A bond issue for one new western Iowa county jail was approved Tuesday, but votes for jail bonds in another county fell short. Woodbury County voters approved a $50.3 million bond issue to replace the existing jail, which officials say is overcrowded and has a number of deficiencies. Voters in neighboring Monona County narrowly rejected a $6.2 million bond issue that would have funded a replacement for the county’s overcrowded, 46-year-old facility. The measure received 57% — 3 percentage points less than the 60% required for passage.

Physical Plant and Equipment (PPEL – “Peppel) levies were approved Tuesday, by voters in both the Creston and East Union Community School Districts. Unofficial results from the Union and Adams County Auditor’s offices show in Creston, the PPEL passed 527-to-146 — or 78.3% to 21.%. East Union voters voted 122-to-70 to extend the levy.

PPEL funds may be used for facilities projects and maintenance, technology purchases, transportation vehicles and other expenses.

Voters in the Lenox Community School District have approved a $9.9-million bond issue, which will pay for several improvements to district facilities, including replacement of the Elementary School roof and installation of energy efficent windows in the Lenox High School, most of which are over 50-years old. Additional classroom space is also covered under the bond issue.
Unofficial results from the Adams, Ringgold, Union and Taylor County Auditor’s offices show the bond issue passed by a vote of 332-to 198 (62.6% yes, 57.4% no). A 60% super majority was needed in order for the measure to pass.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Officials say Iowa’s high school graduation rate climbed to a record high of 91.6% in the 2018-19 school year. The Iowa Education Department says the class of 2019 figure was up two-tenths of a percentage point from the 91.4% in the class of 2018. Since 2011, Iowa’s four-year graduation rate has increased 3.3 percentage points overall, with gains in nearly every student demographic group. For example, graduation rates for Hispanic students have climbed by 9.3 percentage points and the rates for African American students have gone up 8.4 percentage points.

Iowa’s rates typically are among the nation’s highest high school graduation rates.

(Radio Iowa) — A bill passed in the Iowa Senate would require a portion of the state’s Medicaid recipients to work or volunteer at least 20 hours a week to keep government benefits. Senator Jason Schultz, a Republican from Schleswig, says it fits with President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” motto. “Part of that is to get people off of the system and back into work and self-sufficiency,” Schultz said. “It’s where humans thrive when they’re taking care of themselves.” The bill’s work requirements would apply to people who live just above the poverty line and qualify for Medicaid under a program expansion approved in 2014. The parents of young children, people over the age of 65 and disabled Iowans would not be required to work to qualify for Medicaid or for food stamps.

The bill passed with the support of 31 Republicans. The 18 Democrats in the Senate voted against it. Senator Joe Bolkcom, a Democrat from Iowa City, says it’s time to target businesses that pay so little their workers qualify for government assistance. “We ought to get employers who are freeloading on Iowa taxpayers involved in this conversation,” Bolkcom says.
Senator Liz Mathis, a Democrat from Hiawatha, says the bill will create new obstacles for struggling families. “But it’s obvious there aren’t enough people in this room that understand that,” Mathis said. Senator Amanda Ragan, a Democrat from Mason City, says some Iowans who work would lose their benefits through no fault of their own. “These enrollees that we’re talking about in Medicaid work in industries in which both the employment and the hours are volatile,” Ragan says.

Schultz, the Republican who guided the bill through the senate, says government food assistance and health care coverage are not meant to last a lifetime. “Able-bodied adults are who we’re talking about,” Schultz says.”…When we do things that incentivize people to go ahead, get a job, get off the program their lives are better, the lives of their children are better, the state is stronger, the nation is stronger.” Schultz says the proposal is popular in his western Iowa district. “Folks understand that if they’re working to pay the bill that somebody should be asked to work to receive it, if they are able,” Schultz said, “and I don’t think that’s wrong.” Schultz says government assistance should be a springboard back to self-sufficiency.