(Des Moines, Iowa) – A bill that would funnel a portion of Iowa Tuition Grant dollars toward high-demand job fields passed out of subcommittee Tuesday afternoon despite concerns from private college representatives about how it could impact students. According to the Iowa Capital Dispatch, House Study Bill 62 would require the Iowa College Student Aid Commission, which oversees the Iowa Tuition Grant program, to allocate 50% of funds for the program to students earning degrees that “correspond to high-wage and high-demand jobs,” based on a list created by the state workforce development board and the Iowa Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.

Criteria for job fields to be put on the list include a starting salary of at least $40,000, the acquirement of a bachelor’s degree or initial or intern teaching license for Iowa, and either a projected at-least 1% annual growth rate of new job openings or predicted annual job openings of at least 250 positions over the next five years, according to the legislation. The Iowa Tuition Grant program, founded more than 50 years ago, provides scholarships to qualifying students attending an Iowa private university. Gary Steinke, president of the Iowa Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, said during the meeting this bill would negatively impact students who most need the financial aid, and those who hope to study religion, alongside other important programs.

Steinke said faith-based universities are also concerned about the legislation, as it could impact the many students who are seeking an education grounded in faith and religion, with majors that might not qualify as leading to a high-demand job field. Mark Felderman, who spoke during public comment on behalf of Faith Baptist Bible College in Ankeny, shared the concerns Steinke brought up and asked if majors mentioning the Bible or faith are the ones being targeted by this legislation. “If we look at what’s our best return on investment in these dollars, I think you want students who graduate from a good institution, who can think, who can communicate … those who know how to interact with each other, have grounding in some of the classics and literature, have some philosophy, all of those things,” Felderman said. “And ultimately, these are the folks we want in Iowa, because they’re formed to be good people.”

Subcommittee member Rep. Jennifer Konfrst, D-Windsor Heights, asked Steinke how many students change their major while attending university, to which he said it can vary from year to year, but it generally averages around 50%. Rep. Taylor Collins, R-Mediapolis, chaired the subcommittee, joined by Konfrst and Rep. Jeff Shipley, R-Birmingham. Shipley said he feels it is important for the state to exercise oversight of the Iowa Tuition Grant program and ensure it aids in completing state objectives.

Collins said discussion on the Iowa Tuition Grant program was a long time coming, as it was formed more than 50 years ago. He said the point of the Higher Education Committee is to review all areas of higher education in the state, including public universities, community and private colleges. He said he’s also looking for colleges to provide data on how many students are using the Iowa Tuition Grant, and Konfrst said she’d like to know if these students are staying in Iowa after graduation.

The bill will be considered next by the full Higher Education Committee.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill in the Iowa House would require Iowa State and the University of Northern Iowa to revive their baseball programs. Representative Skyler Wheeler of Hull – the head coach of the Unity Christian High School baseball team — is the bill’s author.

U-N-I last fielded a baseball team during the 2009 season and I-S-U’s baseball program was shut down in May of 2001. Athletics directors for both schools cited budget constraints when announcing those decisions. Carolann Jenson — a lobbyist for the board that governs all three state universities — suggests a lot has changed since the programs were terminated.

The University of Iowa is the only one of the three state universities to have a baseball program today.

Wheeler, a native of Washington state, played first baseman for Red Raiders of the Northwestern University in Orange City.

N-C-Double-A rules allow division one baseball programs to offer nearly 12 total scholarships — and the roster is limited to 27 players. The bill has cleared a House subcommittee with the support of Wheeler and another Republican. The panel’s other member — Democratic Representative Dave Jacoby (juh-COH-bee) of Coralville — says he’ll back the bill if it also requires Iowa State and U-N-I to add women’s wrestling programs.

Over 200 Iowa high schools had a girl’s wrestling program this year. In 2021, the University of Iowa added a women’s wrestling program.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Senate has unanimously voted to make it illegal to use computer “bots” that are programmed to buy big bunches of tickets to concerts, plays and sporting events in Iowa. It’s been nicknamed “The Taylor Swift” bill and is similar to efforts in other states that were launched after tickets to some of the singer’s concerts sold out within minutes due to scalper bots. Senator Sarah Trone-Garriott  of Waukee sprinkled references to Swift’s songs in her salute to the legislation.

“This is ‘Karma’ for ticket bots. ‘Call It What You Want,’ but it doesn’t take a ‘Mastermind’ to know this bill would be a step in the right direction for Iowa’s consumers,” Trone Garriott said. Senator Kerry Gruenhagen of Walcott says the bill requires ticket vendors to report scalper bot activities and the bill makes it clear what a legit ticket is that could be affected. “It doesn’t matter if a ticket if a traditional ticket, printed from a printer at home or digital on a phone,” he said.

The Iowa Attorney General would enforce the law and could fine a repeat violator up to a hundred thousand dollars. A similar bill passed the Iowa Senate a year ago, but did not clear the House.

WASHINGTON – In a press release, the office of Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst said Tuesday, that “As part of her sweeping effort to get the absent federal workforce back to work and serving the American people, U.S. Senate DOGE Caucus Chair Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) has introduced the Protecting Taxpayers’ Wallet Act to crackdown on taxpayer-funded union time.” Ernst’s office claims the bill will stop the practice of requiring taxpayers to foot the bill for federal employees engaging in union activity while on the clock, including lobbying Congress for higher pay, negotiating telework agreements, and others securing cushy perks.

“Federal employees have been on a four-year vacation from work but were quite busy locking in pay raises and cushy telework agreements with the Biden administration,” said Ernst. “We need a full accounting of how many work hours and tax dollars have been spent to fully understand just how broken the federal workforce is. I am getting bureaucrats back to work and serving taxpayers instead of themselves.”

“Forcing the American Taxpayer to foot the bill for federal union organizing is outrageous and absurd. If federal employees and resources are going to be used for union tasks, the unions should foot the bill,” said Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who is introducing this legislation in the House.

In addition to this legislative action, her office says Senator Ernst partnered with Congressman Michael Cloud (R-Texas) to askthe Trump administration to restart the annual reports fully accounting the cost of taxpayer-funded union time. “The Biden administration allowed federal employee unions to run wild, sticking taxpayers with the tab. At the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), whistleblowers have come forward with evidence of HUD improperly paying TFUT to a number of employees, and investigations have substantiated these allegations. Specifically, a whistleblower with first-hand knowledge alleged that a HUD union official was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol during the work day and was able to successfully assert she was engaged in union activities pursuant to TFUT while in custody,” wrote the lawmakers.

 Background:

Ernst’s office said “investigations previously exposed bureaucrats claiming to be on taxpayer-funded union time while sitting in a jail cell and on permanent vacation in Florida.”

(Radio Iowa) – While snow was finally falling across the state late Tuesday evening into Wednesday, it won’t make up for what State Climatologist Justin Glisan says is a snow drought. Glisten says Iowa is anywhere from 14 to 22, inches below average for this season, and January was about six inches below average. But the weather pattern could see February beat the snowfall average. “We’re in a weak La Nina winter, which generally if you look back at snowfall behavior for weak La Ninas, we generally see anywhere from four to six inches of above average snowfall in winter,” he says.

Glistan says February has shown that pattern recently. “You know, looking at recent Februarys, we’ve actually seen slightly slightly more snowfall. We’ve had more arctic air outbreaks, we’ve had more snowfall events. So there is a potential to get more snowfall in February,” Glisan says.

He says March also has the potential to bring more snow and catch up some on the winter total.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission voted unanimously Monday against a request to pause Linn County’s new casino license until a lawsuit against the license decision is resolved. Operators of the Riverside Casino and its nonprofit license holder the Washington County Riverboat Foundation challenged the decision. Patty Koller is the executive director of the foundation.  “Imagine if you’re a nonprofit, and they’re wanting to take one-point-five million dollars away from you that helped your local organizations, we feel like we have to fight against that,” Koller says. The lawsuit says the 2021 Linn County referendum that approved gambling did not have the right language.

The Racing and Gaming Commission held a hearing on that argument before the vote to award the license and voted 4-1 to not take any action. Commissioner Alan Ostergren of Altoona, a lawyer, was the only commissioner who voted to take action. Koller says the Washington County Riverboat Foundation and Riverside operators will continue with the lawsuit. “I think the I-R-G-C has made their opinion clear. We disagree. And so the courts will sort it out, ” she says. Koller says the nonprofit will do everything it can to prevent a Cedar Rapids casino from being built.

Developers quickly broke ground last week after being awarded the license, and construction began Monday.

(Clarinda, Iowa) – Page County Attorney Carl M. Sonksen, Tuesday (Feb. 11) issued a report on cases processed in Page County District Court for the week of Feb. 3rd.  Among the cases heard:

• 40-year-old Corey Burton Dugger, of Onawa, admitted to violating the terms and conditions of his probation. He was found to be in contempt of court and sentenced to 21 days in the Page County Jail, with credit given for time previously served. Dugger also received a concurrent sentence for 21 days for the same offense, with credit for time served.
• 64-year-old David Jacob Stimson, of Shambaugh, also admitted to violating the terms and conditions of his probation. He was found to be in contempt of court and sentenced to 87 days in the Page County Jail with credit for time served.
• and, 39-year-old Megan Renee Sunderman, of Omaha, Nebraska, pled guilty last week in Page County District Court, to Possession with Intent to Deliver a Controlled Substance, Methamphetamine. She was granted a deferred judgment and placed on probation for three years. As a condition of probation, Sunderman was ordered to obtain a drug/alcohol evaluation and to follow through with any recommendations. She was then ordered to pay a civil penalty of $1,360, plus surcharges, court costs and court-appointed attorney fees.

(Iowa News Service) – Iowa is making $14 million available to take on the critical lack of child care in the state. Many families said both parents want to work and would, if not for a critical lack of child care services. The funds will be used to build more than 870 new child care centers and expand existing ones in Iowa. Jillian Herink, executive director of the Iowa Association for the Education of Young Children, said while more buildings will help, the bigger problem is a critical shortage of qualified child care providers.

“A lot of that stems from the low pay for child care providers,” Herink pointed out. “And many of the places have a lack of ability to offer benefits, as well.” The funds were awarded to 13 employers who said they will build or expand child care facilities, giving more parents the chance to go to work.

Iowa also recently launched the Childcare Solutions Fund program, which provides communities with money to raise wages and offer health benefits to child care providers. Herink noted it is one of many compensation strategies the state is using to address a yawning wage gap between traditional classroom educators and child care providers.

“For an example, a child care provider with a bachelor’s degree, on average, makes of $16 an hour, where a kindergarten teacher with the same degree is making $30 an hour,” Herink outlined. “The discrepancy is very large in the state of Iowa.”

In an effort to help working parents find child care quickly, Iowa also recently launched a website, called Iowa Child Care Connect, which allows people to see when and where child care is available in real time.

(Radio Iowa) – A subcommittee in the Iowa House has advanced a bill called the “Combating Terrorist Sympathizers Act.” It calls for suspending, expelling or firing students and employees at Iowa colleges and universities who are here on a student or work visa and express support for terrorist activities or a terrorist organization. They’d likely have to leave the country. Representative John Wills, a Republican from Spirit Lake, says it’s a response to campus protests against Israel.

“A lot of non-citizens in those protests, supporting Hamas…If you’re not a citizen of the United States, you’re here at the grace of the United States, but yet supporting against the interests of the United States, then why should you be here?,” Wills says. “Why should you stay?” Representative Jeff Shipley, a Republican from Birmingham, says he supports the direction of the bill, but he has questions about how the policy would be applied in real life.

“If I want to throw tea in the harbor or something, you know…Does this count as terrorist activity or a terrorist organization or is it a lawful political opinion that needs to be protested or cherished?” Shipley said, “…but I think it is justified to do something to make it very clear what we do and do not tolerate on campus.” Representative Ross Wilburn, a Democrat from Ames, opposes the bill. “This is not ready for prime time,” Wilburn says. “…If I happen to be listening to someone speak and I’m nodding my head and someone has a concern, am I now a terrorist? Am I now supporting a group?”

As written, the bill calls for the sanctions to apply for espousing terrorism any time, anywhere — meaning a visa holder could be expelled or fired from an Iowa college or university for actions or statements made in another state or another country. Last month, President Trump said he would cancel visas and deport foreign students who are Hamas sympathizers.