(Radio Iowa) – The 2025 version of the Iowa Travel Guide is now available from the Iowa Tourism Office. Spokesperson Jessica O’Riley says the 148-page guide covers everything from sites to visit to food. “Lots of stuff on agri-tourism, farm to table. You know, we’d like to joke in Iowa that we were doing farm to table before it was trendy. So we feel like we’ve got a great story to tell there with lots of great restaurants across the state,” she says. O’Riley says the guide helps you plan the perfect trip. “There are farms where you can stay overnight and get some great historic hotels that are over a century old,” O’Riley says. “We’ve got mountain biking trails and even some cozy winter getaways at future cabins.”

She says the guide is aimed at those who come in from other states, and those who are natives. “Out-of-state travelers tend to spend more time here, spend more money, but we love the in-state travel as well. To technically count as a traveler, you only have to go 50 miles or more in one direction, so lots of opportunities to be in-state tourists,” she says. The guide includes a preview of coming attractions. “There’s a new mountain biking trail coming this fall in Mason City. Clear Lake has the great new surf ballroom and a music enrichment and immersive center coming and Cedar Falls just opened a great riverfront water park,” she says. “So lots of new things happening every year. So people who say there’s nothing to do here, we’d like to prove them wrong.” The Iowa Travel Guide is free.

2025 Iowa Travel Guide

“You can order it online at traveliowa.com. We’ll happily ship it to you fore free,” O’Riley says. “There’s also an online version available on the website as well if you can’t wait to get the printed guide in your hands.” O’Riley says they dub each new guide very year the best one they’ve ever done, and that holds true for this year as well.

(Radio Iowa) –  If the Trump administration goes through with threatened tariffs on Mexican imports, you may have to change up your Super Bowl snack plans for fresh guacamole. University of Iowa professor Viridiana Hernández is an expert on the history of avocado production in Mexico. Tens of millions of avocados are eaten in the U-S every year, and she says 90 percent of them are grown in the state of Michoacán  in western Mexico. She says Americans ate very few avocados four decades ago, but there was a tremendous change with the trade deal called NAFTA.

Hernández says, “With the North American Free Trade Agreement, Mexico was allowed to ship Mexican-grown avocados to the States for the first time in 1997 and the avocado took off.” Since the new millennium arrived, avocado consumption in Iowa and the U.S. has practically gone off the charts. “It’s tens of millions of avocados every year, and 90% of them are grown in this region in western Mexico, only in Michoacán,” Hernández says. “Nine out of every ten avocados that we consume here in the United States have been grown in Michoacán only in the last couple of decades.”

Prof. Viridiana Hernandez (UI photo)

While the state of Michoacán has seen significant job opportunities with the drastic increase in demand for avocados, it’s also seen a steep rise in soil erosion, faster deforestation, and an increase in violent crime. If the Trump administration enacts the tariffs before the Super Bowl on February 9th, Michoacán will need to make a crucial shift. “Growers who are now at the peak of their production would have to keep part of that production in Mexico for the domestic market,” Hernández says, “and another part of the production would have to be allocated in other places. Michoacán also sends some part of its production to Asia, particularly to Japan.”

Higher tariffs on imported avocados will also mean higher prices for American consumers, especially during the big game. “The price decreases during the Super Bowl weekend, because that is the moment when Mexican growers send most avocados to the States, and many people have a close association between the Super Bowl and guacamole,” Hernández says. “So with an increase in tariffs, it would represent a 15-to-20% increase in the price of avocados in the States.”

Despite limited domestic production in California, she says Americans are among the top global consumers of avocados, as consumption tripled from 2001 to 2020. Also, Hernández says a full 20% of annual U.S. avocado sales come on Super Bowl weekend.

DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) – Iowa is the first in the nation to let a pandemic-era eviction requirement expire, the Des Moines Register reports. The requirement said landlords had to provide people 30 days notice before eviction. It was part of the federal CARES Act, first passed in March 2020.

According to court documents, the state Supreme Court ruled last week the requirement was only temporary and no longer in effect. It comes after district judges previously rejected eviction proceedings from a Cedar Rapids Apartment complex called Retreat on 6th.

(Iowa News Service) – Families of rural Iowans with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia face a crucial lack of mental health services and advocates are meeting with some rural residents today to assess their most important needs.
Iowa has only 26 geriatricians practicing in the state. The Alzheimer’s Association said the state needs at least four times as many to meet the growing demand by 2050, and 32% more direct care workers for dementia patients by 2030.

Lauren Livingston, communications director for the Iowa chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, said the current provider shortage falls most heavily on rural Iowa, which has been declared a dementia care “desert.”

Elder care nurse playing jigsaw puzzle with senior woman in nursing home

“Most rural communities are unfortunately not lucky enough to have even a neurologist that is specialized in Alzheimer’s disease and can help diagnose,” Livingston pointed out. “Even with that first step of diagnosis, there isn’t anywhere to even get a referral to a doctor who would know how to diagnose it or what the next steps were.”

The Alzheimer’s Association said 11% of Iowans age 65 and older are living with the disease. Today’s (Thursday’s) online forum is designed to hear from affected rural residents about their most pressing concerns.

Livingston noted they hope to get good information from rural health care providers, families and caregivers about the types of support services missing in their communities.

“Then from there, we want to be able to put together more of a plan of how we can help in these rural communities and close that gap,” Livingston emphasized.

Roughly 62,000 Iowans live with Alzheimer’s disease, and another 100,000 are unpaid family caregivers. AARP Iowa is pushing for a measure in the state legislature to offer them a tax credit to help offset their out-of-pocket care expenses.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowans with Disabilities say income and asset limits for Medicaid eligibility keep them from working as much as they wish — and they’re asking legislators to make changes. Zach Mecham of Pleasantville says as a person with disabilities he has to choose between breathing and getting a full time job.

“The majority of Iowans with disabilities want to work, yet a disproportionate number of us are either unemployed or under employed,” Mecham says, “and we’d like to change that.”Alex Watters, a member of the city council in Sioux City, has a spinal cord injury. Waters says he’s been forced to limit his income so he has Medicaid coverage for the home assistance he needs to get out of bed and into his wheelchair.

“We want to work. We are looking to work and Iowa has a workforce challenge,” Waters says. “Help us remedy that challenge by filling these jobs, representing our communities and pass this piece of legislation.” Erica Carter of Sioux City suffered a spinal cord injury in 2010, but was removed from the Medicaid program in 2023 when her income as a C-P-A rose above current limits. She’s purchased private insurance and is paying out of pocket for assistance with daily activities she cannot manage on her own.

“The harsh reality that I face daily is one third of my wages goes to just getting in and out of bed,” Carter says. Disability Rights Iowa executive director Catherine Johnson says lifting Medicaid restrictions on how much Iowans with disabilities can earn and save means they’ll be able get the support they need to live independently. “This is not a benefit issue. This is an income issue that we are losing because people with disabilities cannot work to the level they want to work,” Carter said.

A bill to created a “Work without Worry” program in Iowa Medicaid was discussed by lawmakers last year and advocates are asking for its passage this year. It would remove the penalties for a working spouse’s income AND raise the income and asset limits for Medicaid coverage for Iowans with disabilities.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa may join 19 states that require age verification before someone can access a website to view porn. An Iowa House subcommittee has advanced a bill to force businesses that intentionally distribute obscene material to verify whether a person seeking online access is an adult.

Tom Chapman, executive director of the Iowa Catholic Conference, says the bill would protect children and help parents who don’t always know how to filter content on their kids’ phones. “This puts more of the obligation for protection on the provider and so we support that,” Chapman said. “We realize this bill doesn’t solve everything on the internet, but if we can put a speed bump along the way, I think it would be worth it for our state to do so.”

Logan Murray, a lobbyist for the Technology Association of Iowa, says the group supports the general concept of the bill, but has some concerns. “Websites with legitimate content could be at risk of being held liable or requiring age verification — medical publications, things along those lines,” Murray said. “Additionally, this would require a lot of data collection, which puts Iowans at risk for data breaches.”

A year ago, Governor Reynolds asked legislators to pass this kind of a law requiring age verification for access to websites with pornographic or indecent content.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – An Iowa judge has decided not to revoke the probation of a former nursing home worker accused of sexual impropriety at three different Iowa care facilities. Martell Guider, 37, was convicted last fall of sexual exploitation of a minor and given a 25-year suspended prison sentence and five years of probation.

According to the Iowa Capital Dispatch, the charge stemmed from allegations that in January 2024, while working at the Pleasantview Home in Kalona, Guider was acted inappropriately with a 17-year-old minor and later shared with others an explicit photo of the girl. According to the police, Guider threatened the minor to induce her to send him the photo via the social-messaging platform Snapchat.

As a condition of probation, Guider was required to maintain employment and a residence of some kind. In December, Guider’s probation officer notified the court that Guider was in violation of his probation by living out of his car and that his employment at Taco Bell had ended after he was fired.

Two weeks ago, Washington County District Court Judge Shawn Sowers ruled that Guider’s probation would not be revoked, which would have resulted in the 25-year prison term being imposed. Sowers ordered Guider to live at either the Washington County Jail or a state residential correctional facility for 180 days “or until maximum benefits have been achieved.” Prior to the incident at Pleasantview Home, Guider worked at nursing homes located in Audubon and Correctionville.

In Audubon, a female caregiver at Friendship Home filed a complaint with the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing in 2023 about Guider’s behavior. The woman – who filed similar complaints with management at the home and with city police – alleged Guider had been making suggestive remarks to female coworkers, had sent them photos of himself masturbating, had recorded video of one worker as she provided care for a resident, and had invited some of his female colleagues out to his car where he kept a bottle of Seagram’s Crown Royal.

A former nursing home employee has avoided probation revocation after being convicted of sexual exploitation of a minor at a Kalona care facility. In March 2023, while working at Friendship Home in Audubon, workers there reported the man sent them cell-phone photos of himself pleasuring himself, and was taking videos of his co-workers. (Photo illustration by Iowa Capital Dispatch, with Friendship Home photo via Google Earth. Text-message photo is deliberately blurred.)

The complainant provided the Iowa Capital Dispatch with screenshots of Guider’s alleged text messages, which include two photos of a man’s genitals and two photos of a man holding a bottle of Crown Royal inside a vehicle. Audubon police later acknowledged fielding complaints about Guider’s conduct at Friendship Home but said they didn’t pursue the matter. Officials at DIAL rejected the complaint they received about Guider, reportedly because the agency felt the matter was best addressed by management at Friendship Home.

Six months after the incident in Audubon, Guider was working at Correctionville Specialty Care when he was the target of a complaint that he had raped a resident of the home. State records show the alleged victim in that case told management an employee took her to his car in the facility’s parking lot, told her he was a musician, played some of his music to her, offered her a drink of Seagram’s Crown Royal from a bottle he kept in his car, and then forced her to have oral sex with him.

According to state inspectors, the alleged rape victim, who is not cognitively impaired, also alleged the worker sent her a video of himself (pleasing himself) and provided a copy of the video. After the woman reported the alleged rape, officials at Correctionville Specialty Care evicted the woman from the facility and dropped her off at a homeless shelter, according to state inspectors. Guider was terminated from employment at the Correctionville home, but state inspectors say the facility’s parent company, Care Initiatives of West Des Moines, continued to provide work for him in other Iowa nursing homes that it operates.

No criminal charges were filed in the case.

Des Moines, IA (IA HHS Press Release) – Last Friday, a federal court preliminarily approved a Settlement Agreement in a class action lawsuit brought against the Director of the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (Iowa HHS) to ensure that children with mental health disabilities receive the legally required and medically necessary mental health care services they need when and where they need them, without being segregated from their loved ones and communities.

The proposed Settlement Agreement requires Iowa HHS to develop and roll out a set of key services statewide, including care coordination, in-home mental health services, and mobile crisis services. It also requires a new screening and assessment process, to ensure children with mental health disabilities are screened for appropriate services.

Through the settlement agreement process, Iowa HHS has agreed to develop a new array of services through the Iowa Responsive Excellent Care for Healthy youth initiative (Iowa REACH). Iowa REACH is a new approach to mental and behavioral health services, aimed at helping youth remain in their communities, and connecting the development of community-based services across Iowa.

“The agreement and our REACH strategy signify a major step in the right direction for Iowa youth and their families. We’ve spent several years seeking input from stakeholders, individuals and families directly affected and believe REACH is a comprehensive approach focused on providing core services and path forward to meet the unique mental and behavioral needs of Iowa’s children. Iowa HHS is fully committed to implementing new strategies and evaluating current outcomes to ensure we are meeting the needs that our children and youth deserve and families expect,” said Iowa HHS Director Kelly Garcia.

The Settlement Agreement also includes an Implementation Plan that will serve as a blueprint for improving and strengthening the delivery of intensive home-and community-based behavioral health services for children and establishing effective quality management and accountability systems.

The case was filed in early 2023 by Disability Rights Iowa, the National Health Law Program, Children’s Rights and Ropes & Gray on behalf of Medicaid-eligible children under the age of 21 with serious emotional and behavioral health conditions. The complaint alleges instances where a child was denied access to intensive services in their homes and communities, separated from their families and placed in psychiatric hospitals and similar institutions for extended periods, where their mental health deteriorates further.

“Disability Rights Iowa commends the significant work that has been done by all parties to develop this settlement agreement. The partnership between our agency, Children’s Rights, the National Health Law Program, Ropes and Gray, and Gov. Reynolds and her administration enabled this move towards addressing the needs of children with mental health conditions in Iowa. For decades, the lack of services available has put the effected children at a greater risk for institutionalization which takes them away from their families or caregivers who are best able to love and care for them. We are pleased to be a part of this monumental change in addressing the pitfalls of the current system and finding solutions to improve the mental and physical wellbeing and safety of Iowa’s youth,” adds Catherine Johnson, Executive Director of Disability Rights Iowa.

“The National Health Law Program is committed to defending the rights of people with disabilities to access high-quality, community-integrated health care, free from discrimination, including vital mental health services. This commitment includes ending the unnecessary institutionalization of children and youth by ensuring they receive the care they need within their homes and communities,” said Kim Lewis, Managing Director, California Advocacy, and Practice Area Managing Director, National Health Law Program. “This Settlement Agreement marks a crucial step toward securing robust Medicaid home- and community-based services for Iowa’s children, along with better care coordination services and mobile crisis response services. We will continue to advocate for policies that ensure children in Iowa and across the country have access to essential mental health services.”