(Radio Iowa – With the coldest winds of winter howling this week, many Iowans may be dreaming of warmer climates and late season getaways. A survey finds Iowans who plan to vacation aboard a cruise ship this year will have plenty of company as they sail the seas. Brian Ortner, spokesman for Triple-A-Iowa, says the travel club projects a record number of cruisers in 2025.

“This is the first time AAA’s put out a forecast specifically towards cruising for forms of travel,” Ortner says, “and the short answer, absolute record, over 19-million folks projected to cruise this year alone.” Cruise travel volumes will reach a record high for the third consecutive year, he says, as it’s reached the point now where the ship itself can be the destination.

“The cruise industry is taking advantage and listening to their consumers,” Ortner says. “They’re focusing on bigger ships, shorter itineraries, and private islands have all contributed to the remarkable growth that the cruise industry has seen in recent years.”

The report says the most common cruise itineraries are six to eight days, while the three busiest cruise ports in the world are all in Florida: Miami, Port Canaveral, and Fort Lauderdale. Iowa airports in Cedar Rapids, Des Moines and the Quad Cities all have direct flights to many of those Florida cities.

(Radio Iowa – The National Endowment for the Arts has revised its grant guidelines for 2026 to reject applications for projects focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, and has eliminated its Challenge America grants for the upcoming year. Fairfield Arts and Convention Center Executive Director Lindsay Bauer is still waiting for the Challenge America funding it was awarded for this year

“The project that I have Challenge America grant support for technically could be considered a D-E-I project. Was it booked on the basis of it being a D-E-I project? No, it wasn’t. It was booked on artistic merit. But how do we answer those questions?,” Bauer says. She is concerned about navigating the new guidelines. “I’m putting together my season for 2025-2026 already. I’m signing contracts now. I’m budgeting now,” she says. “If I can’t count on a level of funding that we’ve been able to rely on in the past, that really is going to affect how we’re able to plan.”

The new guidelines also encourage projects tied to the 250th anniversary of America’s founding. The Iowa Arts Council says it’s still working to understand changes at the federal level.

(Radio Iowa) -A rural southern Iowa man who says he owes his life to his wife’s knowledge of C-P-R is now a strong advocate for getting all Iowans trained in the heart-starting procedure. Seventy-six-year-old Butch Gibbs, of Humeston, travels around the region with his wife, Susie, as volunteer ambassadors for the American Heart Association, giving talks about the simple system that kept him from dying of sudden cardiac arrest in 2004.

“My heart stopped and I quit breathing,” Gibbs says. “My wife immediately started CPR. Our ambulance was 20 miles away. Our local group got there in about three or four minutes, and started using the AED and shocked me numerous times.” It took 25 minutes for the ambulance to arrive and Gibbs says it was the fast actions of his wife and the local paramedics who saved him from grave consequences.

“CPR and an AED are the only things that can reverse a sudden cardiac arrest,” Gibbs says. “For each minute that goes by after you lose your pulse and breathing, that chance of survival decreases 10%, so in 10 minutes, you’re at zero.” More than 350-thousand people nationwide experience cardiac arrests outside of a hospital every year, and 90-percent of them don’t survive. Traditional C-P-R combines chest compressions with breaths, but research has found that doing chest compressions is more crucial, so hands-only C-P-R has become the standard.

“A lot of people would not do CPR because they did not want to put their mouth on another person’s mouth,” Gibbs says. “So most people would just not do anything and wait until the help got there, but you need to start right away with the compressions. We want you to be the help. Don’t wait for the help.” Studies show nearly seven in ten cardiac arrests happen at home, so it’s likely the person who needs C-P-R will be a family member or friend. The American Heart Association website offers a 60-second video that explains the basics of hands-only C-P-R, and Gibbs says he’s living proof that it’s both simple and effective.

“There’s nothing to it. You don’t have to be medically trained. You just have to realize that even if you’re doing it wrong, doing something is better than doing nothing,” he says. “If I wouldn’t have gotten that CPR started right away, then I wouldn’t be here today.”

Gibbs has an I-C-D, or internal cardio defibrillator, implanted in his chest which has automatically shocked his heart back into rhythm 13 times in the past 21 years. Susie Gibbs is retired after nearly 50 years as a nurse, including more than 20 years as an E-R nurse at the Lucas County Health Center in Chariton.

https://international.heart.org/en/hands-only-cpr

(Creston, Iowa) – A woman from Creston was arrested Wednesday evening at her residence, on an OWI charge. Creston Police report 63-year-old Elizabeth Elaine Christensen was arrested at around 7:35-p.m for OWI/1st offense. Christensen was taken to Union County Jail and later released after posting 10% of a $1,000 bond.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The City Council in Atlantic, Wednesday evening acted on a number of different matters, including paying recognition to a Scout, and two librarians. Atlantic Mayor Grace Garrett recognized Michael Hocamp for having achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. The Mayor spoke of how Michael rose through the Scout ranks.

Eagle Scout Michael Hocamp (2/19/25 – Ric Hanson photo)

Hocamp earned his Eagle Scout badge in November, 2024. The Mayor mentioned less than 6% of all Boy Scouts achieve this rank, which is the highest that can be achieved in the organization. It takes 21 badges to be make Eagle Scout. Hocamp has 49. She said over the years, other young men have come before the Council and were recognized for their Eagle Scout achievement, which exemplifies their commitment to service.

She said his Eagle project was a kayak launch with a ramp and section of dock at Lake Icaria, which was completed in April, 2024. Mayor Garrett and the Council also recognized Diane McFadden for her 36 years of service at the Atlantic Public Library. She is an Adult Services Librarian.

She is known for her excellent customer service. And, Sondra Marnin was recognized for her 10 years of service to the Atlantic Public Library. She started as a clerk and became a Youth Assistant Librarian in 2023.

Diane McFadden

In other business, the Atlantic City Council, Wednesday, passed the Third & Final Reading of an Ordinance “Amending the Code of Ordinances of the City of Atlantic,

Sondra Marnin

Iowa, by Amending Chapter 165, Zoning Regulations.” And, they adopted the following Resolutions:

• • “Setting the date for a Public Hearing for the Proposed Maximum Property Tax Levy for Fiscal Year 2026 as March 26, 2025, at 5:00 P.M.”
  •  “Approving the Proposed Maximum Property Tax Levy for FY 2026.”
  • “Designating the Distribution of Sales Tax Revenues to Various Funds for Specific Purposes.”
  • “Setting the Date for a Public Hearing on a Proposal to Enter into a General Obligation Solid Waste Management Loan Agreement and to Borrow Money Thereunder in a Principal Amount not to exceed $90,000,” and, they passed a Resolution
  • “Setting the Date for Public Hearing on Proposal to Enter into a General Obligation Loan Agreement and to Borrow Money Thereunder.”

The meeting concluded with a closed session for Collective Bargaining purposes.

(Atlantic, Iowa) –  Video camera systems are everywhere these days, from the car dashboard to home video doorbells, businesses and street corners, along the Interstate and just about anywhere an incident can occur. Atlantic Police Chief Devin Hogue, Wednesday, told the Atlantic City Council, he’s been working on a project for well over a year, to establish a camera system that would be placed at the entrances into the City.

The cameras will not be used for speed enforcement, according to Chief Hogue.

Atlantic Police Chief Devin Hogue (2-20-25) Ric Hanson photo

Chief Hogue says having the system would help with recovering stolen vehicles from Atlantic, using a network of cameras he would have access to throughout the area. Hogue said the success of the cameras have been proven in other jurisdictions, like State Center. The camera system at the City entrances is what he calls “Phase 1.”

A specific location for six cameras has not yet been established. AMU, Chief Hogue said, would make sure the cameras have power. The system would cost $14,500 per year, for five-years.

The cost drops to about $550 per camera after the five-years, and at that point the City would own the cameras. Chief Hogue told KJAN the cameras likely won’t be installed until the weather warms-up.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak, Wednesday night, arrested a man from Emerson on an OWI charge. Authorities say 39-year-old Delton Lyden was taken into custody a little after 8-p.m. in the 100 block of W. Coolbaugh Street. Lyden was charged with OWI/2nd offense. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – A bill that would shield pesticide companies from label-related lawsuits, provided the company adhered to federal label regulations, advanced from the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday. According to the Iowa Capital Dispatch, Senate Study Bill 1051 passed 11-7, with opposing senators arguing the bill protects companies rather than Iowans.  Sen. Mike Bousselot, who chaired the bill’s subcommittee, said the bill was a “common sense” piece of legislation.

“It is the simple premise that someone should not be allowed to sue someone else … for failing any duty to warn, when that manufacturer followed every federal rule and regulation required to warn,” Bousselot said. Similar legislation has cropped up in states across the country, and is pushed by the Modern Ag Alliance, a grouping of agriculture groups and Bayer, a biotech company and manufacturer of the common pesticide, RoundUp.

Iowans protest a Senate bill on Feb. 10, 2024, that would shield pesticide companies from certain lawsuits. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Bayer has spent more $10 billion on lawsuits, across the county, with plaintiffs claiming the product failed to warn them that the chemical glyphosate was a carcinogen. Bayer and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which regulates pesticides, hold that glyphosate is not cancer causing.

The bill advances to the Senate floor. Sens. Bisignano, Quirmbach, Mark Lofgren, Janet Petersen, Jeff Taylor, Cherielynn Westrich and Janice Weiner voted no.

DES MOINES, Iowa — A bill that would require parents’ permission for a kid to use social media in the state of Iowa advanced out of its House subcommittee hearing Wednesday afternoon. KCCI reports  HF 278 would require a social media platform to obtain parental permission before allowing a person under the age of 18 to create an account. It would also give parents the authority to revoke that permission at any time.

Social media platforms would also be required to give parents a means of access to the account so they can see posts and messages and limit the amount of time spent on the app. Several people spoke at the hearing, including Max Pringle. Pringle is a father of five from Indianola who said he supports the bill, but he has some concerns about data privacy.

Rep. Samantha Fett (R-Carlisle) said she and her colleagues listened to those concerns Wednesday. All three members of the House subcommittee, two Republicans and one Democrat, voted to advance the bill. It now heads to a full committee hearing.