A study finds Iowa saw a slight drop in technology industry employment last year. Steven Ostrowski, spokesman for the Computing Technology Industry Association or CompTIA, says Iowa’s tech industry workforce fell by more than 800 jobs or almost two-percent during 2016, putting the state near the middle of the national pack.

“Iowa ranks 32nd. They have just over 45,000 tech industry workers across the state,” Ostrowski says. “Their average wage is $77,600. That’s 38th across the United States.” That tech salary figure is about 75-percent higher than the average private sector worker in Iowa, who earns about 44-thousand-400 dollars.

“A third category we’ve ranked the states in this year is innovation,” Ostrowski says. That’s a combination of patents issued to companies within the state, the number of new tech startups and the number of new tech businesses that have been established over the course of the calendar year, and in that ranking, Iowa comes in 37th.”

CompTIA’s 18th annual CyberStates report finds more than 42-hundred tech businesses located in Iowa. Among the leading tech occupations in the state are: application software developers (7,380), computer systems analysts (5,300) and computer user support specialists (3,870). He notes, virtually every industry in the state is utilizing technology and those numbers are growing.

“It’s not necessarily just working for a technology company,” Ostrowski says. “In Iowa, there are over 62,000 workers who have technology jobs working in other industries. That could be agriculture. That could be finance, education, government, health care. It’s a pretty healthy workforce with technology as part of their credentials.”

Iowa ranks 14th in the nation in terms of gender diversity in the tech workforce. The study says 77-percent of Iowa’s tech workers are male, 23-percent female. That’s slightly better than the national average of 78-percent male and 22-percent female.

(Radio Iowa)

A small group of Republican legislators have given initial approval to next year’s spending plan for the state’s court system, prisons and public safety operations. It’s about three million dollars LEANER than the current year’s budget for those agencies. Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady had asked for a budget boost for the courts, but is getting what GOP lawmakers call a “status quo” spending plan. Cady acknowledges with state tax revenues falling below expectations, the cuts to the courts could have been deep.

“We’re prepared to go forward and continue to do the best work that we can,” Cady told reporters after meeting privately with House leaders Wednesday afternoon. “We’re just appreciative that the legislature listened to us in some respects.” Legislators are in the final stages of drafting an OVERALL spending outline for the state fiscal year that begins July 1st and some of the plans that emerged this week will cut other agencies far more — like a proposed 10 percent cut in the Department of Public Health’s next budget.

As chief justice of the Iowa Supreme Court, Cady is the top executive in the judicial branch of state government. Cady says he and his top aides will try to implement these cuts with the fewest “disruptions” to court services. “We just don’t know specifically what that is, but we’ll look at everything,” Cady says. During recent rounds of budget reductions, Cady ordered workers in the court system to take unpaid furloughs and courthouses were closed on Fridays. That may happen again.

“We look at problems as opportunities and we’ll look to make sure there aren’t things we can do in ways that might be able to save money,” Cady says. But Cady says the court system “will still maintain a presence in all 99 counties.” “That’s important to us, but…just as have this year, we operated on a shortfall and did it successfully and we’re confident we’ll be able to do it again,” Cady says. Legislators are NOT at work today in Des Moines. They will return Monday, with the hope of concluding the work of the 2017 legislative session sometime NEXT WEEK.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Supreme Court rules a Johnson County man can’t be charged for falsely answering an unauthorized question on a request for a gun permit. James Downey filled out the application for a gun permit in Johnson County in January of 2015. He provided his name, birthdate, sex, phone number, address, driver’s license number, place of birth, and country of citizenship on the front side of the form. Downey turned the form over to find 10 questions with yes or no answers. He answered “no” to whether he had ever been convicted of a felony.

The Johnson County Sheriff’s Department did a background check and charged him with making a false statement when they found he had a felony third offense O-W-I conviction. The Iowa Supreme Court ruled the 10 questions were not authorized by the legislature to be on the form and an unauthorized question on weapons permit application cannot be the basis for a crime. The ruling says if it were — someone could be asked the color of their car — and then be charged if they gave the wrong color.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court says two men convicted of second-degree murder for their involvement in the mob beating death of a Des Moines man in a downtown parking lot in 2013 will not get new trials.

The court’s ruling Friday says there was sufficient evidence for convictions of James Shorter and Yarvon Russell in the death of 40-year-old Richard Daughenbaugh. The ruling overturns an Iowa Court of Appeals decision last June that said the men should get new trials. Shorter and Russell, both 22, are serving 50-year sentences.

The court’s ruling leaves an opening for further appeals regarding whether their defense attorneys effectively represented them. Daughenbaugh was kicked and stomped by a group of young people after arriving uninvited at a parking lot party. He later died of internal injuries.

The recent warmer temperatures and other signs of spring have encouraged a lot of Iowans to schedule outdoor getaways. Staff at Iowa’s state parks have been busy preparing for another camping season. Todd Coffelt is chief of state parks for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. “Park staff around the state have been busy turning on the water, so we can get the facilities up and running,” Coffelt says.

Shower and restroom buildings in most of Iowa’s state parks will have the water on for the first time this weekend, so they’re ready for campers. Iowa has more than 4,700 state park campsites for motorhomes, travel trailers and other recreational vehicles.

There are also 92 cabins available to rent in 19 state parks. Some of the newest cabins are located in southeast Iowa’s Washington County. “Our most recent ones are six, modern, year-round cabins at Lake Darling State Park and they have been very popular,” Coffelt says.

Cabins and campsites are available for reservation online ( http://www.iowadnr.gov/Places-to-Go/State-Parks/Make-a-Reservation ). Coffelt is encouraging Iowans to check out some recent improvements to a handful of state parks, including one in southeast Iowa’s Davis County. “The Lake Wapello State Park campground opened late in the season last year,” Coffelt said. “With the water turned on, it should be good to go for people to take a look at a lot of that work they’ve done to make those sites more organized and easier to back into with a trailer…and ultimately to enjoy that fishing resource they have in the lake.”

Nearly all of the state parks with campgrounds will offer special programs or activities on May 6, including fishing clinics, fun runs, volunteer projects, special hikes and demonstrations. Learn more at: www.iowastateparks.gov/campingkickoff.

(Radio Iowa)

Weather permitting, an Easter Egg Hunt will take place in Atlantic Saturday. The event takes place on the grounds of Atlantic Specialty Care (1300 E. 19^th St.) beginning at 10:30-a.m., but Kellie Jimerson, Administrator of the facility, recommends you arrive early. You can park on the side streets, or the Atlantic High School Parking lot, where a SWITA shuttle bus will transport you to the facility and back.

There are activities for children from age 1 to10. They will be divided into four age groups when it comes to hunting for the eggs and prizes. About 15,000 eggs are purchased for filling. Jimerson said there were almost $2,500 worth of donations made available for eggs, candies and prizes.

Residents of the facility spend nearly two months filling the plastic eggs and with candy. Jimerson said they look forward to seeing the excitement in kids eyes, and their smiles. Jimerson says there’s much more going on than watching the kids find Easter Eggs filled with goodies…Hot dogs and chips are available from Hy-Vee, beverages are available from the Atlantic Coca Cola Bottling Company, and the Easter Bunny will arrive on an Atlantic Fire Truck.

There was no Easter Egg Hunt last year, because of the snow.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Lawmakers are abolishing a statewide program intended to improve reading skills of Iowa third-graders because of a lack of funding and concerns about the effort’s ineffectiveness. The Des Moines Register reports that Republican Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink of Fort Dodge confirmed plans Thursday to eliminate the program, saying lawmakers felt it would be an unfunded mandate to local school districts if state funding wasn’t available.

Nearly 25 percent of the state’s third-graders didn’t read proficiently on Iowa tests during the 2014-15 academic year. Lawmakers previously had agreed to establish a summer reading program for third-graders who failed reading tests at the end of the school year. They wouldn’t be promoted to fourth grade unless they participated in the program.

Kraayenbrink says he’s not convinced the program was the best approach.

(Updated) OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — State regulators say the Omaha day care of a woman suspected of abusing a child there has been ordered closed. Omaha police say 58-year-old Lynn Rowe has been charged with intentional child abuse, no injury. Police say she was being sought on an arrest warrant when she turned up Friday in Missouri Valley, Iowa.  She was arrested and transported to Omaha to face charges.

Police say the parents of a 4-year-old girl reported April 3 that Rowe had abused their 4-year-old daughter while at Rowe’s day care. Officials say the report was made after a worker at the day care recorded the abuse on her cellphone.

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services announced Friday afternoon that Lynn’s Learning Center has been ordered closed.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Supreme Court says the state had no legal responsibility to safeguard a 95-year-old woman who was raped by a violent sex offender placed in her nursing home after being released from state custody. The court ruling today (Friday) upholds a lower court’s decision to dismiss the state from a lawsuit filed by the women’s children.

The state received court approval in 2010 to release William Cubbage from a state-run sex offender program and place him in the Pomeroy Care Center, a northwest Iowa nursing home. Cubbage was 82 and had dementia. But within months, he sexually assaulted the woman and was sent to prison.

The Supreme Court said that because a court approved Cubbage’s release, the state had no further responsibility to monitor him. The children are pursuing a lawsuit against the nursing home.

Students from across the world are coming to the U-S and looking to find temporary homes while they attend area schools. Sue Hunt, is the local coordinator for IRIS (Iowa Resource for International Service) an Ames based non-profit, is seeking host homes across Iowa for 2017-2018 foreign exchange students. IRIS brings students to the State from 40 different countries and place them all over the U-S, with at least 30 students living in Iowa. That’s accomplished through the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study – or ‘YES’ – program.

All students are between 15 and 18 years old, but will technically be high school juniors. The students, which typically hail from Southeast Asian, Middle-Eastern and African countries. The IRIS program in Iowa, began in 1993. It differs from other Foreign Exchange student-type programs, in that the student doesn’t need to come from a financially sufficient family in order to participate.

(These students win a spot to come here based on their level of academics in their home countries, as well as their civic mindedness and reputation, along with their ability to adapt to new surroundings and cultures.)

They are given a stipend by the YES program each month, but in return the student must maintain very high grades and perform community service in their host communities, while at the same time reporting on the volunteer jobs they hold each month. The stipend covers their clothing allowance, personal supplies, etc.

Persons interested in hosting a foreign student don’t have a lot of restrictions on their ability to do so.

(You must pass a criminal background check, provide a bed and place to study, three square meals a day, and you must include the student in your family activities as well as pay their way.)

Hunt and her family have hosted two families from Tanzania. The YES program is funded by the U.S. State Department as a form of diplomacy. For bios on particular students, or for more information on hosting in general, visit http://www.iris-center.org/yes-program/17-18students/