(Radio Iowa) — Researchers at Iowa State University are working to develop a glove to better protect firefighters from extreme heat while also allowing their fingers to remain agile. Professor Guowen Song, who runs I-S-U’s Labs for Functional Textiles and Protective Clothing, says many first responders use gloves made with a thick, bulky material that protects the hand but limits comfort and dexterity. “Wearing the protective gear basically is to protect your body from injury but also we rely a lot on our hand to finish the task,” Song says.

Thanks to a one-point-five million dollar grant from the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Song’s team on the Ames campus is working to improve the safety and function of heat-protection gloves. “Hand is so specific and the ways of the thermal regulation is different,” Song says, “so we need a specific model to make sure that each finger is being fully protected and also the performance of comfort, the performance of dexterity can be realized.”

Studies find the gloves now being used by many firefighters cause them to lose more than 50-percent of their manual dexterity. Song says, “This is the priority and the basic focus, how we’re going to develop the relations of the glove, material property design, and to make sure the dexterity is not lost too much.” A better, safer glove is just the beginning. In the next stage, Song says I-S-U researchers want to apply what they learn to other types of protective first responders’ gear, including boots and helmets.

(Radio Iowa) — The board that governs Iowa’s three public universities has released a study which indicates the institutions provide an economic spark to the state. Consultant Hannah Ruffridge estimates the three schools accounted for more than six percent of the state’s gross domestic product in the 2017-2018 academic year. “It’s also equivalent to supporting almost 150,000 jobs. Another way to say this — and my personal favorite — is one out of every 14 jobs in this state is in some way supported by the activities of the universities and their students.”

Ruffridge says the analysis of the University of IOWA, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa shows there was a nearly three dollar return for each state tax dollar spent on the three campuses. And she says the three universities added one-point-nine BILLION dollars to total state income during the 2017-2018 academic year. “Measuring that money that is staying in the state of Iowa, not leaking out and we’re not simply rearranging the furniture and calling that an impact,” Ruffridge says. “This is money that would not have been there otherwise.”

Ruffridge works at a firm that’s recently done similar economic impact studies for Syracuse, the University of Illinois and the public universities in Ohio. Ruffridge made her presentation yesterday (Thursday) to the Iowa Board of Regents. The board’s president says the analysis shows the universities provide a “tangible benefit” to Iowans in all 99 counties.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Union leaders say workers have ratified a contract for the General Mills processing plant in Cedar Rapids. Local 110 of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union said Thursday the three-year agreement reached last week covering the 520 workers will “ensure the maintenance” of benefits.

The deal provides for annual pay increases and six extra of paid time off annually, among other things. The two sides have been negotiating since January, when workers voted for the union representation. The workers overwhelmingly rejected a company offer on Nov. 6.

Red Oak Police, Thursday night, arrested 48-year old Michael Vaughn Cox, of Red Oak. Cox was arrested at around 7:50-p.m. in the 1800 block of N. 8th Street, for Public Intoxication. His cash bond at the Montgomery County Jail, was set at $300.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:25 a.m. CST

WEBSTER CITY, Iowa (AP) — Officials have identified two people found dead inside a central Iowa apartment as a woman and an infant. The Des Moines Register reports that Webster City police have identified the victims as 28-year-old Mariangelys Ortiz and 3-month-old and Abimelec Ortiz Figueroa. The bodies of both were found inside the Webster city apartment Sunday morning. The cause of deaths has not been released.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — State natural resources officials say Iowa will report 622 river, lake and wetland segments with impairments to the Environmental Protection Agency as part of its 2018 summary of water quality. That’s a 2% increase over the 608 reported in the 2016 report. The federal Clean Water Act requires states to compile a report every two years.

NEVADA, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say one person has died in an industrial accident at a biofuels plant in central Iowa. Television station KCCI reports that the Nevada Public Safety Department confirmed the death occurred Thursday afternoon at Verbio North America’s Biorefinery in Nevada, which is about 40 miles north of Des Moines. Officials say the person died at the scene but did not give details of the nature of the accident.

MONTEZUMA, Iowa (AP) — A defense expert says a confession by the suspect in the death of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts is not reliable because he was sleep deprived and susceptible to coercion. Brian Leslie, a consultant with expertise in interrogation techniques, reviewed video of an 11-hour interrogation of Cristhian Bahena Rivera in August 2018. He notes Rivera fell in and out of sleep before admitting involvement in Tibbetts’ death. Leslie says he would “not take a lot of what was said as credible.”