Iowans are being encouraged to take a free, hour-long course that will prepare them to respond in an emergency situation and help someone who is bleeding severely. Registered Nurse Kelly Hilsabeck, a trauma injury prevention coordinator at Gundersen Health, says the program called Stop The Bleed is designed for everyday people with no background in health care.

Studies find the average national EMS response time is between seven and ten minutes, so it’s vital to have people ready to jump in and help until professionals arrive.

Hilsabeck says the website StopTheBleed.org offers a “Find a Course” tool that will show how to locate the closest free class. The site also offers specialized first aid kits for your home, car and workplace.

Courses are being offered in Iowa this month in Fairfax and Sergeant Bluff, with more classes being added routinely. Gundersen Health System has clinics in Calmar, Decorah, Fayette, Lansing, Postville and Waukon, and a hospital in West Union.

(Corning, Iowa) – The Board of Supervisors of Adams County have announced their intention to fill a vacancy by appointment, of the office of the Adams County Auditor. The notice was posted on the County’s website following the resignation of current Auditor Rebecca Bissell, who has served in the role for more than a decade, and is stepping-down to pursue a new career opportunity.

Rebecca Bissell
Adams County Auditor (Official photo)

The position will become vacant, effective June 2nd. The appointment will be from June 2nd to the the next pending election, November 3rd, 2026 (barring any petition for a special election, which may be filed up to 14-days following notice of the appointment). Application information is available on the county website under the employment tab.

The Adams County Board of Supervisors accepted Bissell’s resignation during their most recent meeting. Bissell has served as county auditor since 2013, most recently being re-elected in 2024. She also served as the president of the Iowa State Association of County Auditors in 2024.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Officials with the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office have released information with regard to a fatal crash that occurred May 2nd, across the Cass/Pottawattamie County line, southwest of Griswold. Authorities said 19-year-old Makenzie Bates, of Atlantic, died in the accident that happened at around 9:30-p.m., in the area of 500th Street and Basswood Road.

According to a report, law enforcement and Griswold Fire/Rescue Department personnel responded to the scene and found two disabled vehicles and a woman, later identified as Bates, who had been struck by a vehicle. Bates died at the scene. Pottawattamie County Traffic Accident Investigators responded and looked into the crash.

Authorities say the exact cause of the accident and any potential criminal charges are still under investigation.

Celebration of Life services for Makenzie Bates are scheduled for 2-p.m. Saturday (May 10th), at the Griswold Central Church of Christ.

(Radio Iowa) – The state’s Catholic bishops are calling on the half a million Catholics in Iowa to pray for Pope Leo the 14th — the first American born pope. Bishop William Joensen (JOH-en-sen) of the Des Moines Catholic Diocese spoke with reporters a few hours after the new pope was elected.

Joensen was at St. Patrick’s Parish in Council Bluffs when the white smoke rose at the Vatican and Cardinal Robert Prevost was announced as the new pope.

Bishop William Joensen of the Des Moines Catholic Diocese speaking with reporters on May 8, 2025. (RI photo)

Joensen notes Pope Leo — who grew up in the Chicago area — used the word unity several times in his opening address.

In 2023, Pope Leo was put in charge of the Vatican office that evaluated the nominees for Catholic bishops around the world — and that includes the Catholic bishops Pope Francis appointed to lead the Davenport and Sioux City Dioceses.

Bishop John Keehner (KEEN-er) of the Sioux City Diocese says Pope Leo is “a holy man who will lead us with strong faith and humility.” Bishop Dennis Walsh of the Davenport Diocese says Pope Leo will face many challenges, as did his predecessors, and Walsh asked Catholics to join him in prayer and thanksgiving for the new pope.

(Radio Iowa) – Republicans in the Iowa House and Senate have agreed on a more than nine-point-four BILLION dollar state budget plan for the next fiscal year. House Appropriations Committee chairman Gary Mohr of Bettendorf is one of the negotiators.

The plan will require withdrawing about 900 MILLION dollars from state reserves because state tax revenue is dropping due to tax cuts.

Representative Gary Mohr (R-Bettendorf) is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. (official photo)

Mohr says using some of the state’s sizable surplus for the next couple of years was part of the plan when Republicans voted a year ago to cut the state income tax to three-point-eight percent.

Representative Brian Meyer of Des Moines — the next Democratic Leader in the House — says dipping into the state reserves to cover ongoing expenses is the wrong approach.

House Republicans successfully pushed to include money in the budget to boost pay for paraeducators and nursing home employees, but accepted an overall lower level of spending that was closer to the initial offer from Senate Republicans. Representative Mohr says the budget plan will pay for priorities with the dollars that are available.

Governor Reynolds says the deal puts taxpayers first and keeps the state of Iowa on a fiscally sustainable path. The Senate is scheduled to debate Friday, with three budget-related bills on the list.

DES MOINES – Drought conditions have improved across the state despite below-normal rainfall in April, according to the latest Water Summary Update.  The Iowa Department of Natural Resource’s says after a wetter-than normal March, April saw below-average precipitation across all regions of the state. However, recent spring rains have helped alleviate drought and abnormally dry conditions across Iowa. April’s average statewide precipitation was 3.33 inches, or 0.34 inches below normal.

The state also experienced warmer weather, with statewide temperatures averaging 50 degrees, or 1.4 degrees warmer than normal. At the end of April, Iowa’s Drought Plan dry conditions improved or remained the same in all drought regions except the southeast, which only degraded slightly. A drought watch issued in March for the northeast region has been removed as severe drought has significantly decreased. Conditions remain stable in the other drought regions, with the entire state carrying a normal drought designation.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), just over half of Iowa continues to experience abnormally dry conditions or drought conditions. The May precipitation outlook from the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center indicates a chance of below-average precipitation across the northeast and eastern half of the state, and an equal chance for above, below, or near-average precipitation for the rest of the state. Reduced rainfall in May could raise concerns about deteriorating conditions.

Iowa DNR Environmental Specialist Jessica Reese McIntyre says “Drought and dry conditions improved across the state due to spring rain in March and April, but most notably in northeast, west, and central Iowa. The drought watch issued in March for northeast Iowa has been removed. The National Weather Service precipitation outlooks predict an equal chance for the entire state for above, below, or normal precipitation for much of the state through July.”

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Natural Resource Commission today (Thursday) approved the state’s purchase of a former Boy Scout camp that covers nearly 18-hundred acres in the Loess Hills of western Iowa. D-N-Rs Land and Water Bureau Chief Travis Baker, spoke before the vote.

The D-N-R is purchasing the property from the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation for five-point-one million dollars, three million less than the appraised value.

The D-N-R says the land acquisition will protect one of the largest contiguous regions of forest in western Iowa and result in more than 100 miles of connected public hiking trails. The former Little Sioux Scout Ranch is at the heart of the property with a 20-acre lake. Four Boy Scouts died when a tornado hit the camp in 2003. A memorial to those scouts will remain.

Baker says the D-N-R will close on the property this summer and it will be open to the public this fall. The purchase is funded by a four-point-six-five million dollars U-S-D-A Forest Legacy Grant and 500-thousand from the REAP Open Spaces funding.

(Radio Iowa) – Democrats in the Iowa House have selected a lawmaker from Des Moines as their next minority leader. Once the 2025 legislative session ends, State Representative Brian Meyer will replace House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst, who is running for congress. Meyer says House Democrats will have a different conversation with voters over the next couple of years.

Meyer says this weekend he’ll start traveling the state to recruit Democrats to run for seats in the Iowa House.

Rep. Brian Meyer (D-Des Moines) is House Minority Leader-elect (official photo)

Meyer said…

Meyer, who is 51, is a former member of the Iowa National Guard, a former Des Moines City Councilman and a former assistant Iowa attorney general.

(Radio Iowa) – Des Moines police have made an arrest in an armed home invasion case which contains a lesson for all Iowans about posting photos on the internet. Police were called to Des Moines’ Oak Park neighborhood where a family reported four people burst into their home, one of them carrying a gun, and they were robbed of $60,000 in cash.

Detectives later learned a teenager in the home had posted images of the cash on a social media platform before the robbery. Officers served a search warrant on Wednesday and recovered a substantial amount of cash and charged 18-year-old Mohamed Abukar with robbery.

The search warrant was served on Wednesday, leading to an arrest. (DMPD photo)

More arrests are pending. Police say having cash on hand may be helpful, but it also means risks — like fire and theft — which may not be covered by insurance.

(Radio Iowa) – A Vietnam-era military jet flew over Sioux City for the first time in years with the help of two Iowa National Guard Chinook helicopters. The A-7 Corsair jet was moved Wednesday from the old Martin’s Airfield to the 185th Air National Guard base, where it will be restored and then be on permanent display at the Siouxland Freedom Park. Park board member Marty Hogan says they are excited to see the project happen.

A-7 jet getting prepped for flight to 185th Air Guard base. (KSCJ photo)

He says they had to get ownership of the jet and then figure out how to get it moved and refurbished.

Two Army National Guard Chinooks from Boone carried the plane from the airfield where it had been for the last 22 years to the 18th Airbase. This A-7 was used for training pilots at the 185th and was never flown in combat. The repainting is expected to take two or three months to complete.