(An article from the Iowa Capital Dispatch) – According to the release, the UI is starting this work “from a position of financial health” so it can strengthen its current success amid increasing financial uncertainties, decreasing trust in higher education and a looming demographic cliff. “At Iowa, we have an opportunity to lead by being proactive rather than reactive,” said UI Executive Vice President and Provost Kevin Kregel in the release. “Instead of waiting for challenges to dictate our choices, we are creating structures and strategies that position us for continued success.”

(Photo by Brooklyn Draisey/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Close to 100 UI employees, including faculty, staff and leadership, are being placed into teams with the goals of either developing plans for increasing revenue or identifying administrative efficiencies, the release stated. Each team will focus on a different aspect of campus and university functions, according to the reSPARC website, ranging from academics to financial operations, student enrollment and retention, philanthropy, information technology and more. Teams will bring their ideas to initiative leaders before moving to the university president and provost, who have the final say on if and how plans will be implemented.

The website stated there is are no plans for budget cuts or layoffs included in the reSPARC initiative, as it is being implemented as a proactive plan rather than a response to budget problems.

UI President Barbara Wilson said in the release that collaboration is a strength of the UI community, and this new initiative will allow people across more than 30 departments to generate ideas together to ensure a strong present and thriving future. “Our goal is to create a pipeline of actionable, well-vetted ideas that will have a real impact,” Wilson said in the release. “This is not about quick fixes—it’s about building a foundation for sustained growth and excellence.”

(Des Moines, Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reports the first West Nile virus (WNV) infection identified in 2025. The individual is a middle-aged adult (41-60 years) from northern Iowa and the infection was confirmed through a test at the State Hygienic Lab.

Warm summer weather means Iowans are spending more time outside which increases the risk of mosquito bites. Bites from infected mosquitos are the primary method in which humans are infected with the virus. Mosquitoes across Iowa are testing positive for WNV, signaling risk statewide.

For the best protection against the virus, Iowans should use an insect repellant with DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus, para-menthane-diol, 2-undecanone, or IR3535. Insect repellent lowers the risk of mosquito bites.

• Always read and follow label directions. Consult with a health care provider if you have questions when using these types of products on children.

• Oil of lemon eucalyptus and para-menthane-diol should not be used on children younger than 3 years, and DEET should not be used on infants younger than 2 months.

• If you are also using sunscreen, apply sunscreen first and insect repellent second.

“We want Iowans to enjoy the outdoors, but also to protect themselves from mosquito bites, which can spread illnesses like West Nile Virus,” said Dr. Robert Kruse, Iowa’s State Medical Director. “To stay safe, we recommend using bug spray and make sure your windows in your home have screens.”

Additional steps Iowans can take to protect themselves include:

• Wear long-sleeved shirts, pants, shoes, and socks outdoors when possible.

• Look for standing water in buckets, cans, pool covers, used tires, pet water dishes, and other areas water may collect.

• Clear standing water from around your home where mosquitos reproduce.

Iowans infected with WNV may not experience any signs or symptoms of the virus. Some people experience minor symptoms like fever and mild headache. Others, however, can develop serious symptoms such as a high fever, headache, disorientation, and muscle weakness.

People who experience mild signs and symptoms of a WNV infection generally recover on their own, but illness that includes a severe headache, disorientation, or sudden weakness require immediate medical attention.

In 2024, 21 Iowans were diagnosed with West Nile virus, with one death.

For more information, visit the West Nile Virus page.

(Radio Iowa) – Many Iowa schools start classes in less than two weeks and what used to be a fall rite of passage — getting kids updated on their shots — is happening less frequently, and is more often the subject of debate. Natoshia Askelson, a professor in the University of Iowa College of Public Health, says the topic of vaccination has become embroiled in partisan politics and misinformation, while new legislation makes it easier for families to skirt requirements.

“In the state of Iowa, we have a religious exemption which is very interesting because there are actually no religions that don’t believe in the power of vaccines,” Askelson says. “This exemption, you can now get without having to have your signature notarized, so it’s really become an exemption of convenience.”

Prof. Natoshia Askelson (UI photo)

Some 3.6% of Iowa children are using that religious exemption now, according to Askelson, which equates to 19,000 unvaccinated students in schools statewide.

The UI recommends all incoming students be vaccinated against a host of ailments. “Meningitis is something that we worry about. We’ve had a meningitis outbreak on our campus before,” Askelson says. “We also want to be thinking about things like the HPV vaccine that maybe they didn’t get because it wasn’t required for school, but it’s going to prevent them from getting six different types of cancer as they grow older.”

She also recommends students be up-to-date on the Tdap shot, for tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis, as well as MMR, for measles, mumps and rubella.

The cause and effect should be simple to understand, Askelson says, stressing that vaccines protect children from short-term and long-term health issues. “That’s really going to insure that kids are going to be healthy. They’re going to make it through four years of college. They’re going to launch into adulthood fully protected,” Askelson says, “and you’re not going to have to come to the University of Iowa and sit beside your child while they’re in the hospital, or bring them back home because they’ve been quarantined because they’re unvaccinated against measles and we have a measles outbreak.”

It’s important for all students — from elementary to high school to college — to get vaccinated, she says, and advises families to contact their healthcare provider to get up to date to protect themselves. “From the top down, we need strong leadership who supports evidence-based science, who understands the difference between hoaxes and people trying to take advantage of vulnerable populations,” Askelson says. “We need everyone to be on board with how science is doing the best it can to keep us safe.”

She says her biggest vax-related fear is a measles outbreak that forces widespread quarantines. Measles can cause serious illness, and in rare cases, death.

(Radio Iowa) – Deere and Company’s worldwide sales fell nine percent during the last three months. Josh Beal, director of Investor Relations for Deere, says an evolving global trade environment and ever-changing interest rate expectations are causing customers to be cautious about big-ticket purchases. Deere C-E-O John May says the company is able to manage its inventory to help production match retail demand.

Nearly two-thousand Deere workers at Iowa plants have been laid of since June of 2024 and the company has cut its North American inventory of large tractors by 45 percent and its combine inventory is down 25 percent.

Deere executives say the company paid 200 MILLION dollars in tariffs over the past three months and expects to pay 600 MILLION during its current fiscal year, which ends October 31st.

DES MOINES, Iowa – The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports a Honduran citizen was sentenced on August 8, 2025, to 18 months in federal prison for illegally returning to the United States after being deported.

According to public court documents, Mario Fernando Padilla Barahona, 28, had previously been deported from the United States once in 2020. In September 2024, law enforcement encountered Padilla Barahona when he was arrested for operating while intoxicated after he drove on the wrong side of the road, lost control of his vehicle, and crashed into a utility pole. Prior to his 2020 removal, Padilla Barahona was convicted of online solicitation of a minor in the Texas District Court for Montgomery County.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Padilla Barahona will be required to serve a two-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations.

DES MOINES, IA — Representatives Zach Nunn (IA-03) and Emanuel Cleaver (MO-05), today (Thursday), introduced the bipartisan Rural Housing Service Reform Act to preserve affordable housing, improve program oversight, and expand access to safe homes for families, seniors, and workers across rural Iowa. In a news release, Rep. Nunn said “More and more Iowans are watching the dream of homeownership slip out of reach. Too many programs meant to help are outdated, buried in red tape, and no longer work for the families they were created to serve. This bipartisan bill cuts through that bureaucracy to protect affordable housing, speed up repairs, and modernize USDA’s tools—so rural families, seniors, and workers can build their future right here in Iowa.”

More than 40 percent of Iowans spend over a third of their income on rent, while rural communities face worsening shortages as aging USDA-financed properties leave the program when mortgages mature. Outdated USDA systems, slow processing times, and limited oversight have only compounded these challenges—leaving families with fewer options and raising the risk of displacement.  Lance Henning Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity CEO said in the news release, “A safe, stable home is the foundation of a good life, but far too many of our neighbors are priced out of homeownership. The affordable housing crisis confronting our nation is felt in our small towns as much as it is in any big city. All efforts that help make homeownership more accessible are a step in the right direction.”

Key provisions of the Rural Housing Service Reform Act include:

• The creation of a permanent program to preserve USDA-financed affordable rental housing by enabling nonprofits to acquire properties and keep rental assistance after loans mature
• Modernize USDA technology and staffing to speed up applications, improve oversight, and prevent fraud in the system
• Expand home repair grants and financing to help rural families maintain and grow their homes
• Support rural childcare by allowing loan guarantees for homes with in-home daycare facilities
• Require annual reporting and Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits to ensure transparency and protect taxpayer investments

The Senate version of the Rural Housing Service Reform Act, led by Senators Tina Smith (D-MN) and Mike Rounds (R-SD), recently advanced through the Senate Banking Committee as part of a broader housing package. The overall package is sponsored by Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).

Text of the bill can be found here.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s attorney general has joined three dozen other attorneys general in calling for Instagram to make changes in a new feature that shows where people are when they’re using the app. Instagram’s new location-sharing service shows a users precise location on a map.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird says that poses unacceptable and serious risks for children and the victims of stalking and domestic violence who should be able to use Instagram without putting their lives in jeopardy.

Bird and the other attorneys general are asking Meta, the parent company of Instagram, to create an easy way to disable the feature and to ensure it not used on the Instagram accounts of minors. The group says Meta should disclose how it intends to use the data is collects from seeing where people are when they use Instagram.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s numbers are out for July and Iowa Workforce Development director Beth Townsend says things held steady.  “Unemployment remained at three-point-seven percent (3.7%) and our labor force participation also remained the same in July at 67-point four percent (67.4%),” she says. Townsend says there are positives when you look deeper into the numbers. “This was the first month we hadn’t seen an increase in unemployment for a few months, so that was a good sign. We added 18-hundred Iowans to the workforce, another good sign. Not enough to move the needle in terms of the labor force participation rate, but it’s still a good sign to be adding more workers,” Townsend says.

Townsend says there were 11-thousand more people working this July compared to one year ago. “We’ve had some layoffs in the last 12 months, and so the fact that we still have 11-thousand more Iowans with jobs is a good indication that we’re able to absorb and recover from those layoffs,” she says. Manufacturing has been one of the sectors taking loses, but Townsend says there was better news there in July. “We saw an increase in manufacturing jobs in both durable and non-durable goods in July of 600, and that’s the first month that we’ve seen an increase in manufacturing since March,” she says.

Unemployment had gone up one-tenth of a percent in March, April, May and June. The national unemployment rate increased to four-point-two percent in July.

(Radio Iowa) – Every stall in the Horse Barn at this year’s Iowa State Fair has been occupied — and Clydesdale and Percheron draft horses have arrived as their National Shows get underway today (Thursday). Noah Levy is the Horse Barn Superintendent, which means he’s in charge of the two-acre, 12-aisle barn. “It’s about as big as we can get,” Levy says. “It’s about as many horses as we can put in the barn.” Levy started volunteering in the barn in 2017 to help out a friend — and this is his third year as superintendent. “You know, you want friends with boats, you may not want to own your own boat. I do this so I don’t have to own horses,” Levy says. “For me, it’s about the people and the horses are a bonus.” The Horse Barn is a MOSTLY tranquil place.

“The noise you’re going to hear is when one of them is hungry and has decided, even though it’s not technically meal time for them, they want it now and they’ll start banging on the stalls,” Levy said, “and especially with our drafts and you’ve got 2000 pound horses, their banging on the stalls sounds like thunder in this barn.” After the July deadline for entries in this year’s horse shows, there was a wait list. “When they enter for these classes, it’s difficult for us to know how many stalls they’re going to need versus what we had because we run a bunch of different breed shows and they overlap in the barn,” Levy says. “It’s not as simple as, ‘Oh, we’ve got 500 stalls in this barn. Once you sell out 500, you close it.” Levy says the wait list was eliminated, though, by laying out the puzzle pieces differently.

Horse Barn on the Iowa State Fairgounds

“A lot of credit for that goes to the team working on it and also our exhibitors themselves,” Levy says. “We called many of them and asked them: ‘What is the minimum number of stalls you need in order to show at the Iowa State Fair?’ And a lot of our long time exhibitors really came to the plate for us, gave back stalls, so that we could get exhibitors off the wait list so that everybody could get in and we cleared that wait list just a few days, I would say, less than a week before the Fair started.” Levy says all the horse shows are getting more popular based on the number of exhibitors — and the number spectators. There have been standing-room-only crowds for some of this year’s shows.

“If you’re popping in, especially to one of our evening shows with a six-horse hitch running in the ring, you’re generally hooked,” Levy said, “and your generally coming back and you’re bringing more friends with you.” The show ring in the Jacobsen Building on the Fairgrounds opened in 2010. Two years ago, state fair officials ended ticket sales for the Horse Shows and entry is now free. As soon as this year’s Fair is over, phase two of Horse Barn renovations will start. “New stalls on new flooring, new ventilation — that’s a big draw for some exhibitors,” Levy says. “These old barns are wonderful and historic and they’re really cool to walk through, but given their age they’re maybe not as nice to show in anymore, but the Fair has really stepped up and we’re looking at a very expensive renovation of this barn that should be completed before the Fair next year.”

Phase one of the project focused the outside of the building was completed before this year’s Fair. The Horse Barn was built in 1907, with additions in 1909, 1912 and 1929.

(Radio Iowa) – Dozens of Iowa school districts will be starting classes soon without a full roster of full-time teachers and staff. This (Thursday) morning, the state’s “Teach Iowa” website shows public and private K-12 schools have nearly 38-hundred openings for all sorts of positions — coaches, cooks AND teachers. Professor Mark McDermott, associate dean of the University of Iowa’s College of Education, says it’s difficult to generalize and say the state is experiencing a “significant” teacher shortage. McDermott says, “Anytime that there’s a school district that is in need of hiring a particular teacher and hasn’t been able to fill a particular position, for that school and that school district, that is a teacher shortage.”

Iowa has more than half-a-million students enrolled in nearly 330 public districts and over 180 private schools. McDermott says administrators routinely contact him as fall approaches, checking to see if any recent U-I graduates are available to fill teaching positions. “Our job is to try to develop and create not only teachers that will get licensed, but teachers that will be retained in the field,” McDermott says. “We don’t know exactly where our students are going to go and where they’re going to end up teaching, but by doing that, we’re doing our part to help figure out ways to provide quality teachers for all students.”

While elementary school teachers are typically in the most plentiful supply, McDermott says there’s demand for teachers at all grade levels. “Right now, districts are really in need of some special ed teachers,” McDermott says. “Physics teachers are always challenging to find. A lot of school districts are looking for English Language Learner teachers, the ELL-endorsed teachers.” Every school district will handle its teacher shortage differently. McDermott says some will simply not be able to offer all of the courses they’d planned to offer this fall. “Some school districts are looking towards online programs to try to offer opportunities for their students, even if they’re not able to hire a teacher specifically for that area,” McDermott says. “Back when I was teaching high school, one of the things that would happen would be class sizes would increase.”

State education officials say there are more educators in Iowa classrooms today than ever before, with a 10 percent increase in the total number of teachers in the past 12 years.

https://iowa.schoolspring.com/