(Radio Iowa) – We’re a month into a bitter cold winter, but dedicated Iowa cyclists are thinking ahead to spring and this weekend’s Iowa Bike Expo, what’s billed as the largest one-day bike show in the Midwest. Luke Hoffman, executive director of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, says they’re expecting at least five-thousand people to attend the free event in Des Moines. “Folks can come out and check out the latest gear from some bike-friendly businesses, and also just check out some of the other awesome local nonprofits. We have over 30 local nonprofits who are signed up to participate,” Hoffman says, “and tons of different vendors. We actually just sold out at 120 different vendors.”

The Saturday event runs from 9 A-M to 3 P-M at the Iowa Events Center. After the expo closes, another event begins — the first-ever Iowa Bicycle Coalition Bike Banquet, also at the Events Center from 3 to 6 P-M. Hoffman says they have a long list of educational, inspirational speakers, plus, they’ll be releasing a report on the impact of cycling in Iowa. “We have a statewide renewal of our 2012 study, which was an economic and health impact study on cycling and trails in Iowa,” Hoffman says. “That study back in 2012 showed that it was $364.9-million over 10 years ago and even just adjusting for inflation, that’s half a billion in today’s dollars.”

Hoffman says the report will detail how the popularity — and the impact — of cycling in Iowa has continued to grow. “It’s going to help us tell the story about who we are as a state. It’s a core part of our identity, that we’re a bike-friendly state,” Hoffman says. “This is going to add to that and then also advance it in a way that helps us understand that cycling isn’t just about local impacts and the economics of it, but also those health impacts of physical activity, which I think is really important, including mental health.”

One other cycling event this weekend is the Route Announcement Party for RAGBRAI, the Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa. That’s Saturday at 6 P-M at Vibrant Music Hall in Waukee.

(Hardin County, Iowa) – A woman from Radcliffe in north central Iowa, died Thursday after her car was struck by a train. The Iowa State Patrol says the accident happened at around 10:55-a.m., as a 2021 Toyota Prius was traveling east on 290th Street southeast of Radcliffe. The driver of the vehicle, 71-year-old Kathaleen Houck, failed to yield to a northbound train at a railroad crossing. After her car was struck on the rear passenger side, Houck – who was wearing her seat belt – was taken by Life Flight helicopter from the scene, to Iowa Methodist in Des Moines, where she later died from her injuries.

The crash remains under investigation.

(Clarinda, Iowa) – Page County Attorney Carl M. Sonksen, today (Friday), issued a statement with regard to his resignation. Sonksen says “After 17 years of service in the Page County Attorney’s Office, including over nine years as the Page County Attorney, I have decided to accept an offer of employment from the Iowa Attorney General’s Office.” His resignation as the Page County Attorney is effective February 12th (2025).

Attorney Sonksen says “I believe accepting this position is in the best interests of my family and my future career goals as an attorney. I look forward to serving the citizens of the State of Iowa in this position.” He said also, “It has been my honor to serve the citizens of Page County and to work with the many law enforcement professionals involved in crime fighting in our area.”

(Radio Iowa) – It took five days to douse the fire at a northern Iowa business that recycles cardboard and paper. The fire at the Mason City Recycling Center started last Friday and fire crews were still dealing with flare ups Wednesday night. Mason City Fire Chief Eric Bullinger says it was a difficult fire to fight because of bitterly cold temperatures AND because the property is outside of the city limits, in a rural area. “When you’re exposed to that element of the extreme cold, everything freezes up,” he says, “so you can imagine when you have the water out in the open, that is freezing everything up externally, too.” Bullinger, in a briefing to the Mason City Council, explained that all of the water to fight the fire had to be hauled to the site because there were no fire hydrants nearby.

“We need to draft or basically vacuum the water out of those drop tanks, but we have to have several departments assist us in this because we’re simply not set up to have that many tankers supply the water to us,” Bullinger said. “Some of those tankers involved would hold 2500-3000 gallons of water at a time and, even with a constant supply…we were using the water faster than we could bring it in.” Mason City’s fire department got assistance from the fire departments in Clear Lake, Nora Springs, Rockwell and Ventura. “There were 19 fire fighting apparatus (there),” Bullinger says. “Personnel, probably closer to 35 or 40 altogether.”

The city administrator in Mason City says it was an absolutely miserable environment in which to battle a blaze of that size and it took the work of all those fire departments as well as city and county officials and private entitles near the plant to keep the fire from spreading.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – House District 21 Republican Representative Thomas Moore, of Griswold, has issued a report on recent bills to pass before him the week of Jan. 20th. Moore said Sub-Committee bills he was a part of this week included:

Moore said House File 10 is a bill relating to the attachment of the territory of a school district that is subject to an approved dissolution proposal, and including applicability provisions.

Representative Moore said the Education Committee passed two bills out of committee. One Creates the National Guard Service Professional Qualifications Scholarship Program for Iowa Guard who are participating in a program that leads to a credential that is approved by the Adjutant General and offered by a community college, Regent institution, or private college. The other was a bill to modify the provisions of the National Guard Service Scholarship Program. Moore says they started the day Thursday with a Republican caucus, discussing SSA (State Supplemental Aid).

Moore says “In this climate of wanting to cut property taxes, 2% would be a property tax increase for around 50% or half of all the school districts in Iowa. We can and should do better.” During the HHS Committee, Moore says he “Listened to a presentation about Supporting Youth in Crisis by HHS Director Kelly Garcia. They discussed addressing the growing number of situations in which appropriate placement cannot be attained for individuals in this state in an effort to clear barriers and better serve Iowans.”

In other business, Representative Moore say Red Oak Montgomery County YMCA Director Carrie Shalters, and Atlantic Nishna Valley YMCA Director Dan Haynes spent Wednesday afternoon sharing info on Y programs and with legislators and thanking them for their support.

Left to right: Dan Haynes, Rep. Moore and Carrie Shalters. (Photo submitted)

On Wednesday, he had a constituent visit from Jerry Hansen of Red Oak. He was at the Capitol advocating for Veterans priorities and maintaining the autonomy of the County VSO’s especially in respect to training for individual service officers.

Jerry Hansen (Center) and Rep. Moore

And, Moore says “State high school FFA groups were out in full force on Wednesday,” and he was able to meet with Stanton and Atlantic/CAM groups.

(Radio Iowa) – A small, historic diner in downtown Mason City that dates back to the 1940s is being rescued in hopes it can reopen under new ownership. The Suzie Q Cafe has been closed since April of 2023 when a fire next-door destroyed the Kirk Apartments building. The restaurant got its water service from the Kirk and city administrator Aaron Burnett says in order to operate the diner, that service will need to be restored. “People didn’t realize how intimately intertwined that building was with the Suzie Q,” Burnett says. “Services were brought off of that building, and so when that building burned down, it really made it impossible for that building to operate as it had previously, and it did not reopen.”

Officials with the Mason City Historic Preservation Commission have met with the diner’s owner, who would like the commission to take ownership. If the diner needs to be moved to a new location, Burnett says there are options that need to be carefully weighed. “It’s trying to figure out what is really the best from an historic preservation standpoint and also what’s functional because it does need to be visible enough that it can actually engage in business,” Burnett says. “It’s not just meant to be sculpture, so it’s trying to balance those interests and I think there’s some good locations that will do fine.”

Photo courtesy of the City of Mason City

The diner sits on the Kirk Apartments property and the city has to lease the land under the diner from the current owner. This week, the city approved a lease agreement on the land and an asset purchase agreement for the cafe, which was established in 1948. The agreements include the rights to all recipes, including the diner’s famous Spic ‘n’ Span tenderloin.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill eligible for debate in the Iowa Senate Education Committee would require that public schools show students in all grades ultrasounds and computer-generated animation that explain pregnancy and fetal development. Amber Williams, a lobbyist for an Iowa organization called Inspired Life, says getting this kind of information when she was a student may have changed her decision to have an abortion at the age of 18.

“By passing this bill we can provide a compelling, science-based view of a baby’s development in the womb,” she said. “This type of education has the potential to profoundly impact how young people perceive life and the choices that they will face.” Similar bills that stalled in the legislature last year specified the “Meet Baby Olivia” video produced by an anti-abortion group would have to be shown to students, starting in 7th grade.

There’s no reference to that video in this year’s bill — and the legislation no longer says what’s presented to students should be based on research by medical organizations like the American College of O-B-G-Y-Ns. Johnston High School student Genevieve Weis is asking legislators to reject the bill.  “When students are given false information, it leads to confusion and hinders the understanding of important concepts,” she said. “This not only affects their academics, but their ability to make informed decisions about their future.”

Bill backers say the legislation requires students be presented with research-based, unbiased information that depicts the humanity of the unborn child. A lobbyist for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa says it’s a politically motivated bill that’s meant to influence the trajectory of young Iowans’ lives.

McLEAN, Va., Jan. 23, 2025 — Glen R. Smith, a native of Atlantic (Iowa), was elected this week as chairman of the Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation board of directors. He succeeds Jeffery Hall, who served as chairman of the FCSIC board of directors from November 2016 until he was designated board chairman and CEO of the Farm Credit Administration (FCA) on Jan. 20, 2025.

“I would like to thank the FCSIC board for electing me chair,” said Chairman Smith. “I am honored to have the opportunity to lead FCSIC because I recognize and value the role it plays in maintaining investor confidence in the Farm Credit System (FCS or System). This confidence is crucial for the System to have a dependable source of funds to lend to agriculture and rural America. I also want to thank Board Member Jeff Hall for his exemplary leadership of the FCSIC board of directors for the past eight years. I look forward to working with him and Board Member Vincent Logan as we continue to fulfill FCSIC’s mission.”

The Insurance Corporation is an independent U.S. government-controlled corporation responsible for ensuring the repayment of principal and interest on certain Farm Credit System debt obligations issued to investors. As of Sept. 30, 2024, the FCSIC insurance fund held $7.8 billion in total assets, insuring $434.8 billion in outstanding FCS debt. The FCS includes a nationwide network of borrower-owned cooperative lending institutions and affiliated service entities that have a leading role in providing financing to agriculture and rural America. The Insurance Corporation is managed by a three-member board of directors consisting of individuals who serve concurrently as members of the FCA board. FCA is the regulator of the FCS.

Chairman Smith has served as a member of the FCA board, as well as a member of the FCSIC board of directors, since December 2017, when President Donald J. Trump appointed him to the FCA board. President Trump designated him chairman of the board and CEO of FCA in 2019, and he served in that capacity through most of 2022. In his role on the FCA board, Mr. Smith has been particularly interested in encouraging the advancement of System programs for young, beginning, and small farmers and ranchers, in addition to promoting the safety and soundness of System institutions. These board efforts culminated in regulatory actions that were entered into the Federal Register in February 2024.

Glen R. Smith (File photo)

Chairman Smith was raised on a diversified crop and livestock farm in rural Atlantic. His farm experience started at a very early age, after his father was involved in a disabling farm accident. He graduated from Iowa State University in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural business. In 1982 Chairman Smith and his wife, Fauzan, moved back to his hometown and started their family agricultural operation as “beginning farmers.” In that same year, he established a locally based land service company. Today, their family farm, Smith Generation Farms Inc., has grown to encompass about 2,000 owned acres devoted to corn, soybeans, and hay. The company, Smith Land Service, specializes in farm management, land appraisal, and farmland brokerage, serving landowners in about 30 Iowa counties.

The Smiths have four grown children and six grandchildren, all involved in various degrees with production agriculture. In 2017, their son Peter assumed managerial responsibilities for both the family farm and business.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission heard details of two studies on the state of the gambling market and the impact of a new casino in Cedar Rapids at their meeting today (Thursday) in Jefferson. Brent Wittenberg of Marquette Advisors talked about the impact of a new casino in Linn County. “You can see a statewide net impact of about 64 million in terms of new revenue, new commercial, concealed revenue flowing into the state,” he says. Wittenberg says 57 percent of the revenue for Cedar Rapids would come from existing casinos.

“Facilities at Riverside and Meskwaki and Isle of Waterloo, that’s where the impact is likely to be most felt,” he says. The other study showed similar numbers, with some 60 million in new revenue, but around 56 million cannibalized from existing casinos. Jonathan Swaim spoke for casino developers and said those predictions have been wrong in the past.

“Seventy-nine-percent of the revenue and the application for this facility we’re standing in today was to be cannibalized. That license was issued. Obviously, none of those revenue cannibalization numbers occurred,” Swaim says. Swaim says they believe the proposed Cedar Rapids casino meets all the requirements of the state. “We believe there’s 12 ‘yes’ check marks next to each of these criteria as it relates to this project, whether it’s economic impact, community support, the viability, net benefits, the tourism, employment opportunities,” he says.

A spokesman for the Meskwaki Casino spoke at the meeting against the Cedar Rapids casino, saying it would impact their operation. The I-R-G-C is set to vote on the new license February 6th.