(Radio Iowa) – Board of Regents president Sherry Bates talked about the proposed tuition increase during their meeting today (Thursday). “Setting tuition rates is one of the most important things the board does. I have served on the board for a decade, and we have always been thoughtful and deliberative when considering tuition rates,” She says. “Our board feels strongly that we must continue to do this, weighing the cost to our students and their families, but while also being cognizant of the need to provide the universities the resources they need to continue to provide a first-class education.”

The comments by Bates come as a bill is on the way to the governor that would set an April 30th deadline for a tuition rate decision from the Regents. The group normally votes on tuition increases at its June meeting.

The bill also calls for a study of a fixed tuition rate, so the rate charged in a student’s first year at one of the state universities would be the same rate they’d pay in the next three years. Regent Bates announced today that she is appointing a two-person study group on tuition. “To research the merits of a tuition guarantee program, whereby resident students who enroll as freshmen at a Regent University would not see a tuition increase during their subsequent years, the results of this study should be reported to the board no later than the November 2025 meeting,” she says.

The proposal would raise resident tuition by 3% at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University, and 2.7% at UNI. The Regents will vote on this year’s tuition proposal at their June meeting, along with an increase in mandatory fees by three percent at the UI, 2.7% at UNI, and 1.7% at ISU.

Bates also says the Board will continue to work to find efficiencies in the operation of the universities. “I am asking the universities to redouble their efficiency efforts so that we can find additional savings and reallocations, much like the governor’s DOGE task force is trying to accomplish,” Bates says.

The Regents raised the tuition each of the last two years after the Iowa Legislature approved less funding than they had requested. The Board also approved salary increases for the three university presidents and the executive director of the Board of Regents, each of the past two years, after approving the tuition increases.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill that backers say will strengthen Iowa’s anti-human trafficking law has cleared the House and Senate unanimously. The bill ensures people can be charged with human trafficking in state court if they are caught by an undercover officer who’s posing as a potential victim or as someone in a human trafficking network. Representative Mark Thompson of Clarion led House debate of the bill.

“We’re trying to, again, give more tools to our investigators and our prosecutors,” Thompson said. Under current Iowa law, there must be an ongoing relationship with a victim for someone to be charged with human trafficking.

Representative Brian Lohse of Bondurant says the bill changes that as well, to cover what are considered “spontaneous” relationships. “Making the attempt to traffic them will be sufficient to make them a victim,” he said, “even if somehow they escape.”

The bill passed the House unanimously a month ago and Senators approved it on a 48-to-zero vote yesterday (Wednesday). The Iowa County Attorneys Association, the Iowa Organization for Victim Assistance and the Network Against Human Trafficking are all registered in support of the bill.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department Advisory Commission Chair Kevin Ferguson has announced a new monthly family game, will celebrating Atlantic’s parks. The game is themed “Parks, Picnics, and Post.”

Ferguson said the promotion kicks-off in May, with the Atlantic Dog Park near the Schildberg Recreation area.

Different parks will be highlighted each month.

The community is invited to explore the featured park, take a photo of their group or family enjoying their time there, and submit it to the Atlantic Parks and Recreation Facebook Page for a public vote on the favorite picture. Again, your first assignment, if you will, is to visit the Dog Park and submit your pictures to the Parks & Rec Facebook page.

Ferguson mentioned that participants can earn bonus points for displaying creative signs, such as “I Love ATLANTIC PARKS!” It’s not clear if there will prizes for photos that get the most votes, but proud pooch owners will definitely have “Bragging rights,” according to Ferguson.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Officials with the Cass County 4-H Endowment Foundation have accepted a $2,000 check from Atlantic Carriers to support Cass County Extension programs. That includes volunteers on committees, leading clubs, serving on committees or monetary donations. Local businesses are great supporters lending a helping hand or donation. Atlantic Carriers has donated to Cass County 4-H in the past two years by putting together a basket for the Endowment’s annual Pancake Supper in the past two years as well.

The Cass County 4-H Endowment is managed by a committee which delegates how the money is used. The committee distributes money to cover the 4-H Program Development Fee for all Cass County 4-H and Clover Kid members, financial aid for out-of-county events, senior scholarships, and start-up dollars for innovative youth programs.

Atlantic Carriers was established as a trucking company in 1971 with family-owned and small-town values. For over 50 years they have provided drivers with one-to-one communication and have been transformed to a nationwide general commodities carrier. Those small-town values have seen the benefits of 4-H in the local community and have graciously supported Cass County 4-H programs in recent years.

The 4-H Program Development Fee is $40 per youth each year to enroll. Instead of having individual 4-H’ers and families take on that expense, the Cass County Extension Council and the 4-H Endowment Committee pick up this cost for our members. “We are very fortunate in Cass County that our 4-H Endowment covers this cost for all members. That would not be possible for us to continue without the outstanding support from our community.” stated Bateman. The Cass County 4-H Endowment also offers grants for youth to attend 4-H camps or conferences outside of Cass County, encouraging them to take their 4-H experience to the next level. They also offer scholarships to graduating seniors 4-Hers.

For more information on the Cass County 4-H Program or Cass County 4-H Endowment contact Katie Bateman, Cass County Youth Coordinator, at 243-1132 or kbateman@iastate.edu.

CEDAR COUNTY, Iowa (Iowa Capital Dispatch) – A Cedar County farmer is suing a manufacturer of wind turbines, alleging three turbine fires scattered debris over hundreds of acres of land, damaging his crops. Alan Weets of Mechanicsville is suing the Chicago-based company Nordex USA, which does business as Acciona Windpower North America and Anchor Wind, in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. Weets alleges that in 2010, he entered into an agreement with Acciona that gave the company an easement on his property for the installation of two wind turbines. Acciona, the lawsuit claims, was aware of “serious problems” with the turbines that it installed on Weets’ property but failed to repair or replace them in order to render them safe.

In March 2023, one of the turbines caught fire and spread debris across 160 acres of Weets’ land, the lawsuit alleges. The damage allegedly resulted in Weets having to restrict that section of the property to grain production rather than forage and fodder for livestock feed. In May 2024, a second turbine on Weets’ property allegedly caught fire, spreading additional debris across the land. Over the next several months, according to the lawsuit, Weets grew frustrated with a perceived lack of progress by Acciona contractors, who used farm-type equipment in an effort to clean up the property. “The crews created additional debris-damage issues arising from further destruction of plastics and fiberglass pieces, making pieces that were smaller and more difficult to pick up from the foil,” the lawsuit alleges.

In August 2024, the second wind turbine allegedly caught fire again, causing one of the massive blades to fall to the ground. Weets claims that shortly thereafter, the Cedar County Co-Operative informed him it would not accept any grain from him that was contaminated by turbine debris. In all, 230 acres of land were allegedly contaminated by the debris. Weets alleges that although he and Acciona never agreed on the cost or extent of the damages, the company issued him a check for $230,000 as compensation. The two sides have yet to come to terms on that issue, the lawsuit claims. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for alleged negligence, breach of contract, and consumer fraud. Nordex media representatives did not immediately respond Wednesday to requests for comment.

A 2014 study by Imperial College London, the University of Edinburg,h and SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden found that fires in wind turbines were occurring 10 times more often than were reported. At that time, the wind-power industry was reporting about 11 fires per year, while researchers determined that there were closer to 117 such fires annually among the 200,000 turbines examined. In 2023, a report from the Caithness Windfarm Information Forum identified 3,287 reported wind-turbine accidents, worldwide, between 2000 to March 2023 — an average of 143 accidents per year. Fires accounted for 14% of those accidents, just behind blade failure, which accounted for 15% of the accidents.

The most common cause of wind turbine fires is a lightning strike, although mechanical and electrical failures are also contributing factors.

POCAHONTAS COUNTY, Iowa (KTIV) – A woman who was working as a nurse at a Northwest Iowa care facility has been sentenced after being charged with neglect. KTIV in Sioux City says court documents show 70-year-old Becky Manning of Lake View, Iowa, was charged with wanton neglect of a resident of a care facility back in March 2024. The charge was filed after a man in a Fonda, Iowa, care facility died. After entering her plea months ago, Manning was in court on Monday, April 21, where a judge sentenced her to two years in prison and an $855 fine, along with other court costs. Manning had entered an Alford plea beforehand, which means she maintained her innocence but acknowledged there was enough evidence to convict her.

Court documents show the man under Manning’s care died back in February 2023 at the Fonda Special Care nursing home in Pocahontas County, Iowa. Investigators say the man had a condition requiring “frequent suctioning to maintain an open airway.” Authorities claim Manning refused to suction the resident’s airway even after at least four other staff members told her the resident was requesting and requiring suctioning. Manning reportedly started her shift on Feb. 18, 2023, and refused to suction the resident’s airway over the course of eight hours. The resident would later die sitting in his chair on Feb. 19, 2023.

Investigators say Manning was the only nurse on duty during this incident and they claim she was aware that the resident required his airway to be suctioned regularly. Court documents show, at the time, Manning was a licensed nurse with Grape Tree Medical Staffing and was contracted to provide nursing services at Fonda Specialty Care. The care facility was fined $6,500 for the death.

About a year after the death, Manning was arrested on the neglect charge and booked into the Pocahontas County Jail.

Atlantic, IA— For the fifth year in a row, Cass Health has been named one of the Top 20 Critical Access Hospitals in the United States by the National Rural Health Association (NRHA). This prestigious honor places Cass Health in the top 1% of more than 1,300 critical access hospitals across the country.

Cass Health CEO Brett Altman shared his pride in the organization’s continued success: “Earning a spot in the Top 20 is a tremendous honor—but achieving it five years in a row is simply remarkable. Very few hospitals have ever maintained this level of excellence over time. While we know we’re not perfect, we are always committed to improvement and delivering the best possible care, every single day.”

The Top 20 designation is based on the Chartis Rural Hospital Performance INDEX®, which evaluates rural and critical access hospitals using 36 publicly available metrics across eight performance pillars—including quality, outcomes, patient satisfaction, and financial performance. From this data, the Chartis Center for Rural Health identifies the Top 100, and the NRHA recognizes the highest-performing 20 hospitals from that group.

Altman added: “This recognition reflects the strength of our people. We hire and train the best, we work together to achieve excellence, and we continuously invest in both our organization and our community. We’re proud of our outstanding staff, our supportive board, and the volunteers who make our work possible. Our mission and vision—to provide superior experiences and be one of the best rural hospitals in the nation—are validated by national honors like this. And when you consider that 99.3% of hospitals rank below us in objective data, that’s something worth celebrating.”

Cass Health will be formally recognized at an awards ceremony during the NRHA’s Critical Access Hospital Conference this fall.

(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – The Adair-Casey/Guthrie Center School District Boards of Education will hold a Special (joint) Board meeting Friday morning, in Guthrie Center. The session will be held in the AC/GC Superintendent’s Office, beginning at 7:30-a.m.

On their combined agenda, is action on the 2025-26 Employment Benefit Program, and the 1st Reading of a Revised Board Policy (pertaining to graduation requirements). Separately, the AC Board will act on passing a resolution awarding a contract for the Adair-Casey Elementary School Roof Project, and a Contract Recommendation for Derek Davenport, AC/GC shared Technology Director.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has sent the Senate a bill to require that home builders install passive radon mitigation systems in new homes. It also would establish a state tax credit for the installation of radon mitigation systems in existing homes and buildings. Representative Hans Wilz, of Ottumwa says E-P-A ratings show every county in the state has an elevated level of radon. “Seven out of 10 homes in Iowa have radon levels that pose a health risk,” Wilz says. “This isn’t limited to old homes or those with basements. Radon can be found in any home — new, old, anywhere where in our state.”

Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer in Iowans who are not smokers. Wilz says radon mitigation systems can save the state and its citizens hundreds of millions of dollars that would be spent on health care costs. “Every dollar spent on radon mitigation is going to save $20-$40 of avoided health care costs,” Wilz says. The bill would set up a state tax credit of up to a thousand dollars for installation of a radon mitigation system in existing structures. Individuals could claim the credit on their personal income taxes.

The credit would be available to some businesses as well as the managers of estates or trusts working to prepare a property for sale after the owner’s death. Starting in 2027, state law already requires regular radon testing of Iowa school buildings and mitigation if unsafe levels are found.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Nishna Valley Trails President Dave Chase, Wednesday afternoon, addressed the Atlantic Parks and Rec Advisory Commission, with regard to the role trails play in the City’s of Atlantic’s 5-year Comprehensive Plan, and a proposal to connect the trails both inside of Atlantic and with the Trailhead near Interstate 80 and Highway 71.

Bike routes, lanes and connections are included in the Preliminary Comprehensive Plan, Chase said. The non-profit Nishna Valley Trails group helped to obtain a $100,000 grant for the bridge that crosses the Nishnabotna River just west of KJAN, and connects to the Schildberg Recreation Area. The City sponsored that grant application. Chase said it’s also possible to get a REAP grant for the hard surfacing or resurfacing some of the current connections and constructing others.

The big plan, has always been to connect the T-Bone Trail to Atlantic, Chase said, as part of the Great American Rail Trail.

Connecting the T-Bone Trail to Atlantic is something NishnaValley Trails is working to have accomplished in the next three-years. Chase said an Iowa Bicycle Coalition Study determined cycling has a $1.4-billion dollar economic impact on the State.

He says signage is another aspect of the trail.

He said connecting East Ridge Park in Atlantic to the Camblin Hills Addition is another idea he has. Officials hope to apply for a REAP grant in the next grant cycle.

The next Iowa Resource Enhancement and Protection (REAP) grant cycle for the FY 2026 regular grant cycle is May 1, 2025, so it’s too late to apply for it. Projects funded in this cycle will begin on July 1, 2025, and must be completed by November 30, 2027, with final reports due by December 31, 2027