(Radio Iowa) – The mandatory retirement age for all judges in Iowa will soon change. Under current law, judges in Iowa have to retire in the year they turn 72. A state law that goes into effect July 1st raises the mandatory retirement age to 78 and it applies to Iowa Supreme Court justices and judges on the Iowa Court of Appeals as well as all district court judges and magistrates. The change cleared the Iowa House and Senate without debate this spring. Once Iowa’s new mandatory retirement age for judges goes into effect this summer, only one other state will have a higher retirement age for judges. Judges in Vermont have to retire sometime during the year they turn 90.

A mandatory retirement age for Iowa judges was first established in 1965. The president makes lifetime appointments to judges in federal courts and there is no retirement age enforced in 15 states.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors, today (Tuesday), held a public hearing on proposed amendments to the County’s Wind Energy Conversion System Ordinance (WECS) amendments, pertaining to wind turbines. The current Ordinance was established in 2007. The county has previously extended a moratorium on commercial wind energy conversion systems.

Barb Allen, a member of the County’s Planning and Zoning Commission today (Tuesday), said the commission met in April and held a public hearing at that time to gain input before coming up with updates to the Ordinance. The Commission, she said, addressed several concerns in creating the revised Ordinance. Including proximity to a Wind Energy Conversion System.

The Commission ultimately recommended the Supervisors adopt the amended ordinance as proposed.

Montgomery County BOS 5-27-25

Montgomery County Auditor Jill Ozuna read several letters, ranging from those who didn’t clearly specify their stance on the ordinance,and those who were in favor of the ordinance. The Board then received numerous spoken comments from the public. After considering all of the comments, written and spoken, Supervisor Mike Olsen read a summary of the amended ordinance as proposed. Here’s a portion of the summary…

During Board discussion, Olsen said he has a problem infringing on property owners’ rights, and the potential loss of revenue due to “walking away” from the chance to erect new turbines.

A roll-call vote showed all Supervisors voting to approve the 1st reading of the ordinance. After a motion to waive the second and third reading was proposed and passed, the Ordinance was adopted as proposed. The Board also approved FY 25/26 Library Contracts for financial support, as presented. The Board also approved FY 25/26 Library Contracts for financial support, as presented. In other business, Jill Ozuna announced the Montgomery County VA Commission will resume a search for its new director, after the previously approved Director Bret Sherkenbach declined the appointment after the Supervisor’s earlier meeting.

(Radio Iowa) – Reports say at least 14 Ukrainian civilians were killed, dozens hurt, in aerial assaults by Russian rockets and drones over the weekend, prompting Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley to tweet on Monday: “I’ve had enuf of Putin killing innocent ppl (people).” Grassley also used X to call for President Trump to “take action,” including, in all caps, “AT LEAST SANCTIONS.” In this (Tuesday) morning’s conference call with Iowa reporters, Grassley expanded on his frustrations with the Ukraine war and the Russian leader. “It’s time President Trump makes clear to Putin that his friendship is exhausted,” Grassley says. “Putin’s going to keep on killing and America is looking like Russia is playing us for a sap.”

Grassley says the efforts to launch peace negotiations have proven fruitless and a practical solution to end the violence is long overdue. “It’s got to end and it will only end when we take the strong action that should have been taken months ago when Putin was playing around with these negotiations,” Grassley says. “Let him know that the United States, and particularly President Trump, has had enough of being fooled by Putin.”

Grassley, a Republican, says the United States’ next move needs to be firm sanctions on Russia. “I just read yesterday in a report that somehow it wouldn’t affect what they call secondary banking,” Grassley says, “and if secondary banking would be the real pincher on Putin, it ought to include secondary banking.” Those types of sanctions would be on financial institutions that do business with Russia but that aren’t located in Russia.

President Trump said on Truth Social that Putin “has gone absolutely CRAZY!” with regards to the weekend drone attacks. Trump also scolded Ukrainian President Zelensky, saying, “Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop.”

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Sheriff’s Office has provided (some) additional information with regard to Saturday’s fatal accident southeast of Marne. Authorities say “On Saturday, May 24th at approximately 12:58-p.m., the Cass County Sheriff’s Office responded to a single vehicle rollover on Highway 83 and Fayette Road. Upon arrival officers identified the driver as 33-year old Lucas Nelson, of Marne. Nelson was ejected from the vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Marne Fire and Rescue, Cass EMS, and the Atlantic Police Department assisted with the accident.”

(Atlantic, Iowa) –  The Atlantic Community School District’s Board of Education will hold Work and Exempt sessions Wednesday evening. Both sessions will be held 6:30-p.m. in the Conference Room at the Achievement Center on SW 7th Street.

The Work Session will feature a presentation from and discussion with District Architectural Firm SVPA. During the Board’s work session in late March, SVPA officials said discussions with school officials included making Washington Elementary fit the space needs of students as a top priority for the district with regard to a master plan for the district buildings. They said that could mean adding an addition onto building to the west and/or renovating parts of the current building. Any project with renovation of or addition to Washington Elementary carries an estimated price tag of $15-to 20 million dollars.

Another identified priority was the addition of a field house near the high school. That also carries an estimated cost of $15-to 20 million, with a smaller option costing between being $12-and $15- million.

In other business, the Atlantic School Board, Wednesday, will hold an Exempt Session for the purpose of staff salary Negotiations.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater reports a man from Stuart was cited for Driving While Barred, May 18th. 47-year-old James Wade Black was cited by Stuart Police at the AmericInn in Stuart. He was released from the scene of his traffic stop with his citation.

And, as previously mentioned, on May 20th, 42-year-old Margaret Nicole Siegwarth, of Greenfield, was arrested in Greenfield on two Union County warrants charging her with Accessory after the fact (an Aggravated Misdemeanor)/False information for Citation (which carries a $3,000 bond), and, Interference with Official Acts (a $300,000 bond).

She was transported to Union County, posted bond on the 22nd, and was released from the Union County Jail. Her preliminary hearing is set for May 30th.

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department reports five arrests took place over the Memorial Day weekend:

33-year-old Howard Jay Davis, of Creston, was arrested Monday (May 26) in the 300 block of S. Vine Street. Davis was taken into custody on a Union County warrant for Violation of Probation. He was being held without bond in the Union County Jail.

Monday night (May 26), Nathan Lee Novatny, of Creston, was arrested in the 900 block of N. Sumner Avenue, for Interference with Official Acts, and Driving While Suspended. He later posted a $600 bond and was released from the Union County Jail.

On Saturday (May 24), Creston Police arrested: 36-year-old Rikki Le Klos, of Afton, Saturday evening, for Possession of a Controlled Substance 1st Offense- Marijuana, and on two counts PCS/1st Offense. She was later released on a $3,000 bond; And, 30-year-old Samantha Jo Little, of Creston, was arrested Saturday night, for OWI/2nd offense, Public Intoxication/1st offense, and on three-counts of Child Endangerment with Substantial Risk. Little was later released on an $8,300 bond.

Friday afternoon, Creston Police arrested 46-year-old Lela Ann Churchill, of Creston, for OWI/1st offense, and Interference with Official Acts. She was later released on a $1,300 bond.

(Iowa Capital Dispatch) – A little-known, not-taught facet of the nursing profession is the art of the workaround, Allison Hurt said — taking something that isn’t working in the situation and making it fit for whatever the patient or fellow staff members need. When she started working in the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics burn unit, Hurt said one workaround was cutting gauze and dressings to better fit the burned area of a patient’s body. Later, when she transferred to the medical intensive care unit that later became the COVID-19 unit at the start of the pandemic, workarounds involved using long lines of IV tubing to have machinery and equipment outside of a patient’s room, allowing nurses to administer medicine and check information while saving important personal protection equipment. “I didn’t realize I was innovating when I was doing it,” Hurt said.

In her current role as a Nurse Innovator Liaison for the UI Office of Innovation, Hurt helps other nurses identify challenges, recognize the innovations they’ve been making without realizing it and look ahead to how they can help others with their ideas. The University of Iowa’s Iowa Nurse Innovators Program connects nurses to the resources and expertise they need to turn workarounds into specially crafted, even marketable, solutions. With early successes from UIHC nurses currently getting off the ground, the program is working to reach health care professionals across the state.

UI Chief Innovation Officer Jon Darsee, who oversees and helped launch the program in fall 2022, said there are many programs aimed at helping faculty or physicians develop their ideas into products or services, but nothing geared specifically toward nurses. With his background in medical technology, Darsee said he learned early on to listen to nurses and their needs. May is National Nurses Month. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, this is a “time to honor and celebrate the incredible work of nurses.”

The UI Office of Innovation celebrated the month by sharing information about the nurse innovation program and stories of nurses seeing success from their product development. Since the project’s launch, 1,300 nurses have engaged with the nurse innovation program, according to a newsletter from the UI Office of Innovation. There are 38 active projects in the program, eight of which came from nurses outside of the UI system, and several patent disclosures have been filed. There are four products currently being used by nurses. A requirement of a donation from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City was that the innovation program expand beyond the UI and offer opportunities to nurses across the state, which Darsee said was a brilliant idea that hadn’t come to him yet. “Contributing to the health and happiness of nurses in rural Iowa environments is one way this program can influence patient safety and ultimately the quality care on a local level,” Darsee said.

From left, Anna Young, Allison Hurt and Courtney Smith celebrate Smith’s graduation from the UI Nurse Innovator Program. Smith has developed a clamp to get cords and wires off of the operating room floor. (Photo courtesy of the University of Iowa Office of Innovation)

Each of the products designed by nurses have come from challenges they’ve faced in their profession or see others struggling with in the health care system. They’ve developed their own ways of dealing with these issues in the day-to-day, using “workarounds” as Hurt described them. Nurses commit to around 27 workarounds per 12-hour shift, Hurt said, and program staff learn about them by visiting different hospital units personally to speak with staff. “We’ve discovered that the way that works best is having nurses identify their challenges where they’re happening,” Hurt said. “It’s obviously kind of fresh in their mind — in-the-moment frustration is really kind of what we’re going for.”

Once a nurse has identified a challenge, Hurt said the program and its partner, prototyping company MakerHealth, work with the nurse on their schedule to further discussions about the problem, how they’ve tried to solve it in the past and what solution they’re hoping to develop. It was on one of these visits when Courtney Smith learned about the program. The nurse innovator team had brought their “innovation station” to a nurse staff council committee meeting and asked if anyone knew about innovation projects, which Smith had previous experience with at a different job.

For nurses just starting out on their idea, Hurt said the program provides them with a kit full of materials to design and craft a low-fidelity, or rough draft, version of their product. After figuring out what works and what doesn’t, the nurse has more discussions with the team before trying out new materials and designs, until they have a functional prototype. All of this is at no cost to the nurse.

Read more HERE.

(Iowa Capital Dispatch)  – A Jefferson County paramedic who was fired after testing positive for drug use is entitled to unemployment benefits, a judge has ruled. State records indicate Jesse Husmann began working for Jefferson County as a full-time paramedic in October 2023. On Feb. 17, 2025, a hospital emergency room nurse allegedly reported to Ambulance Service Director Josh Hemminger that Husmann’s behavior that day was unusual. Hemminger then spoke to one of Husmann’s co-workers about her behavior, and the co-worker allegedly reported Husmann seemed confused and didn’t know where certain things were located in the emergency room even though she frequently worked there, according to the records. The co-worker also is alleged to have reported that Husmann didn’t know how to get to the hospital, couldn’t sit still and had walked into a wall.

Hemminger then spoke with Husmann and allegedly observed that she could not sit still, and asked that she submit to drug test, the records show. Husmann agreed to do so and was allowed to drive herself to the testing site and then return to work. The next day, she was placed on paid administrative leave until the test results were produced. On March 5, the lab allegedly faxed Hemminger the test results showing Husmann had tested positive for marijuana and amphetamines and that Husmann had not provided any information to explain the results. Husmann allegedly told Hemminger she was using marijuana to address a non-work injury and that she was taking a prescription medicine that would show up as amphetamines on a drug test, state records show. Husmann was immediately fired. She later applied for unemployment benefits, which led to a hearing before Administrative Law Judge Daniel Zeno.

Zeno recently ruled in Husmann’s favor and awarded her unemployment benefits, noting that Jefferson County “did not notify Ms. Husmann of the test results by certified mail return receipt” before firing her. As a result, Zeno found, the county could not use the results of the drug test as a basis for challenging her application for jobless benefits.

(Radio Iowa)- Motorcycles make up just four-percent of all registered vehicles in Iowa, but the Iowa D-O-T says motorcycle fatalities last year accounted for nearly 18-percent of the state’s total traffic deaths. Kelly Hilsabeck, the trauma injury prevention coordinator at Emplify Health by Gundersen, says the warmer weather brings out droves of motorcycles, and she implores motorists to “look twice.” “Because motorcycles are smaller, they just aren’t as visible, so other motorists on the road need to be aware of that and especially when turning or changing lanes,” Hilsabeck says. “You do a quick glance over your shoulder, do it again. Sometimes that motorcycle being smaller is in a blind spot, so just giving a second look can help avoid a collision.”

For drivers who find themselves following a motorcycle in traffic, Hilsabeck urges you to back off and give them plenty of room. “Motorists really just need to stay a safe distance back if they find themselves driving behind a motorcycle,” she says. “Motorcyclists use certain things like downshifting, where you’re not going to necessarily see a brake light, so that’s really important for motorists to understand.” According to D-O-T data from the past several years, 74-percent of the motorcyclists killed in Iowa were not wearing helmets. The national average is 38-percent. Iowa is one of three states in the country with no helmet laws, along with Illinois and New Hampshire.

“Motorcyclists can do tons of things to keep themselves safe,” Hilsabeck says, “but I would say helmets are the number-one thing that’s really going to reduce a chance of severe injury or even death.” Other things motorcyclists can do to protect themselves include: keeping your headlight on all the time to increase visibility, wearing some form of eye protection, and wearing bright-colored clothing. She adds, “It also means for your clothing, just having a jacket and pants to cover all those skin surfaces to protect from abrasion in the event of a crash.” The D-O-T says 63 motorcyclists were killed on Iowa’s roads last year, with five motorcycle deaths reported statewide so far this year.

Emplify Health by Gundersen has clinics in Calmar, Decorah, Fayette, Lansing, Postville and Waukon, and a hospital in West Union.