(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says if President Trump shuts down FEMA — the Federal Emergency Management Agency — the State of Iowa will be able to significantly streamline the process of getting federal disaster aid to Iowans. “We’re all so different,” Reynolds said during a news conference this week. “Every state is different. Every state has different challenges.”

Reynolds said it was a struggle to help Iowans whose homes were damaged in last year’s tornadoes and flooding get approval from a FEMA-approved inspection that repairs met code requirements and the homeowners could move back in. “But they have all these separate contracts with all — sometimes with their buddies, and it takes forever to get them in and I’m always operating on their timeline,” Reynolds said. “…We can do that more quickly, more efficiently.”

Gov. Reynolds and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell surveyed flood damage in northwest Iowa this past summer. (Governor’s office photo)

Reynolds says there’s “too much bureaucracy” involved in getting federal aid distributed to disaster victims who qualify for it. “We need one single sign in, one single point of entry that goes across all of the agencies,” Reynolds told reporters.

Under the current structure, disaster victims fill out multiple rounds of paperwork to see if they qualify for assistance from FEMA, the USDA, the Small Business Administration or any other federal agency. “Those poor people that are in distress and have lost everything — help ’em!” Reynolds said. “Don’t make ’em show five different times and go through almost the same questions.” President Trump posted a statement on social media about FEMA, calling the agency “slow and totally ineffective” and he called for FEMA to be “terminated.” Trump said individual states “should handle storms as they come.”

Governor Reynolds indicated that while Trump is talking about shutting down FEMA, she expects state officials would be in charge of distributing federal assistance to people who live in regions designated as presidential disaster areas.

(Atlantic, Iowa) — Officials with Cass Health in Atlantic, today (Thursday), announced Registered Nurse Kristin Meyer was recently selected as one of the 2025 Great Iowa Nurses. Great Iowa Nurses is a non-profit program that recognizes nurses in Iowa and spotlights qualities that demonstrate efforts beyond those expected of a nurse within their normal duties.

Meyer was nominated by her supervisor, Inpatient Services Nurse Manager Danielle Powers, RN, who wrote, “Kristin is the night shift nurse everyone wants to work with, and the one our hospitalists count on to keep them organized. She’s simultaneously caring for patients while mentoring nurses, collaborating with providers, and keeping on task. While she puts up a humorous front, she always prioritizes her patients while showing and teaching compassion and empathy; she creates a sense of security and trust that is rarely found.”

Meyer has worked in nursing since she earned her RN in 1998. She spent the first 24 years of her career in skilled nursing with older adults before transitioning to inpatient care at Cass Health. “I have worked with some exceptional co-workers over the years and am truly grateful for all I have learned from them. My last four years at Cass Health have been great. I was nervous about changing to hospital nursing after spending the majority of my career in skilled nursing. However, I could not have chosen a better organization to work in hospital nursing. The staff here have been so welcoming and great to work with.”

Kristin Meyer, RN (Photo submitted)

Originally called 100 Great Iowa Nurses, the recognition was established in 2004 and hosted by the University of Iowa until 2020. In 2022, with the support of Mary Greeley Medical Center, the program, now called Great Iowa Nurses, returned to recognize Iowa nurses that routinely go above and beyond every day and take that extra step to ensure safe, compassionate care for their patients. These great nurses share their experience and knowledge to improve the health of their communities. They also take on leadership and mentoring responsibilities, serving as role models for everyone they work with, especially those just entering the profession.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congressman Randy Feenstra says the United States will benefit from tariffs on imported steel and aluminum imposed by the Trump Administration. Feenstra says the president’s move is an attempt to spur the production of more American-made products. “The great thing is, Trump ran on this, and I agree with it–America first,” said Feenstra. “We’re buying all this stuff from our foreign adversaries like China and other countries. You know, we’ve got to make it right here, right in the U-S, U-S made,” Feenstra says. The Republican from Hull says the president is using tariffs as a bargaining chip to get better trade deals and increased border security.

“We’ve seen this with other tariffs,” he said. “The Mexico tariffs, the Canadian tariffs–he used them as leverage. What did we get out of them? We got 10-thousand border patrol agents from Mexico to protect our border on the other side,” he says.” We’ve got Canada that created 10-thousand border agents to make sure fentanyl wasn’t coming through Canada. So, often these tariffs can be used as leverage to get things done. And, I applaud Trump for what he’s doing.”

Published reports indicate the aforementioned border agents were actually provided under previous agreements reached under then-President Joe Biden. Feenstra adds any short-term pain from tariffs experienced by Americans should be offset by tax relief. Feenstra also calls for new trade markets with countries such as India, Thailand, Japan and the African nations.

(Radio Iowa) – Deere and Company is reporting its worldwide sales and revenue fell 30 percent during the last three months. John May, Deere and Company’s C-E-O, says the company’s customers are facing uncertain market conditions, but he’s seeing compelling evidence the company is positioned to successfully navigate the current environment. Deere has reduced its workforce to slow production at plants in Iowa and elsewhere.

Over the last quarter, Deere saw sales slippage for not only its farm machinery, but for John Deere lawn mowers and its equipment for the construction and forestry industries.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic School Board,during their electronic meeting Wednesday evening, discussed the FY2026 Tax rate options for next year, and due dates for public hearings on a proposal. Lisa Jones, Director of Finance explained how the tax rate and hearing dates are determined.

Jones said school districts must set the highest rate it can be by March 5^th, and share that with their County Auditor.

Lisa Jones said the dates are set in-place in the event the State Legislature has not established the SSA (School Supplemental Aid). The normal public hearing will be held after April 1^st but before April 15^th.

Last year, the Atlantic School District’s tax rate was $12.517/per $1,000 assessed property valuation (or about $12-dollars and 52 cents). For the FY26 tax year, Jones said the rate she’s predicting is $12.526/$1,000 valuation (or about $12.53/1,000).

Jones said depending on what the legislature sets for SSA, it could mean anywhere from $156 more per student, to as much as $176, but if they decide on less than two-percent, that amount could drop to $118 more per student. She said the district has to make sure it gets enough from property tax if the SSA drops. Most of the district’s funding typically comes from SSA, and that’s much more than from property taxes.

She explained they’re looking at an increase in the property tax asking because the management fund (which pays for Early Retirement and District Insurance) took a hit and went up 20-percent. This year it looks to increase another 15-percent.

She said the district’s bond consultant said there are ways to keep the tax rates nearly stable, by bonding without having an increase in property taxes. For instance, the income surtax could be lowered if debt service is increased and the management fund is lowered. Essentially, it would mean shuffling a few dollars around. No decision was made on the tax levy during Wednesday’s meeting.

(Radio Iowa) – Lawmakers who represent two northeast Iowa school districts struggling to join a new athletic conference are sponsoring bills to establish a new committee to review conference re-alignment. The Decorah school district, for example, has lost its appeals to state officials and its teams will not be in a conference next year. Representative Michael Bergan, of Dorchester, represents Decorah in the Iowa House.

The bill calls for a new committee to be formed to evaluate the enrollment in conference schools, traditional rivalries and the compatibility of extracurricular activities among conference members.

Bergan says this is similar to the process used in Wisconsin.

House Speaker Pat Grassley is co-sponsoring the House bill with Bergan. Grassley represents the Waverly-Shell Rock District, which left the Northeast Iowa Conference at the end of the last school year and its bid to join the WaMac Conference was denied. A senate bill on the topic of conference realignment that’s identical to the House bill is co-sponsored by Senators Mike Klemish, of Spillville, and Sandy Salmon, of Janesville.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Health care professionals, institutions and payors would not be required to provide medical services that they say violates their conscience under a bill advanced by a House subcommittee Wednesday. The Iowa Capital Dispatch says House Study Bill 139 would grant medical practitioners, health care organizations and health insurance companies the right not to participate in or pay for a health care service that goes against their conscience, saying these entities cannot be held civilly, criminally or administratively liable for exercising their right to not provide a service. There are exceptions made for emergency medical services.

Luke Vader, a second year medical student at Des Moines University, said he supported the legislation as a future physician and was “shocked” the measure was not already in law. But other advocates, like Connie Ryan with Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, said the measure would allow for discrimination in providing medical care to Iowa patients. Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison, said he disagreed with Ryan’s and others’ arguments that medical providers should not be granted the right to refuse to provide services over issues of religious or moral beliefs. Rep. Lindsay James, D-Dubuque, said she was supportive of protecting physicians’ rights, but was also aware of the “political realities” of accessing health care services that she said have been deemed political, like abortion and gender-affirming health care. She did not sign off on the legislation, saying she had remaining concerns about the impact of the legislation.

A similar bill, Senate File 220, was passed by a Senate subcommittee Tuesday. Keenan Crow with One Iowa said many parts of the bill were already in place through federal rules and they objected to new parts of the bill allowing for health care payors to not pay for medical services due to issues of conscience. Jim Carney with the Iowa State Bar Association also asked lawmakers to add language that people choosing not to provide or pay for services are acting “reasonably and in good faith” when being provided legal immunity in these cases.

Rep. Bill Gustoff, R-Des Moines said he believes there may be some areas for clarification in the bill’s language, but that he believed the legislation offers a “much-needed protection” for Iowa’s medical industry. He and Holt moved the legislation forward for consideration by the House Judiciary Committee.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is asking legislators to prepare to use state tax dollars to support crime victim services that have received federal grants in the past. “All of our victim assistance agencies throughout the whole state of Iowa depend on that funding to keep their doors open,” Bird said. “…Last year there was a cut of $5.4 million ,which was devastating.” Governor Reynolds transferred five-point-four MILLION dollars out of Iowa’s allotment of federal pandemic relief money to plug that hole.

“That is one time money. It’s not available for a future year, but this is something that we’re carefully monitoring,” Bird said. “And at least in this point in time it appears a cut of that magnitude is still likely.” Bird says she’s discussed this dilemma with Iowa’s congressional delegation and the bipartisan group of state attorneys general are lobbying congress and the U-S Department of Justice on the issue. Bird plans to meet with U-S Attorney General Pam Bondi to make the case that victim service organizations need these federal dollars. The Crime Victim Assistance Division in the Iowa Attorney General’s office is funded with the fines and fees Iowa courts order criminals to pay. The agency provides direct assistance to cover a crime victim’s out-of-pocket expenses.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird presented her budget requests to a House subcommittee this week. (RI file photo)

“If a woman is a victim of domestic violence…we don’t want her to not leave her abuser because she’s worried about money,” Bird says. “…If, for example, a domestic abuse victim…calls 911 and her boyfriend destroys her cell phone and then her boyfriend throws a rock through the windshield of her car so that she can’t get to work as easily, those types of things we can provide reimbursement.”

Bird is asking the state legislature for an additional one MILLION dollars to provide counseling and other services to victims of human trafficking. Bird says people who’ve been subjected to forced labor need more long term support.

(Radio Iowa) –  The Marshalltown Fire Department reports a three-year-old girl who was in critical condition after being rescued from a house fire there Monday afternoon, has died. The girl was found by firefighters on the second floor of the house in the 500 block of E. Church Street, and was flown to University Hospitals in Iowa City. The girl’s name has not been released and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A man from Emerson who was arrested Wednesday morning for Public Intoxication, was arrested later that same day on the same charge. Red Oak Police report 46-year-old Adrian Charles Bauer was arrested at around 5-p.m. Wednesday, in the 1700 block of N. Broadway Street. He was charged with Public Intoxication and transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where his bond was set at $300.

Bauer had previously been arrested at around 7:40-a.m. Wednesday, on Public Intoxication and Disorderly Conduct charges.