(Radio Iowa) — Final figures from the Iowa Association of Realtors show home sales in 2018 were pretty close to 2017. Association president, John Goede, says the sales numbers were steady with a slight increase in the average sale price. “The difference between listings, pendings, and closed sales from last year to this year is under one percent either way — which is phenomenal,” Goede says. The median sales price was 161-thousand dollars. Homes were on the market an average of 64 days –which Goede says is around 17-percent lower than last year. He says the time on the market is down to almost two months instead of three.

Goede says a continued tight supply is part of that drop in the time on the market. “Having the homes available and affordable is always the magician’s trick,” he says.  Buyers move quickly when a home becomes available. Goede says the only concern ahead is the potential impact of interest rates. “This rise from three-and-a-half percent to four-and-a-half percent for interest rates has caused some concern,” according to Goede. “We don’t know how that is going to work here. So far we haven’t seen that dampening affect of the higher interest rates make a difference yet — but that’s something to look for.”

The number of homes sold in 2018 was 41-thousand 387 — 368 less than in 2017.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press…

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Police in central Iowa have announced charges against four men in the 2017 shooting death of a 21-year-old man in his Ames apartment. Ames police say in a news release Friday that 24-year-old Albrea Winfrey, 25-year-old Jordan Bryant, 28-year-old Anthony English and 25-year-old Demario Woods, all of Des Moines, have been charged with first-degree murder in the November 2017 death of Xavier Shepley.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Labor Commissioner Michael Mauro says he will retire amid controversy, following a long career in public service. The announcement comes amid allegations that Mauro and top aides oversaw a hostile work environment and retaliated against whistleblowers. Mauro says he’ll retire April 1, with four years left in his second six-year term as commissioner following his 2011 appointment by Gov. Terry Branstad

LE MARS, Iowa (AP) — A man convicted of killing his sister in northwest Iowa has been sentenced to 50 years in prison. The Sioux City Journal reports that District Judge Jeffrey Neary handed down the sentence Friday in the case against 36-year-old Thomas Bibler. Neary presided over Bibler’s nonjury trial last month, finding Bibler guilty of second-degree murder in the June 11, 2016, stabbing death of 27-year-old Shannon Bogh, of Le Mars.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Former Iowa Sen. Jeff Danielson says he has taken a job as a regional state policy director for the American Wind Energy Association, a national trade group for the wind energy industry. Danielson, who unexpectedly resigned Feb. 14 after 15 years in the Senate, says in a statement released Friday he will work to help expand wind power in the organization’s 12-state central region. By state law, however, he is prohibited from lobbying Iowa lawmakers for two years.

DES MOINES – Iowa Governo Kim Reynolds, Friday, announced several additional cabinet appointments. Those cabinet secretaries will serve as important agents as Gov. Reynolds carries out her work to serve Iowans. Among the appointees, was Rod Roberts, who will serve as the next labor commissioner. Roberts previously served as the director of the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals for eight years.  He also served in the Iowa House of Representatives for 10 years.

A native Iowan, he was born in Waverly and raised in Zearing.  Roberts currently resides in Carroll. He will be replacing current labor commissioner Michael Mauro who is retiring. Roberts said “It’s an honor to be named Iowa’s labor commissioner and I appreciate Governor Reynolds’ confidence in my abilities. In this new role, my focus will be on ensuring Iowans are able to work in safe and healthy environments.”

Officials with Cass County Public Health say registrations are currently being accepted for the next session of “A Matter of Balance.” The award-winning program helps older adults learn to manage their concerns about falling, make changes to reduce the risk of falling, and increase their physical activity, flexibility, strength, and balance. Participants meet for two hours each week for eight weeks total, and the program is offered for free.

The upcoming session will be held from 1- to 3-pm on Wednesdays, beginning on March 13th. Registration is required as class size is limited. To register, or for more information, please contact Victoria Means at Cass County Public Health at 712-243-7543.

Police in Glenwood report two arrests took place late this past week. On Friday, 20-year old Hunter Green, of Glenwood, was arrested on a Mills County warrant. His cash or surety bond was set at $1,000. And, on Thursday, 30-year old Andrew West, of Malvern, was arrested for OWI/1st offense. His cash or surety bond was set at $1,000.

The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office, Friday, released a report on arrests and incidents for the week of Feb. 15th through the 22nd. Authorities say on Wednesday:

• Jacob Graham, of Des Moines, was arrested by the Iowa State Patrol following a traffic stop on HWY 141 east of Bayard for Driving While Barred. Graham was transported to the Guthrie County Jail and posted bond.
• Allan Miller, of Stuart, was arrested on a Guthrie County warrant for Operating While Intoxicated 1st Offense. Mr. Miller was transported to the Guthrie County Jail and posted bond.
• Rene Atkins, of Yale, was cited and released on a Driving While Revoked charge following a traffic stop in Yale.

And, on Monday, Patrick Beardsley, of Guthrie Center, turned himself into the Guthrie County Jail to serve a ten-day mittimus for probation violation.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Board of Medicine has selected a new executive director to replace the man who said he’d been forced out of the job. A news release on the board’s website says Kent Nebel been given the position. He’s been the board’s legal director for nearly 20 years and the interim executive director since July.

Nebel had taken over the duties of Mark Bowden, who announced his resignation July 30. Bowden had been placed on administrative leave for reasons that state officials would not publicly detail. He complained that he’d been forced out of the post and that his work had been hindered by “substantial deficiencies in service and a lack of adequate support” from the Department of Public Health and Department of Administrative Services.

The board licenses physicians and also has the authority to fine or suspend them for poor care or violating ethics rules.

(Radio Iowa) — Forecasters say Iowa will get another one-two punch from winter weather this weekend, with the potential for rain, sleet, snow, ice, blizzard conditions and even flooding. Meteorologist Chad Hahn, with the National Weather Service in metro Des Moines, says the first round tonight (Friday) won’t entail much snow, if any, though a layer of ice is threatened. “Expect freezing drizzle to develop across much of the state of Iowa later on this evening and overnight,” Hahn says. “Even some light glazing is possible across portions of the state overnight and that will continue into the morning hours on Saturday.”

Temperatures are predicted to warm up into the upper 30s tomorrow, changing the snow to rain and raising the chances of ice dams, ice jams and flooding. “We’ll have a break as we get into the day on Saturday where we actually transition much of the state into rain but it’ll be pretty short-lived because the colder air will filter in later on Saturday afternoon and especially overnight on Saturday night,” Hahn says. “We’re expecting significant accumulating snows across the central part of Iowa.”

The heaviest snow is forecast to fall roughly from the Omaha area to Fort Dodge to Mason City. That region may see six to eight inches of snow. As the storm front moves through Iowa, there’s the potential for blizzard conditions on Sunday. “Winds are going to increase significantly behind the low pressure area with wind gusts out of the northwest at 40 to 50 miles an hour,” Hahn says. “In areas that do see that snowfall, they can expect significant blowing and drifting as we work into Saturday night and during the day on Sunday.”

A series of winter weather advisories, watches and warnings are being posted through Sunday for wide sections of the state. Visit weather-dot-gov for details. In the long-ranger forecast, Hahn says we may see more snow Monday and Tuesday in what’s already one of the snowiest Iowa February’s on record.

(Radio Iowa) — The president of the National Association of Manufacturers made a few stops in Iowa Thursday as part of his nationwide tour. Jay Timmons says the purpose of the tour is to spread the word about the industry. “We spend a lot of time talking to young people and those who are trying to figure out what they want to do in terms of their career. And pointing to modern manufacturing facilities as exciting and rewarding.”

Jay Timmons

Timmons says one of the things they are trying to show is the way the industry has changed. “Folks think about manufacturing as what it was like in their parents day and their grandparents’ day. It’s very, very different form that now,” Timmons says. “Manufacturing is very technology driven, very clean, very sleek. You think about robotics, artificial intelligence, augmented reality. All of those processes now require a different skill set to operate them.”

He says all it takes is to show young people a working plant. “When you actually expose young people to a manufacturing facility today, you see their eyes light up and the get pretty excited about those possibilities,” he says. One thing Timmons says he tells young people is the pay scale in manufacturing. “So in Iowa for instance — the average manufacturing compensation….is 68-thousand dollars — that’s compared to 42-thousand dollars for the average job in other sectors of the economy,” according to Timmons.  He says they also explain how you can get a degree that doesn’t take four years and a lot of money to get that level of salary. “You don’t have to start our your career with 200-thousand dollars in college debt,” Timmons says, “we always think that’s a pretty good plus when you don’t have to deal with that for a number of years.”

The “State of Manufacturing Tour” made stops at Sukup Manufacturing in Sheffield, Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, SwineTech in Cedar Rapids, and The Kirkwood Regional Center at the University of Iowa in Coralville.