie Chapman Catt Award and registering at least 90% of eligible students to vote.

Five schools have qualified for the Carrie Chapman Catt Award for all five years (denoted with five asterisks*****). Four schools qualified for the award for the fourth time (four asterisks****), eight schools for the third time, (three asterisks***), six for the second time (two asterisks**), and 20 schools for the first time (one asterisk*). These schools include:

• Ankeny Christian Academy (Ankeny)*
• Ballard High School (Ballard)*****
• Bishop Garrigan High School (Algona)****
• Camanche High School (Camanche)*
• Cedar Valley Christian School (Cedar Rapids)*
• Central Community High School (Central City)***
• Central Lyon High School (Rock Rapids)***
• Clayton Ridge High School (Guttenberg)****
• Clear Creek Amana High School (Tiffin)*
• Columbus Catholic High School (Columbus)*
• Diagonal High School (Diagonal)***
• Dike New Hartford High School (Dike)*
• Dowling Catholic High School (West Des Moines)*
• Dubuque Senior High School (Dubuque)**
• Emmetsburg High School (Emmetsburg)*
• Essex High School (Essex)**
• Fairfield High School (Fairfield)**
• Fremont Mills High School (Tabor)*
• Gladbrook-Reinbeck High School (Reinbeck)***
• Harlan High School (Harlan)**
• Highland High School (Riverside)*
• Holy Trinity Catholic School (Des Moines)*
• Isaac Newton Christian Academy (Cedar Rapids)*****
• Johnston High School (Johnston)*
• Keota High School (Keota)*
• Lone Tree High School (Lone Tree)*****
• Marquette Catholic School (Bellevue)****
• Martensdale St. Mary’s (Martensdale)*
• Mount Ayr High School (Mount Ayr)***
• Newman Catholic High School (Mason City)***
• North Tama High School (Traer)*
• Norwalk High School (Norwalk)*****
• Prince of Peace Catholic School (Clinton)*
• Riceville Community School District (Riceville)***
• Rivermont Collegiate (Bettendorf)*****
• Storm Lake St. Mary’s (Storm Lake)***
• Tripoli High School (Tripoli)**
• Turkey Valley High School (Turkey Valley)*
• Wapello High School (Wapello)*
• Waterloo Christian Academy (Waterloo)**
• West Harrison High School (Mondamin)*
• West Sioux High School (Hawarden)*
• Woodward Granger High School (Woodward)****

Schools with 300 or more students that registered at least 100 eligible students (3) also receive a trophy recognizing their achievement:

• Pleasant Valley High School (Riverdale)
• Valley High School (West Des Moines)
• Waukee High School (Waukee)

Schools that registered at least 70% of eligible students (9) will receive a commemorative banner recognizing their achievement:

• Atlantic High School (Atlantic)
• Greene County High School (Jefferson)
• Hudson High School (Hudson)
• MOC-Floyd Valley (Orange City)
• North Mahaska High School (New Sharon)
• Prairie City Monroe High School (Monroe)
• Sibley-Ocheyedan High School (Sibley)
• West Branch High School (West Branch)
• Winterset High School (Winterset)

Schools that registered at least 50% of eligible students (9) will receive a personalized certificate from the Iowa Secretary of State:

• Clarke High School (Osceola)
• Clear Lake High School (Clear Lake)
• Dallas Center Grimes School (Grimes)
• Grundy Center High School (Grundy Center)
• Hillcrest Academy (Kalona)
• Muscatine High School (Muscatine)
• Regina High School (Iowa City)
• Walnut Creek High School (West Des Moines)
• Westwood High School (Sloan)

(Radio Iowa) – This spring will be the first time in about two centuries that the U-S will see the emergence of two different broods of cicadas. One brood of insects emerges from the ground every 17 years and the other every 13 years. University of Iowa biology professor Andrew Forbes stood in a forested area near Coralville and told K-C-R-G T-V that the cicadas will emerge sometime within the next month. “They’ll be swarming up all of the trees, and eventually making an amazing noise. Really, really loud. It’ll be hard to talk where we’re standing right now,” he said. Forbes says Iowa is only going to see one brood emerge and Illinois is about the only place in the Midwest that will see both at the same time.

Forbes is still excited, even without the double emergence in eastern Iowa. “For biologists like me, this is my eclipse,” he said. Forbes said it’s unlikely you’ll see too many cicadas in a suburban area. They’re mainly going to be in places that have been a forest and stayed a forest. “Even if a forest was removed and then replanted, the cicadas aren’t there because they went with the trees,” Forbes explained. You will have to travel a bit if you want to hear the full effect of the double emergence. Forbes tells K-C-R-G T-V it’ll be worth it.

“I recommend people do go and see them because it is an amazing natural phenomenon that happens only in the eastern part of the United States and nowhere else in the world,” he said. The Cedar Rapids area will see those 17-year cicadas. The very far southeastern part of the state will see the ones that emerge every 13 years. The last time both cicada broods emerged at the same time was in 1803 when Thomas Jefferson was President.

DES MOINES, Iowa – A Des Moines man was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for enticing a minor to engage criminal sexual activity. According to public court documents and information presented at sentencing, Prya Reh, 24, met a 12-year-old Minnesota child online in the fall of 2022.  Reh knew the child was 12.  In November 2022, Reh drove from Des Moines to Minnesota where he picked the child up from middle school, drove to a local motel, and sexually abused the child.  About a week later, Reh drove back to Minnesota, brought the child to Des Moines, where he secreted and sexually assaulted the child in a basement bedroom.  In addition to the in-person sexual abuse of the child, Reh also created an image of child sexual abuse material depicting the child and repeatedly asked the child to text him sexually explicit pictures.  Reh also possessed a firearm as a felon.  When police searched Reh’s residence, police located a loaded pistol in Reh’s bedroom.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Reh will be required to serve five years of supervised release.  There is no parole in the federal system.  Reh was also ordered to pay a special assessment of $5,000.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The case was investigated by the Des Moines Police Department, Austin (Minnesota) Police Department, FBI Child Exploitation Task Force, and Iowa DCI’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.  The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

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. For information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the resources tab.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors today (Tuesday) voted to table two resolutions allocated ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act [Covid relief]) Funds, pertaining to the purchase of a Drone for the Cass County Sheriff’s Department, and a new radio system for the Secondary Roads Department. In both cases, the Supervisors wanted more information on those items, but no later than May 21^st.

In other business, the Board approved referring to the Cass County Condemnation in Eminent Domain Proceedings Board, as instead, the Cass County Eminent Domain Compensation Commission.

The Board set the date for a Public Hearing to vacate approximately 400-feet of Chicago Road west of 770 Street (North of Anita & South of Interstate 80). The hearing will take place during their next meeting, on April 23^rd, 9:15-a.m.

The Supervisors discussed with Anita Food Pantry Representative Tim Miller, a request to use the Local Option Sales Tax (Betterment) funds for improvements to the Pantry’s concrete parking lot. Miller requested funds for materials, not to exceed $25,000. Previously, the Anita Street Department had indicated its staff were willing to do some in-kind work on the project. The City has applied for a grant to help with the project, but they won’t know how much money they will receive until after the beginning of the new fiscal year that starts in July.

The Board voted to table a decision on the funds until July 16^th, by which time the grant picture should become clearer. The Supervisors then went on to accept the resignation of Tonia Larsen, as Brighton Township Clerk, and appointing her as a Brighton Township Trustee. They approved also, the appointment of Kathleen Pace as Brighton Township Clerk, and, they approved the appointment Alice Williams as Victoria Township Trustee. The Board approved the appointment of David Williamson to the Cass County Eminent Domain Compensation Committee.

The Board however tabled accepting the resignation of Duane Ortgies as Victoria Trustee, effective April 16^th, because the paperwork had not been filed in-time. They will take action on his resignation during their next regular meeting.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports a Malvern man was arrested late Monday night. 41-year-old Jeffrey Dale Hankins, was charged with Domestic Abuse Assault, and False Imprisonment. Hankins was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail.