(Radio Iowa) – With the arrival of warmer weather, Iowans are more prone to get outside and exercise, and if you’re searching for something easy that also has a positive impact on your health, consider the simple act of walking. Jessica Boland, a wellness consultant at Gundersen Health, says walking involves no expensive or special equipment, other than a decent pair of tennis shoes. “It’s an activity that people can start and build up their minutes or miles. It has physical benefits, such as a decrease of certain diseases. It also reduces stress,” Boland says. “So if you are looking for a physical activity and you don’t know where to start, walking is a good place to begin.”

She suggests starting out with short distances and gradually adding to them. While jogging or running can also good for one’s health, Boland says walking may be easier on your body. “In terms of impact, it is a lower impact activity, so not as hard on your joints,” Boland says, “and it’s something that you can begin, increase your minutes or miles without having a lot of jarring on your joints.” There are many free apps available for our phones that will track steps taken and calories burned.

“If you’re going to walk outside, you need to be mindful that you have enough light that you can see the roads when you’re walking,” Boland says. “If you are going to walk in the dark, make sure that you have a light so you can see the ground and that you also put on some reflective gear so cars can see you.” Having a friend to walk with, or an accountability partner, helps to keep you motivated and on-track with your goals. She suggests putting planned walks on your calendar so you’re more likely to take them.

Gundersen Health System has clinics in Calmar, Decorah, Fayette, Lansing, Postville and Waukon, and a hospital in West Union.

(IOWA CAPITAL DISPATCH) – Casey’s General Store is being sued for allegedly exploiting its workers through the discriminatory practice of imposing a tobacco-use surcharge for health insurance coverage. The surcharge, which is alleged to be $35 per pay period, amounts to an illegal “cash grab” by Casey’s that is masquerading as a wellness program, the lawsuit claims. Filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, the lawsuit seeks class-action status but is currently filed on behalf of one Casey’s employee, Elizabeth Blalock of Carroll County, Missouri.

Attorneys for Blalock allege that all Casey’s workers are automatically assumed to use tobacco unless they submit to a process in which they provide a sworn affidavit stating they do not. Any worker who fails to complete that process by a specified deadline is then required to pay “tobacco surcharge” for the entire calendar year, even if they do not use tobacco, the lawsuit claims.

In addition, Casey’s allegedly fails to provide the federally required options that would allow employees to avoid the surcharge. “The surcharge is structured as a penalty rather than a legitimate wellness incentive,” the lawsuit claims, since the workers “who miss the enrollment deadline are penalized for the entire year without any opportunity to later demonstrate compliance or avoid the surcharge.”

The lawsuit is based on the requirements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. ERISA allows employers to deduct from workers’ pay a tobacco-use surcharge, but only in connection with wellness programs that meet specific federal guidelines established in 2014. Those regulations state they are intended to ensure corporate wellness programs actually promote health as opposed to being a “subterfuge for discriminating based on a health factor.”

This convenience store on West Des Moines’ Grand Avenue is part of the Casey’s General Store chain, which is being sued over the tobacco-use surcharge imposed on employees. (Main photo by Clark Kauffman/Iowa Capital Dispatch. Inset photo of company policy is from U.S. District Court records)

The lawsuit alleges Casey’s is illegally shifting the costs associated with less healthy workers from the company back to those same workers “who end up subsidizing their healthier colleagues.” ERISA bars any health insurer or medical plan from discriminating against participants by charging premiums based on a “health-related factor,” including tobacco use. It does, however, allow group health plans to establish premium discounts or rebates” in return for adherence to programs that promote wellness and disease prevention.

Casey’s, the lawsuit claims, does not meet that standard. The lawsuit goes on to allege that “allowing companies like Casey’s to exploit their participants and unlawfully extract millions from them under the guise of a wellness program that is, in reality, a cash grab, directly contradicts ERISA’s purpose of protecting workers from health-based discrimination. If unchecked, this practice would permit employers to manipulate wellness programs as revenue generating schemes rather than genuine health initiatives.”

According to the lawsuit, Blalock has forfeited to Casey’s $35 in earnings per pay period — roughly $910 per year — in order to maintain health coverage through the company. Casey’s, which is headquartered in Ankeny, is one of the nation’s largest convenience store chains, with more than 2,600 locations in 16 states. There are more than 18,000 employees enrolled in the company’s health plan, according to court records.

In seeking class-action status for their lawsuit, the plaintiff’s attorneys argue the amount of money at issue exceeds $5 million, and the number of Casey’s workers who might potentially join the case is more than 1,000. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for unlawful imposition of a discriminatory tobacco surcharge and breach of fiduciary duty. Casey’s has yet to file a response to the lawsuit. The company did not immediately respond Monday to requests for comment.

The plaintiff is represented by attorney Adam J. Wachal of the Koley Jessen law firm in Omaha.

DES MOINES – State Treasurer Roby Smith is celebrating ABLE to Save Month, a nationwide campaign recognized each April, by spreading the word about the IAble (Iowa’s Achieving a Better Life Experience) plan and the advantages it brings to eligible individuals with a disability.

“IAble can really make a difference and help individuals with disabilities achieve a better life experience,” said Treasurer Smith. “One of the biggest advantages of the plan is that eligible individuals can save without jeopardizing the benefits they count on.”

ABLE to Save Month is a national education and outreach campaign dedicated to highlighting the benefits of ABLE accounts like IAble. The month-long event aims to provide information to families and support systems to ensure they’re aware of a benefit they may not know about.

IAble is a financial tool eligible individuals and their support system can use to save money for their short- and long-term goals. When placed in an IAble account, the money is protected from the asset caps placed on Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and other means-tested benefits. Savings and earnings can be used for transportation, housing, food, assistive technology and other qualified disability expenses.

To learn more, visit IAble.gov or call (888) 609-8910. For additional details, read the Plan Disclosure Booklet. Connect with the Treasurer on Facebook,  Instagram and X to stay informed on current events and updates.

(Radio Iowa/Brownfield Network) – U-S Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says her agency will release over half a billion dollars to expand the number of U-S retail outlets that sell E-15. Grants may be used to upgrade fuel pumps and other infrastructure so gasoline blended with a higher percentage of ethanol may be sold. “This will fund 543 projects in 29 states,” she said. “I know it has an outsized impact here in Iowa.” Rollins made the announcement Monday during a stop at an ethanol plant in Atlantic.

“At USDA, we are aggressively exploring ways to unleash American energy and incentivize homegrown biofuel production,” she said. President Trump signed an executive order on January 20th declaring a National Energy Emergency and he directed the E-P-A to consider issueing emergency waivers so E-15 may be sold year-round nationwide. Rollins spoke with reporters outside the Elite Octane plant which has processed 300 million bushels of corn since it opened in 2018.

U.S. Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins, left, and U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst tour Elite Octane in Atlantic, IA. (Photo provided by Ernst staff)

“Here in the heartland, here in the very heart of America what you all stand for, what this amazing business stands for, what our farmers and ranchers stand for is how we do truly save the future of the country,” Rollins said, “and we do believe that E15 is a part of that.”

Also yesterday (Monday), during a stop in central Iowa, Rollins told reporters she’s planning another round of market disruption payments if Trump’s tariff announcement today (Tuesday) sparks a trade war. The first Trump Administration provided American farmers with 23 BILLION dollars in payments to cover trade-related losses.

(Reporting by Brent Barnett, Brownfield)

(Iowa Capital Dispatch) – Iowa’s education representatives say they are relieved that, at least for now, teachers and librarians don’t have to fear being fired under state law if they make a wrong decision about which books to keep on school shelves.

A judge last week placed a preliminary injunction against part of Senate File 496. The law, which the Iowa Legislature passed in 2023, prohibits school libraries from providing books deemed not age appropriate and primarily focuses on any book that includes “sex acts.”

Christy Hickman, general counsel for the Iowa State Education Association and representing ISEA as a plaintiff, said she was “incredibly relieved for our members.” Those members include educators at all levels. Teachers now “wouldn’t have to be concerned about their employment or their licensure being in jeopardy in the event they didn’t interpret this incredibly vague law incorrectly,” she said.

Some school districts, however, won’t be quick to change internal guidance on the law. “Given the number of injunctions and appeals, Southeast Polk is not taking any additional action with books at this time,” Jeannie Christenson, community relations coordinator at Southeast Polk Community School District, said. “We have not yet returned any of the removed titles to shelves, and we will continue to monitor legal developments.”

Federal District Judge Stephen Locher, in the Southern District of Iowa, had placed an injunction on SF 496 before, but the State of Iowa appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit. The appeals court ruled Locher had not performed the correct “analysis” on the case and sent it back to Locher’s court. This time, Locher’s analysis weighed the unconstitutional applications of the law against the constitutional ones, which in his ruling he admitted is “hard to do” for this case.

Still, Locher ruled “the law has been unconstitutionally applied in dozens (if not hundreds) of situations and constitutionally applied in one.” Locher wrote in his ruling that the law “places the burden on local school districts and school officials to determine whether a book is permitted” and that “this is the whole point of the law’s penalty provisions: local officials and districts are subject to punishment if they get it wrong.” The law put educators in a “precarious state … by passing this bill and not giving them a lot of direction about how to carry it out,” Hickman said. “I don’t even know where I would start to explain the heaviness of that.”

A student plaintiff in the lawsuit calls the injunction a “huge step in the right direction.” Grace Van Gundy, a senior at Urbandale High School, and the only student in the lawsuit, said she wants her fellow students “to feel reassured about the injunction and remember that there are still government officials looking out for our best interests—even if it doesn’t always feel like it.” She said the decision “solidifies the importance of education and that proves we will not tolerate attempts at censorship.” Despite the ruling, Van Gundy believes that “there is still work to do. The fight is not over.”

Locher’s preliminary injunction could once again be appealed to the Eighth Circuit based on the new analysis of the law. Hickman said she expects the state will appeal. If that’s the case, she said the appeals court will have “a very, very extensive decision with analysis of multiple different (legal) tests, so the Eighth Circuit will have a very fair record to make a final determination,” Hickman said.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird in a statement alluded to the state taking this case further and wrote in part, “This common sense law makes certain that the books kids have access to in school classrooms and libraries are age-appropriate. I’m going to keep on fighting to uphold our law that protects schoolchildren and parental rights.”

SF 496 also prohibits the instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity in K-6 curriculum. Iowa Safe Schools has filed a lawsuit against that part of the law. Locher is expected to also rule on that case.

Atlantic, Iowa – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins was in Atlantic, Monday morning, as part of a tour of certain ag-related facilities around the State. In Atlantic, Secretary Rollins toured the Elite Octane ethanol production plant. She was joined by Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, Senator Joni Ernst, 3rd District Representative Zach Nunn, southeast Iowa 1st District Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks, and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig.

Earlier this month (March), Elite Octane – which employs 53 people – announced they had produced their one-billionth gallon of ethanol. Three-years ago (2022), the company doubled its storage capacity from four million bushels to eight million bushels of corn. The plant uses 50% recycled water from the City of Atlantic’s wastewater treatment plant, as part of the cooling process in the production of ethanol. The plant handles approximately 200 semi-loads of corn daily, operates Monday through Friday, and receives around one million bushels weekly. In addition to ethanol, Elite Octane in Atlantic produces high protein animal feed and corn oil.

Rollins, who resides in Fort Worth, Texas, along with her husband and children, was sworn-in as 33rd U-S Ag Secretary in February, 2025. The U.S. Senate confirmed Rollins by a vote of 72-to-28. Most recently, Rollins served as the Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of the America First Policy Institute (AFPI). During President Trump’s first administration, she was the Director of the Domestic Policy Council and Assistant to the President for Strategic Initiatives in the White House.

During her address, Secretary Rollins announced the USDA is releasing the funding for the higher blends infrastructure incentive program.

From Atlantic, Secretary Rollins and some of the other dignitaries moved-on to Manning Farm in Waukee. She toured Beck’s Hybrid in Colfax, and was set to deliver the keynote address to Iowa Ag leaders at the FFA Enrichment Center, in Ankeny.

(Iowa Capital Dispatch) – The Iowa Senate Education Committee approved legislation Monday to change state law defining bullying in schools, keeping it alive ahead of this week’s committee deadline. The panel also sent five other bills to the Senate floor dealing with topics ranging from national guard scholarships to attendance policies. The anti-bullying legislation was the only bill that did not receive unanimous support during the meeting.

House File 865 would redefine “harassment” and “bullying” as “repeated and targeted” actions. The bill removes from current law a list of 17 traits or characteristics of a targeted student that would fall under bullying, including gender identity, sexuality, race, political belief and familial status. Sen. Sandy Salmon, R-Janesville, said schools have used the current list of possible traits and characteristics to say their hands are tied when instances of bullying have not fallen under what is in Iowa code, leading to confusion and unequal treatment of students.

Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, D-West Des Moines, voiced two concerns over the legislation, the first with changing the definitions of bullying and harassment. Trone Garriott also took issue with removing the list of characteristics for schools to look toward for reporting bullying. She said the list is broad and not limiting for schools, and being able to identify specifically what the bullying is about is helpful for school response and for research into larger trends.

While Sen. Mike Zimmer, D-DeWitt, agreed with Trone Garriott’s point about specified characteristics being a good resource for schools, he said defining bullying as being targeted and repeated would be helpful in allowing school staff to take the direction of their interventions with students that makes the most sense for the situation.

The Iowa Senate Education Committee moved ahead multiple bills Monday without discussion or dissent from its members. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

The bill passed with a vote of 11-5.

This was the committee’s first meeting since the week of the first “funnel” deadline in the Iowa Legislature on March 7, with the second funnel only days away. Most policy bills have to receive approval from one chamber and a committee in the opposite chamber to remain eligible for debate after this week. Budget and tax bills are exempt from the funnel and bills that do not make the deadline could be revived as amendments to other bills.

More education action

Most of the bills passed out of the committee Monday saw no dissent from members. Bills passed unanimously without discussion included House File 117, which would establish a new scholarship program for National Guard members earning certification rather than a degree and House File 392, allowing public and nonpublic schools grades K-12 to apply for a year-round academic calendar. Zimmer expressed his support for House File 393, also passed unanimously, which would change how performance grades for attendance centers are calculated by no longer counting instances where a student has dropped out then came back to school more than once.

Trone Garriott also raised concerns about House File 870, but voted for it alongside the rest of the members. She said she worried the legislation, which would change Iowa’s compulsory attendance law to include exemptions for students attending religious instruction, is duplicative as there are already religious exemptions for teaching in Iowa code.

Several bills deferred

Sen. Lynn Evans, chair of the education committee, said three bills were deferred and would likely be brought up again at the committee’s Thursday meeting. Senate File 269, passed out of subcommittee just hours before, would bar state universities from requiring diversity, equity and inclusion or critical race theory content in academic courses. House File 703 would change information provided to students by state loan programs and financial aid advisors and House File 189 would set requirements for public school districts with nonpublic school students wishing to participate in extracurricular athletics.

(Radio Iowa) – The Department of Education reports that high school graduation rates are back to pre-pandemic levels for the first time since 2020. The Department reports the high school graduation rate was up eight-tenths of a percent in 2024 to 88-point-three percent — the same four-year graduation rate as the class of 2019. The graduation rate for females was three-point-two percent higher than the rate for males at 89-point-nine percent.

Iowa’s graduation rate for 2024 is significantly higher than several neighboring states, with only Missouri and Wisconsin reporting graduation rates above Iowa’s, at 90-point-eight percent and 91-point-one percent.

(Radio Iowa) – The recently REALTORS Land Institute survey shows the south-central district was the only one reporting a farmland price increase. Spokesman Matt Vegter says the state average value didn’t change much. “From September one to March one, the state of Iowa, for tillable land across all nine crop reporting districts, is down one percent, so pretty flat market,” he says. The south-central market was up two tenths of a percent, the north-central was down two-point-one percent, for the largest drop.

Vegter says better commodity prices kept things from moving too much. “You know, we kind of put in a low back in August, right when we did the last survey, as of September one, and since that survey, throughout the winter months, we’ve seen a pretty good rally in the corn and bean corn and bean prices. So, I think that’s kind of the, biggest factor, bringing us back to kind of that even mark,” Vegter says. Vegter says it’s hard to tell right now how tariffs may end up impacting land values

Emotionally, they’re definitely taking a toll. I don’t think we can give any data of what it’s done to the market,” he says. Vegter says he seen some changes that may be an indication of the emotional toll could have an impact. “January, February there was actually a lot more optimism in the land market, commodity prices had rallied and there were a lot of farms that had been sitting there on the market for a while with not a lot of interest, and they all got gobbled up in January and February,” he says. “And we felt like we were starting to build a little bit of steam, and then the tariff conversation started. So I think (it’s) to be determined what that does.”

The REALTORS Land Institute survey finds land value flat in the last 6 months.

He says one area of the survey was a surprise. “Eight out of the nine crop reporting districts were actually up one to two percent on the recreational land side. And that kind of surprised me,” Vegter says. “I didn’t think demand was going to be that healthy for rec ground the last six months, but respondents said it’s there’s all kinds of folks out there still wanting to buy a timber piece or a recreational piece.”

Vegter says that’s probably a holdover from the pandemic when people looked to get out away from the cities more and the rec ground became more popular.

(Radio Iowa) – U-S Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who’s visiting Iowa today (Monday), says the Trump Administration is planning another round of market disruption payments **IF** the tariffs the president announces on Tuesday lead to a downturn in ag exports. “As soon as we fully understand the consequences, positive and otherwise, of these negotiations/renegotiations, we’ll have more announcements on that,” she said.

Rollins, though, says there’s less money available for the payments than there were in the first Trump Administration when U-S ag exports to China fell due to a trade dispute. “He was elected with the idea of tariffs being one of the top tools in his tool kit to realign the American economy, to put Americans first,” Rollins said, “but I also know that that president was proud last time that then USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue, through some mechanisms through the USDA, was able to ensure that many of our farmers were made whole through those negotiations.”

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins speaks during news conference in Waukee, joined by (from left to right) Iowa Ag Sec. Naig, U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Iowa Gov. Reynolds and U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn. (RI photo)

The trade-related payments to U-S farmers during the first Trump Administration were spread over three years and ultimately surpassed 23 BILLION dollars. Rollins told reporters the president’s next set of tariffs policies are still “to be determined,” but she’s begun planning for payments to farmers should the tariffs impact ag commodities. “Literally as we speak, as we’ve been driving from location to location here in Iowa, I’ve been on the phone non-stop managing a lot of that,” Rollins says, “or working to ensure that our farmers and our ranchers are represented in those negotiations.”

Rollins says Trump has believed for decades that America and its products and goods get a raw deal on the world stage and he needs to change that. “He believes very sincerely that for the long term that this is the right move for the country, that ultimately the economy will thrive and all Americans will be better off,” Rollins says, “…but we have some, you know, maybe a couple of weeks, maybe a few months while we’re working all of that out.”

Rollins was confirmed as U-S Agriculture secretary on February 13th and she says expanding overseas markets for U-S meat and grain is one of her top priorities. “I’m taking calls all day every day, all night every night from Democrats and Republicans as we’re working to realign the government,” she said. Rollins visited an ethanol plant in Atlantic this (Monday) Morning and toured a hog facility near Waukee this (Monday) afternoon before making her way to Newton for a meeting at a hybrid seed company.

She’ll speak tonight (Monday) at the annual Iowa Ag Leaders banquet.