(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has voted to make indoor tanning bed businesses off limits for minors — unless the teenager’s parent provides written permission in person. Representative Hans Wilz of Ottumwa says tanning beds emit far more ultraviolet radiation than the sun. “Tanning devices increase the risk of melanoma, a particular deadly type of cancer,” Wilz said. “UV radiation is the most dangerous when exposed at a young age.”

Representative Josh Turek of Council Bluffs says Iowa is one of only six states that does not ban or regulate the use of tanning beds by minors. “This is an excellent bill,” Turek said. “…As you’ve heard many times, Iowa (is) the only state with a growing cancer rate, fifth highest rates of melanoma, 1600 new melanomas per year.” Wilz says the bill is one piece of the puzzle to address Iowa’s concerning cancer rate.  “Cancer prevention is just as important as cancer research, medical treatment,” Wilz said. “We need to attack cancer in every way to ensure cancer rates do go down.”

The bill passed on an 83-to-13 vote and goes to the Senate for consideration. According to the National Institutes of Health, using a tanning bed even one time before age 35 raises your risk of developing malignant melanoma by 75 percent.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Senate has passed a bill that would give the governor authority to appoint a majority of the people who serve on commissions that nominate district court judges. Five attorneys chosen by local lawyers and five people appointed by the governor serve on the commissions, and the senior judge in each district serves as chair. Republican Senator Julian Garrett of Indianola says those judges have too much influence and the governor should appoint that 11th member.

“You’ve got five attorneys on the commission and they practice before that judge and their bread and butter is affected by their relationship with that judge,” Garrett says. The commissions review applications and submit two finalists to the governor, who appoints one — or rejects both and tells the commission to start over.

Senator Herman Quirmbach of Ames and other Democrats opposed removing the judge from the nominating process.  “The bill tends to continue the movement in the direction of politicizing the judiciary,” Quirmbach said. “This is something I’m always concerned about, no matter who is in control.”

In 2019, the legislature gave the governor the majority of appointments to the commission that picks nominees for the Iowa Supreme Court by removing the senior Supreme Court justice from the panel — but did not make the change at the district court level. In 2021, members of a northern Iowa nominating commission accused the district court judge leading the panel of making unprofessional comments about some applicants and falsely claiming one applicant had withdrawn.

(Radio Iowa) – Three students who were flown to Sioux City for treatment after a deadly school bus crash in Tanzania nearly eight years ago were honored by conservationist Jane Goodall in a speech Sunday in Sioux City.

Missionaries from Sioux City saved the students, while 35 other people died in the accident. Survivor Wilson Tarimo who returned to Sioux City in 2022 to attend college is now 20. “We have made many people understand how to have humanity, to have love and respect, and to live life worth living,” he says. The three students first met Jane Goodall in Tanzania in 2018, where Goodall started her groundbreaking research on chimpanzees in the 1960s.

Jane Goodall and Tanzanian students. (photo from Sheila Brummer)

Tarimo and the two other Tanzanian students plan to be ambassadors for Goodall’s “Roots and Shoots” program, which focuses on environmental, conservation, and humanitarian issues. The Jane Goodall Institute lost funding due to recent cuts to the U-S Agency for International Development (USAID). Goodall told reporters in Sioux City before her speech that even tough times are tough, “they’ll make it.”

A movie is in the works about the Tanzanian students and their connection to Sioux City.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Glenwood Police Department reports three arrests:

47-year-old Shayeleigh Marshall Julich Howard, of Glenwood, was arrested last Thursday (March 13) for OWI/1st offense, and Possession or carrying of dangerous weapons. Howard posted a $2,000 bond and was released.

30-year-old Roman Sifuentes, of Glenwood, was arrested last Thursday, for OWI/1st offense, and Driving While Revoked. He posted a $2,000 bond and was released.

And, on March 17th, 70-year-old Richard Lang, of Glenwood, was arrested for Kidnapping in the 3rd Degree,  Felony Domestic Abuse Assault, and Public Intoxication. Lang was being held in the Mills County Jail on $15,000 bond.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports a Glenwood man was arrested Sunday evening after Deputies were contacted by a concerned neighbor in regard to a 14 year old boy being abandoned and locked in a mobile home trailer in Glenwood. The parent of the child was identified as 44-year-old Floyd Cozad.

From the ongoing investigation, it was discovered that the child was left alone locked in the residence without food, proper supervision, or the ability to get out of the trailer without assistance. The child was taken into protective custody and in working with the Department of Human Services, the child was transferred to the custody of another family member along
with a second child in Cozad’s custody.

Floyd Cozad (Mills Co S/O photo)

Floyd was arrested Sunday night and charged with violating Iowa Codes:
• 726.3 Neglect of a dependent person – C Felony
• 726.6 Child Endangerment – Aggravated Misdemeanor 2 counts
• 710.7 False Imprisonment – Serious Misdemeanor

Disclaimer: A criminal charge/citation is merely accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill under consideration in the Iowa legislature would expand the pool of people who may serve on county veterans commissions. The commissions help veterans and their dependents apply for the benefits and programs they may be eligible for. Senator Jeff Reichman, of Montour, is a retired Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel who served two tours in Iraq. He says current law only allows veterans to serve on those county commissions.

“That was O.K. in the ’40s, when about 8% of the entire population of the United States were veterans,” Reichman said, “but now we live in a time where only 1% are veterans.” According to the V-A, nearly half of the state’s 17i-thousand veterans are over the age of 65. The bill would let active Iowa National Guard soldiers and members of the reserve from any branch of the military serve on a county veterans commission. It would also lets more former Iowa Guard and reserve soldiers be appointed to the commissions.

Under current law, county supervisors may only consider those who’ve served at least 20 years in the Iowa National Guard or the reserves. The bill cleared the Iowa Senate unanimously last week and a House subcommittee advanced it today (Monday).

(Radio Iowa) – Collins Aerospace has notified the state that it will lay off 160 employees who work in Cedar Rapids.

Collins Aerospace employs about 9000 people in Iowa, most of whom work in Cedar Rapids. A spokesperson for the company describes the 160 layoffs as “a small reduction of positions” to “reduce costs and optimize the company’s organizational structure globally.” Collins Aerospace is a subsidiary of RTX, one of the world’s largest aerospace and defense contractors. It has about 186,000 workers worldwide.

State law requires businesses to notify Iowa Workforce Development at least 60 days before 100 or more employees are being laid off. While Collins Aerospace did notify the state, it did so about a month before the layoffs go into effect. Last week, Collins Aerospace notified employees who were losing their jobs that their layoffs would be effective April 15.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – A man from Stuart was being held in the Adair County Jail on a $75,000 bond, following his arrest by Stuart Police on March 12th. According to the Adair County Sheriff’s Office, 52-year-old Todd Shane Jackson was arrested after Stuart Police and Cass County (IA) Sheriff’s Deputies executed a search warrant at 615 SW 7th Street in Stuart, at around 3:40-p.m. on March 12th. The warrant had been obtained based on an investigation the Cass County authorities was conducting, and that involved multiple firearms and the sales of firearms. During the investigation, it was learned that several weapons would be found in Jackson’s residence on SW 7th Street, in Stuart. It was also discovered that Jackson is a convicted felon who is prohibited from possessing any firearms, ammunition or offensive weapons,

When authorities entered the residence, they detected a strong odor of burned marijuana. In Jackson’s bedroom, a loaded 12 gauge shotgun with a sawed-off barrel was found hanging from the bedroom door. Other firearms found in the bedroom included: 2 Winchester .30/.30 rifles; A Springfield Arms 1903 rifle; a single-shot .22-caliber rifle; A Deutsche Berline 1915 817 rifle; a Winchester 1897 rile; an SKS 762 rifle with a modified stock; a .30-caliber carbine rifle, and a Kahr CM9 .9mm pistol altered to hide the serial number.

Multiple rounds of different live ammunition was also found in the bedroom, as well as: multiple firearm magazines; 2 taser stun guns; 18 white “Y18” oval pills in a plastic baggie, that were later identified as Alprazolam (a Schedule 4 controlled substance available by prescription only); a large glass smoking device (A “bong”); 2 jars containing suspected marijuana; and multiple other items of drug paraphernalia. In the living room of the home, authorities found a bolt-action rifle and a .308-caliber rifle stored in a cabinet; Additional miscellaneous drug paraphernalia was also located in the living room.

Jackson admitted to possessing the firearms he had collected over time. He also admitted to trading meth, marijuana and $200 for two of the firearms that were located by authorities.

The Adair County Sheriff’s Office reports also, the arrest on drug charges of a Cass County (IA) woman. Stuart Police arrested 18-year-old Hailey Mae Jackson, of Atlantic, at around 2:12-a.m. March 10th in Stuart, for Possession of Marijuana/1st offense, and Possession of drug paraphernalia. Jackson was held on a $1,300 bond until her release from the Adair County Jail a short time later, on that same morning.

(Radio Iowa) – The U-S Labor Department conducted its annual revision of labor numbers and found there were 31-thousand more people in the Iowa labor force in January. Iowa Workforce Development director Beth Townsend says that’s a big increase. “It’s basically a six tenths of a point improvement on our labor force participation from where we were at the end of 2024,” she says. Townsend says they’ve been working for some time to get that rate back up. “We lost a large number of Iowans during the pandemic, and we’ve been fully but surely bringing them back. But then we also finally started to see the impact of the baby boomers retiring in 2024 and so our labor force steadily declined by very small amounts, but nonetheless declined,” Townsend says.

Townsend says a good sign was the increase in women aged 45 to 54 in the workforce. “Which had previously had been a group that had left the workforce to care for others in other words, either children or parents. But we saw them leave the workforce during the pandemic, and that was the largest group that we saw come back in the last few months.” she says. “So women aged 45 to 54 and then women aged 20 to 24 also saw an increase.” With the revised numbers, the January unemployment rate held at the revised December level of three-point-three percent.

“The good news about labor force participation, obviously, that’s the real number, because that tells you how many people you have working or looking for work in your total population,” Townsend says. “And we always want that number. You know, pre pandemic in 2019, I think we hit our high of around 70 percent so we’ve still got a ways to go.” Unemployment and participation numbers for February will be out next week.