(Radio Iowa) — Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders says there’s a “major crisis” in rural America and the federal government must break up monopolies in the ag sector that treat farmers like “modern-day indentured servants.” “Farmers know this,” Sanders said. “I want the people in urban America to understand this as well.” Sanders, in his second bid for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, used a Sunday speech in Osage to outline his prescriptions for economic revival in rural areas. “What the American people, what you want and what I want are more family farms in America, not more factory farms,” Sanders said, to applause and cheers.

Sanders says it’s time for federal oversight of the environmental impact of large-scale poultry and livestock confinements, just as other industries are regulated. “More and more of the state’s agriculture is being dominated by just a handful of large corporations who is seems to me from a distance own the Iowa state legislature,” Sanders said. In addition, Sanders would get rid of federal subsidies for crop insurance and, again, link federal payments to targeted prices for commodities.

Sanders says American farmers should be guaranteed federal support to cover production costs, “plus living expenses.” “Farmers deserve a fair price for the very, very hard work that they do,” Sanders said.  Sanders would cap federal farm payments, too, to limit payments to large farm operations. Sanders made stops in Spencer and Sioux City on Sunday as well.

(Radio Iowa) — Massachusetts Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren used a visit to Iowa State University to unveil a new tool on her campaign website. It calculates how much an individual’s student loan debt would be reduced under her plan. “We’re just trying to roll this out as a way to make real to people what it means to talk about student loan debt cancellation,” Warren said. “…It’s now the case that we are crushing an entire generation with student loan debt.”

Warren’s plan to erase up to 50-thousand dollars in student loan repayments would apply to households with an annual income of less than 100-thousand dollars. “We need to make a choice as a country,” Warren said. “…Do we want to invest in the people who’ve already made it big and make sure that they get to keep every last cent of these giant fortunes or do we want to invest in young people who were not fortune enough to be born into families wealthy enough to write a check?”

Warren has unveiled a series of policy proposals including a new “wealth tax” that would be charged to Americans with assets of more than 50-million dollars. She says that additional tax revenue would pay for child care, universal preschool, free tuition to public colleges and universities as well as her plan to erase student loan debt. “I’m just tired of free-loading billionaires,” Warren said. “Let’s get ’em to pay a fair share and let’s create an opportunity for everybody else in this country.”

Warren addressed about 400 people in Ames on Friday. During a question-and-answer session, Warren was asked to contrast her ideas with those of her Democratic competitors — and Warren was cheered when she declined. “We have a special opportunity in a primary,” Warren said. “…It’s not just to chase that guy down the crazy rabbit hole with his crazy tweets and everything else he does, but it’s to talk about our vision.”

Warren also campaigned in Iowa Falls, Osage and Mason City this weekend.

(Radio Iowa) — Minnesota Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar has released a 100-billion dollar plan to expand mental health care services as well as treatment options for drug and alcohol addiction. “There are so many people that have come up to me across America, including in Iowa, that say ‘I just don’t know where to go for help,'” Klobuchar said.

Klobuchar’s plan would be financed with new a new tax on opioids and a national legal settlement with opioid manufacturers. Klobuchar unveiled her plan this weekend in Iowa and hosted roundtable discussions in Iowa City and Des Moines. She openly discusses her father’s battle with alcoholism and the intervention that happened after his third drunk driving arrest. “At that point, I told him everything that had happened our whole lives growing up and how it had affected my sister and me and he had his minister there and his friends and he finally went to treatment and, in his words, he was ‘pursued by grace,'” Klobuchar says. “It changed his whole life.”

Klobuchar, as president, would send federal money to states to improve training for teachers and doctors, so addictions or mental health problems can be identified and treated earlier. “Whether people are addicted to opioids or meth and whether they have mental health issues, they should have a chance at recovery and a second chance,” Klobuchar says.  Klobuchar’s plan calls for additional federal spending on suicide prevention programs. She has also proposed a federal law that would force doctors to enter all opioid prescriptions in an electronic database, so pharmacies can prevent so-called “doctor shopping” by addicts.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:30 a.m. CDT

(Iowa City)– A small car making an illegal U-turn was struck by a semi Sunday afternoon on Interstate 80 near Oxford, in eastern Iowa, resulting in the deaths of three people including two children and an adult. Two others were injured. injuries to two other vehicle occupants. All of the victims were in the same vehicle. The injured were transported to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City. No names were released as of early Monday morning. The children were said to be 11 and 13-years of age.

OSAGE, Iowa (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is proposing a sweeping agriculture and rural investment plan to break up big agriculture monopolies and shift farm subsidies toward small family farmers. Sanders told voters in Osage, Iowa, that a farmer producing the food people eat may be almost as important as “some crook on Wall Street who destroys the economy.” His plan includes several antitrust proposals, including a moratorium on mergers by big agriculture companies.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa egg farm which lost more than 4 million chickens in the 2015 bird flu outbreak centered in the Midwest is suing companies hired by the U.S. government to disinfect barns to kill the bird flu virus. Sunrise Farms says the chlorine dioxide gas and heat treatments used to kill the virus destroyed barn equipment, electrical wiring, production equipment and water lines.

KENSETT, Iowa (AP) — Authorities in north-central Iowa say a man has died after being hit by a car. Des Moines television station KCCI reports that the incident happened Friday evening in rural Worth County when a car hit 58-year-old Rick Johnson, of Kensett, while he was walking on a county road. The Iowa State Patrol says the car was driven by a 42-year-old Mason City man.

(Update 3:19-a.m., May 6) — A small car making an illegal U-turn was struck by a semi Sunday afternoon on Interstate 80 in eastern Iowa, resulting in the deaths of three people including two children. Two other people were injured. All of the victims were in the same vehicle. The injured were transported to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City. No names were released as of early this (Monday) morning. The children were said to be 11 and 13-years of age.

The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2010 KIA Rondo was traveling west on I-80 at around 1:07-p.m., when the driver slowed to make a left hand turn. The car crossed from the number two lane into the number one lane in an attempt to use the crossover to travel on the eastbound lanes.

As the vehicle crossed into the number one lane, it was struck broadside by a 2020 Peterbilt semi. The car came to rest in the median, and the semi came to rest on the westbound lanes. The crash, which happened in Johnson County near mile marker 231, remains under investigation.

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke paid visits to communities in southwest Iowa Sunday, including Atlantic, where he spoke in a shelter at Sunnyside Park. During his approximately 20 minute speech before a large crowd, O’Rourke transitioned quickly between topics before opening the floor to questions. One of first topics he tackled was the economy, which he said was “…going gangbusters for a few people in this country.”

Beto O’Rourke in Atlantic (Ric Hanson/photo 5/5/19)

He asked why do we pay teachers and public school educators, etc., who work two or three jobs jobs, a fraction of what they are worth in order to make ends meet? He said those people should be paid a living wage, and we should begin to invest in world class public education that begins with Universal Pre-K for three- and four-year old’s. He said that will allow kids to catch-up and an even chance for success in life. O’Rourke admits it “Does not come cheap and it will not come easy, but it is something that…if we make that investment…will produce returns for the lifetime of that child, of their family and of this country.”

He was asked if he was in favor of Medicare for all. O’Rourke said there is already a proposal written by two women in the legislature entitled “Medicare for America.” He says it would allow people to keep their current employer-sponsored insurance, but if you cannot afford the co-pay, the premium or the deductible is too large, you would be free to switch to Medicare. O’Rourke drew a round of applause when he mentioned making community college free or at least fair, for every American who wants to attend, as a means to reduce the National Debt. He said also with the 45,000 funded, but unfilled clinical positions available with the Veterans Administration and in under-served school districts, if a person is willing to fill one of those positions, they should benefit from their effort. He said your college debt should be wiped clean so you can focus on public service and being back home instead of worrying about paying-off your heavy debt. He said also, since not everyone wants to go to college, it should be easier for a person to join a Union, learn a trade, become an apprentice, and command them a skill that will allow them to earn a living wage.

Speaking earlier, in Shenandoah, Sunday, O’Rourke repeated his calls to impeach President Donald Trump and drew a distinction between himself and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who’s declining any rush to proceedings.

O’Rourke said special counsel Robert Mueller’s report makes impeachment more necessary than ever. He said “proceedings in the House ensure that more of these facts come to light, ensure that the Senate can make a very informed decision about this president.” Asked about Pelosi cautioning against doing so O’Rourke answered, “That’s fine. We’re two different people.” O’Rourke said he really respects “the speaker and what she’s been able to do, but when asked my opinion I’ve got to give my opinion not anyone else’s.”

In investigation into a vehicle parked alongside Highway 34 in Adams County, Saturday night, resulted in the arrest of a man from Texas. The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports 26-year old Dylan Masters, of Troup, TX., was taken into custody for OWI/1st offense. His bond was set at $1,000.

Authorities say Masters was parked near the intersection of Highway 34 and Sycamore when Adams County deputies came upon his vehicle at around 11:50-p.m.  When they spoke with Masters, it was apparent he was possibly under the influence of alcohol, which was confirmed through a field sobriety test

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa egg farm that killed millions of chickens because of a 2015 bird flu outbreak is suing companies hired by the federal government to disinfect barns. Sunrise Farms says the chlorine dioxide gas and heat treatments used to kill the virus destroyed barn equipment, electrical wiring, production equipment and water lines. The company also says the structural integrity of its barns was diminished.

Max Barnett, the CEO of Sunrise Farms’ parent company, South Dakota-based Sonstegard Foods, said he couldn’t comment on a pending court case. The farm is near the northwest Iowa town of Harris, about 225 miles northwest of Des Moines. It includes a feed mill, 25 layer barns, two manure barns and a processing plant. The barns housed 4 million egg-laying hens, and two other buildings had 500,000 young hens being raised to become layers.

The farm confirmed on April 19, 2015, that its birds had the deadly strain of H5N2 bird flu. Officials from the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service division arrived within days and took over the cleanup and disinfection process, hiring several companies to complete euthanizing birds and disinfecting barns to prevent the spread of the virus.

In the 2015 U.S. bird flu outbreak, more than 50 million chickens and turkeys died or were destroyed. That comprises about 12 percent of hens that produce eggs people eat and 8 percent of the inventory of turkeys grown for meat, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

About 87 percent of bird losses occurred in Iowa, the nation’s leading egg producer, and Minnesota, the top turkey grower. Other cases were reported in Nebraska, Wisconsin and South Dakota. The heat treatment used at some of Sunrise Farms barns was designed to raise the temperature to 120 degrees for a period of seven days. In other barns the government officials ordered the use of chlorine dioxide, a chemical known to kill the flu virus.

The barns were declared free of virus and eligible for restocking on Sept. 16, 2015, but court documents say the treatments destroyed equipment, electrical wiring and water lines, and left the barns’ structural integrity diminished. Sunrise Farms claims its property damage required extensive repairs.

The company filed the lawsuit in March 2018 in federal court in Iowa, seeking to be repaid for the cost of repairs, interest, late charges and the cost of the lawsuit. It claims negligence for causing significant property damage and breach of contract, saying the contracted companies “failed to adequately perform the contract obligations.”

The lawsuit names Clean Harbors Environmental Services of Norwell, Massachusetts, and other companies based in Georgia and New York. In court documents, Clean Harbors, which applied the chlorine dioxide gas treatment, denied responsibility for the damage and asked that the lawsuit be dismissed. The company said Sunrise Farms “failed to adequately and properly mitigate its damages.”

Clean Harbors is suing six other companies that were contracted to assist in the operation. One of those companies is suing seven other companies with which it had contracted. The lawsuit is set for trial on Jan. 27, 2020, in Sioux City.

Another major egg producer with barns in Iowa and other states also used the heat treatment for disinfection after the bird flu and said he saw some damage but determined the equipment was older and needed to be replaced anyway.
Marcus Rust, CEO of Rose Acre Farms, the nation’s second-largest egg producer, said his company was satisfied with its outcome.

Rust said he’d heard about the problems at Sunrise Farms and was uneasy but determined that the effectiveness of the gas treatment was better than any other alternative. “Did we have zero problems? No. But has it been acceptable? Yes. We were apprehensive and maybe we watched it a lot closer because of all the warnings,” he said.

2020 Democratic presidential candidate, Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke, from Texas, will be in Southwest Iowa today, holding town hall events. His schedule includes:

• 8:30am   Cottonwood Pavilion, Shenandoah
• 10:45am  Chautauqua Park, Red Oak
• 1:00pm    Sunnyside Park, Atlantic (O’Rouke is scheduled to speak at 1:30-p.m.)
• 3:45pm    Old Depot, Creston

The 46-year old O’Rouke is a businessman, musician, and politician who represented Texas’ 16th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2013 to 2019. After being re-elected to the House in 2014 and 2016, O’Rourke declined to seek re-election in 2018. Instead, he ran for United States Senate against incumbent Republican Ted Cruz. His campaign received significant national attention for its record fundraising, ability to draw large crowds, and extensive use of social media. Cruz narrowly defeated O’Rourke 50.9% to 48.3% while O’Rourke set a record for most votes cast for a Democrat in Texas history.

On March 14, 2019, O’Rourke announced his campaign for President of the United States in the 2020 United States presidential election.

A Special meeting of the Griswold School Board will be held 5-p.m. Monday (May 6th), in the Middle School/High School Library. The meeting is for the purposes of hiring an assistant high school softball coach, and to consider approving an open enrollment request. The public is invited to comment on the assistant coaching matter, prior to Board action.