(Radio Iowa) – A bill to make it illegal to be handling or scrolling on a cell phone while driving has cleared a Senate subcommittee — and two women from Mount Pleasant were at the subcommittee’s hearing yesterday (Wednesday) to urge lawmakers to act. In 2023, Judi Collara’s 30-year-old daughter Kristi was hit at an intersection in Mount Pleasant by a texting driver who didn’t see the light was red.

“Driving’s a privilege and to choose to text instead of drive puts other people at risk and so we ask you to pass it and hope that we can save some lives and save families the agony of losing their loved one,” she said. “My daughter’s never going to call me again and say: ‘I love you, mom.'” In 2022, Berta Pearson’s 20 year old grandson was setting up a construction zone on the Mississippi River bridge at Burlington when he was hit and killed by a driver checking the Snapchat app on her cell phone.

Judi Collara, on right, and Berta Pearson, wearing a button featuring a photo of her late grandson, speak with a state senator after today’s subcommittee hearing. (RI photo)

“We have to do something,” she said. “We can’t let more kids die just because somebody thought they needed to be on that silly phone.” A 2017 law banned texting while driving, but police say it’s hard to enforce since it’s still legal in Iowa for drivers to handle their phones to make calls or check navigation apps. Waukee Police Chief Chad McCluskey spoke on behalf of the Iowa Police Chiefs Association at yesterday’s (Wednesday’s) hearing.

“Our hearts go out to those of you who have lost family members as a result of distracted driving,” he said. “The current texting bill presents a lot of challenges with enforcement and we applaud the governor and legislative leadership for taking this up this year and trying to get something passed.” Earlier this month, Governor Reynolds used part of her Condition of the State address to again call on lawmakers to pass a law saying motorists may only use cell phones in voice activated or hands-free mode while driving.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill under consideration in the Iowa House would ban margarine and two food additives from the lunches and breakfasts served at Iowa schools. Representative Jeff Shipley, a Republican from Fairfield, is the lawmaker assigned to lead discussion of the bill.  “These additives maybe don’t do anything or maybe they’re harmful,” Shipley says, “and maybe they ought not to be there.” The bill mentions Red Dye number 40, which is made from petroleum. It’s one of a half dozen food dyes that will be banned from California school lunches starting in 2028.

“We think that’s an interesting model that we want to discuss and see what the public might have an appetite for here in Iowa,” Shipley says. Robert F. Kennedy, Junior — President Trump’s nominee to lead a key federal agency — has raised questions about the country’s food supply and the eating habits of Americans. The bill which has cleared a subcommittee in the Iowa House would ban the state’s schools from serving margarine to students.

State Representative Jeff Shipley (R-Fairfield) (official photo)

“I think it’s something that the state of Iowa needs to take a much closer look at and I think some of the science over the last 30-40 years that might have shifted in a pro-margarine direction, a lot of that has been up for reconsideration,” Shipley says. “There’s a lot of ongoing debate still happening and not necessarily a lot of consensus, but I think there is a consensus that what we’ve been doing hasn’t been working out very well.”

Shipley says he personally prefers butter and the good, healthy fat that it provides. The bill as currently written also would ban Yellow Dye 7 which is used in soaps and cosmetics. Margarine, by the way, is not naturally yellow and many states had laws requiring margarine to be colored pink or banned the sale of yellow margarine. However, Wisconsin still bans restaurants from serving margarine unless the customer asks for it.

(Radio Iowa) – The first piece of legislation President Trump will sign into law includes provisions Iowa’s congressional delegation has sought for the past eight years. Iowa Congressman Randy Feenstra is a sponsor of “Sarah’s Law” — named for a 21 year old Council Bluffs woman who died in Omaha just hours after she’d graduated from college. “In the early morning hours of January 31, 2016, Michelle and Scott Root received the call that that every parent never wants to hear. Their daughter Sarah had been killed in a car accident,” Feenstra said. “What’s worse is Sarah was killed by an illegal immigrant who was driving drunk — three times over the legal limit.”

Federal officials did not detain the illegal immigrant who police had arrested and charged with Root’s death and he disappeared after posting bail.  “This egregious loophole in the federal law must be closed so that victims like Sarah Root can reeeive justice,” Feenstra said, “and criminals can do the hard time they deserve.” Sarah’s Law requires Immigration and Customs Enforcement to keep illegal immigrants in custody if they’ve been arrested and charged with murder or seriously injuring someone. “As a father of four, I can’t fathom the pain the Root family feels to this day. it’s truly heartbreaking,” Feenstra said. “…I look forward to President Trump signing this bill into law so illegal immigrants who break our laws are held accountable for their crimes.”

Iowa Congressman Randy Feenstra (R-Hull) speaks on U.S. House floor on Jan. 22, 2025. (Photo from Feenstra’s congressional office)

The proposal crafted after Sarah Root’s case was added onto the Lakin Riley Act, which requires ICE to detain illegal immigrants accused of theft or burglary. Lakin Riley is a Georgia nursing student who was murdered by an illegal immigrant who’d previously been arrested for shoplifting. The combination of these two bills passed the U-S Senate Monday and it cleared the U-S House today (Wednesday) on a 263-to-156 vote.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council this (Wednesday) evening received a presentation from Retail Coach, on their retail recruitment activities over the past several months. The Council last heard from Retail Coach Project Director Kyle Cofer, on April 30th, 2024. The City hired the company in 2021, to help provide necessary data to help officials better understand Atlantic’s retail market and needs. During Wednesday’s meeting, Kofer acknowledged that some deals they had with certain retail establishments “fell through” at the last minute, but he remains optimistic.

City Councilman Mike McDermott asked Kofer what he thought was the reason those deals fell through. Kofer couldn’t come up with a particular reason or factors that caused the deals to fall apart.

One of the deals that failed to come to fruition, according to Kofer, was with what he called “A well known, statewide convenience store that is expanding extremely rapidly.

Atlantic City Council mtg. 1/22-25

Another potential development deal fell through when the developer for two popular stores couldn’t make a deal with the property owner.

The news wasn’t all bad, though.

Kofer with continue to work with the Mayor and City unless the Council decides not to renew the contract with Retail Coach, when the contract is up for consideration. In other business, the Atlantic City Council held and passed the Second Reading of an Ordinance that calls for the vacating of Palm Street, between 3009 and 3101 Palm. The First Reading of the Ordinance was held January 8th. A Public Hearing was with regard to a proposed Amended Ordinance pertaining to Zoning Regulations, specifically affecting front/rear yard setback changes in the R-4 District. The Ordinance would change the front-yard setback from 30-feet to 25-feet, similar to what is found in the R-2 (Low Density) & R-3 (High Density) Districts, and the rear-yard requirement to 20% of the lot depth, with a maximum requirement of 25-feet. The hearing was followed by action on passing the First Reading of the Ordinance.

The Council re-appointed Brad Henningsen to the Atlantic Airport Commission, and Emily Krengel to the Board of Adjustment. They passed a Resolution “Obligating Funds from the Hotel Whitney Urban Renewal Area Revenue Fund,” for appropriation to the payment of an annual appropriation TIF (Tax Increment Financed) obligations which will come due in Dec., 2025. This will be the 7th year the City has been eligible to capture the taxes paid by the Whitney Group, using TIF, and it will be an annual occurrence until the City either pay’s-off the $750k maximum payment, or 20-years, whichever comes first.

The Atlantic City Council approved an Order amending the Midwest Medical Services Contract, which ends July 1, 2025. The amendment makes some wording changes (including making Cass County the payer of the contract [through the newly passed EMS Levy], while keeping all the coalition partners in the document], and its limits the shortfall allowance amounts as compared to the original Midwest Contract.

The Council’s final order of business, Wednesday evening, was to enter into a Closed Session (as allowed in the Code of Iowa), for the purpose of strategy meetings for Collective Bargaining.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Teenagers as young as 16 could provide care to children of any age in child care centers, unsupervised by an adult, if a bill that advanced Wednesday in an Iowa House subcommittee becomes law. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports House Study Bill 8 would expand existing law by allowing minors to provide “flex care” for children from infancy to age 2 at a child care center without adult supervision. Currently, teenagers are limited to caring for children over age 2.

“Flex care” is defined in the bill as “child care provided during designated nap hours and during brief periods” when an adult employee of a child care center is not present to provide supervision.

Subcommittee chair Rep. Devon Wood, R-New Market, said the bill was intended to allow adult child care workers to take a “brief moment” to use the restroom or grab a snack without leaving infants and toddlers unsupervised. The bill does not define the time period a teenager could be the sole caregiver. Speakers at the subcommittee questioned the idea of “flex care” during a nap time.

“There’s no such thing as a nap time, like we’re talking about,” said Tiffany Welch, a parent and volunteer with Save the Children Action Network, noting that several infants are unlikely to sleep at the same time. She said she would not feel comfortable leaving any of her children, but especially the youngest ones, in the unsupervised care of a 16-year-old.

Several other speakers said they support the existing law allowing teens to care for older children but not those age 0-2. “… I think we know that things can go sideways pretty, pretty quickly, and it doesn’t take that much time,” Anne Discher, lobbyist for Common Good Iowa, said.

Wood, however, said it was a safety risk to deny child care workers even a brief break during the day. “I think it’s just really important for those employees, you know, we want to talk about the safest environment to make sure that someone’s getting a darn bathroom break if they have to,” she said. “Because what’s the safety risk if you’re spending an entire day not even able to have a brief moment of absence?”

Wood said she was willing to keep working on the bill to “balance what the safest situation is.” She and Republican Rep. Ryan Weldon of Ankeny voted to advance the bill, which now moves to the House Health and Human Services Committee. Rep. Tracy Ehlert, D-Cedar Rapids, voted against the bill.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Montgomery County Auditor Jill Ozuna reports the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors may be
attending the Red Oak Rural Fire Association Annual Meeting on Thursday, January 23, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. at the Red Oak Fire Station Meeting Room There is a possibility that there will be a quorum.

No official county business will be acted upon during that time

(UPDATE) – The Iowa State Patrol has identified a Martelle man killed in a crash Wednesday morning in Jones County. Iowa State Patrol says a Ford Ranger driven by 77-year-old Jimmy Kent Offen was heading westbound on Highway 151 near Basham Lane when he lost control, crossed the median, and hit a Chevy Impala head-on. Offen died from his injuries. The driver of the Impala was injured and taken to UIHC for injuries.

PREVIOUS REPORT:

(Fairview, Iowa) – A collision this (Wednesday) morning near Fairview in eastern Iowa’s Jones County, left one person dead and another injured. According to the Iowa State Patrol, a 1999 Ford Ranger pickup was traveling west on Highway 151 just east of Basham Lane at around 8:45-a.m., when the vehicle went out of control and crossed the median before striking a 2006 Chevy Impala head-on, as the car was traveling east on Highway 151.

The pickup came to rest in the outside ditch of Hwy 151, southbound, while the car came to rest in the outside lane of Hwy 151 southbound. The names of the drivers were not immediately released.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s largest school district plans an educational overhaul in response to years of declining enrollment and budget cuts. A proposal for Des Moines Public Schools would make full-day pre-school more accessible and offer interest-specific schools to cater toward students’ chosen careers. Associate Superintendent Matt Smith says the district also intends to move sixth grade back to elementary in order to retain more students in the transition to middle school.

“This is about making Des Moines Public Schools a premier destination of choice,” Smith says. “We need to get in that game. We need to make sure we are providing the best educational experiences for our students, day in, day out.” The district has nearly 34-thousand students. As part of the effort to offer more opportunities for students to explore careers of interest, Smith says the district itself will split into three regions to better connect neighborhoods with their schools.  “To do nothing is to communicate to our 5,000 employees to just work harder,” Smith says. “They cannot work any harder. They’re doing everything that they can within the structures that were built a hundred years ago.”

The final plan is meant to be rolled out over a decade. In recent years, Des Moines has steadily lost enrollment, as around two-thousand students transfer out of the district each year. Smith says by 2030, the goal is to gain students through open enrollment, but to do that, the system needs to modernize. Smith says the plans will include closing or repurposing some buildings.

(Maqouketa, Iowa) – A head-on crash Monday evening in eastern Iowa’s Jackson County claimed the life of an SUV driver. According to the Iowa State Patrol, the accident happened at around 6:10-p.m. on Highway 64 westbound, near mile marker 27. The Patrol says a 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee was traveling eastbound on the Highway, when it crossed the center line of the road and collided with a westbound 2005 Ford F-350 pickup truck.

The SUV came to rest in the north ditch. The driver, whose name was not immediately released, died at the scene. The pickup, driven by 27-year-old Kyle Harland, of Maquoketa, and his 22-year-old passenger, Megann Post, of Maquoketa, were able to drive themselves to the Maquoketa Regional Health Center. Harlan was not wearing his seat belt. His passenger, and the driver of the Jeep were wearing seat belts.

The crash remains under investigation.

(Radio Iowa) – Veterans groups are seeking a state tax break for the estimated 47-thousand disabled veterans in Iowa who are homeowners. Darlene McMartin is chair of the Iowa Commission on Veterans Affairs. “We fully support disabled veterans rated 10% through 90% having their property taxes offset by the percentage of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Disability Compensation Rating,” she said. McMartin was among today’s (Wednesday’s) speakers at a ceremony during Veterans Day at the Iowa Capitol. McMartin and others are calling on legislators to expand Veterans Treatment Courts where criminal cases against veterans may be resolved by referrals to substance abuse or mental health treatment.

“We stand unified in our commitment to honor the sacrifices of those who have served our nation,” McMartin said, “to listen to their voices, to actively work toward ensuring they receive the support and the care they deserve.” Governor Kim Reynolds is proposing adding half a million dollars for the state program that provides grants to veterans who are buying a home. The five-thousand dollar grants can be used to cover down payments and closing costs.

Governor Kim Reynolds posed for a photo with veterans at the Capitol on Jan, 22, 2025. (Photo courtesy of governor’s office)

“I’m also asking the legislature to allow the Department of Veterans Affairs to continue using the $500,000 annually from the Iowa Lottery to help pay claims from our most vulnerable veterans for many years to come,” Reynolds said. The grants to low income veterans may cover expenses for things like hearing aids, eye glasses and dental work as well as repairs to homes and vehicles. According to the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs, 178-thousand veterans live in Iowa. That’s about five percent of the state’s population.