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Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department says a woman from Lenox was arrested Thursday afternoon on an assault charge. 39-year-old Amanda Lea Jackson was taken into custody at around 3:15-p.m. in the 400 block of N. Pine Street, and charged with Assault. Jackson was taken to Adams County Jail, where she was being held without bond until seen by a judge.
(Radio Iowa) – Many Iowans will head out to a Christmas tree farm this weekend, and while finding the perfect tree may seem like the hard part, just getting it home safely can be the real challenge. Brian Ortner, at Triple-A-Iowa, says a tall tree can be just as challenging to transport as furniture or large appliances. Planning ahead for the job, he says, is a big plus. “Before you head out to buy a tree, make sure you have some strong rope or ratchet straps with you, an old blanket, some gloves, and of course, the right vehicle helps, too,” Ortner says. “One with a roof rack is ideal, but if you have a pickup truck or an SUV, van or minivan, it can work just as well for you for a lot of different reasons.”
AAA photo
Ortner suggests using a large tarp or a big blanket to wrap the tree up before you try to secure it to the roof of your vehicle. “The reason to wrap it is loose branches are out there, and it just helps with the transport process,” Ortner says. “Loose branches can be secured with rope or twine to help protect the tree from damage, but also the blanket or the coverings help prevent scratches to your paint and protect the car from any other damage, and prevent those loose branches from maybe flying off in the road.” Given how the branches will catch the wind one way and not the other, he says to place the tree on the roof rack or in the bed of the truck with the trunk end facing forward, and make certain it’s secure.
“You want to tie down the tree at its bottom, its center and the top using strong rope or nylon ratchet straps. If you can, avoid the nylon offered by many tree lots, bring your own straps or securing devices with you,” Ortner says. “Use fixed vehicle tie down points. If your roof rack has those loops on it, take advantage of those.” Before starting for home, give the tree a “tug test” from various angles to make sure it’s not going to fly off and cause a crash. Ortner also suggests you drive slowly and take back roads if possible, as higher speeds can create significant airflow that can damage your tree or challenge even the best tie-down methods.
(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Board of Education has approved updated rules for school open enrollment to comply with changes made by the Iowa Legislature. Department of Education attorney Thomas Mayes says a fairly large change involves transportation limits. “Prior to this last legislative session, there were limits about vehicles crossing into sending district and receiving districts sending vehicles for student transportation across boundaries unless the two boards agreed,” Mayes says. He says the change creates what he calls a “skip pattern” to allow the crossing into other districts.
“Small districts being able to send vehicles not more than two miles into contiguous districts if the receiving attendance center is closer than the child’s assigned attendance center in the resident district,” he says. The change allows districts with enrollments of two-thousand or more to send vehicles without a distance requirement if student’s residence district is less than two-thousand students and contiguous to the receiving district. It also outlines who pays for the transportation.
“The sending district shall not be responsible for paying transportation subsidies to a parent If the receiving district is providing the transportation,” Mayes says. Mayes says lawmakers reinstated the deadline for filing open enrollment requests to March for first graders and September, for incoming kindergartners. It also reinstates the exceptions for students that were previously in place if they missed the open enrollment deadline. Mayes says the open enrollment changes also align with the new law encouraging attendance.
“So if a child is truant in the receiving district that puts limitations on their ability to open enroll into a receiving district,” Mayes says. He says the rules also prevent a student who is in trouble from getting out of it by moving to another district. “If I’m suspended…by my resident district or expelled by my resident district. I cannot use open enrollment to avoid the consequences of my suspension or expulsion,” Mayes says.
Mayes presented the rules to the Board of Education during its meeting Thursday, and says their approval now triggers another public comment period before the rules will become final.
SIOUX CITY, Iowa — Sioux City firefighters got a taste of irony while out on a call Thursday. KCAU-TV reports that a little before 5 p.m., Sioux City Fire Rescue responded to an oven fire at Firehouse Subs on Sergeant Road. When officials arrived, the fire had already been put out by an employee with a fire extinguisher, and officials stayed around airing out the building.
Officials say it’s not every day they get to respond to a fire at home base. Lt. Josh McClure told KCAU “There’s a lot of irony, and we do appreciate they they do a lot of support with some grants that they do for the fire department. So we definitely appreciate Firehouse Subs and the work they do in different communities. And yeah, it’s not very often we get to say we’re establishing firehouse command.”
The restaurant will be closed down until health inspection gives the okay. While no one was injured, McClure emphasized the importance of people knowing how to use a fire extinguisher.
(Radio Iowa) – Mental health experts say Iowa is facing a critical shortage of providers, especially during the stressful holiday season, though some patients are turning to telehealth for care. Tarrah Holliday, a board-certified psychiatric nurse practitioner, treats up to 30 patients daily at Zion Integrated Medical Services in Atlantic. Holliday says there are only about 300 psychiatry providers statewide. “There are lengthy wait lists,” Holliday says. “Some offices you can get in within three months. Some, it takes up to six months.” As a solution, Holliday says 75-percent of her clients are turning to telehealth, and some even live three hours away.
“Many patients really prefer and feel more comfortable in their own environment,” she says, “and that has been extremely beneficial for them.” The I-S-U Extension reports Iowa is 45th in the nation for mental health care providers per capita. “Oftentimes, especially this time of the year, my colleagues and I are working extra hours and overbooking ourselves to ensure that patients get in and are able to be seen and their needs met,” Holliday says, “because this is a difficult time of year for them.”
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, about 60-percent of Iowa communities experience a shortage of mental health care. To be considered a Health Professional Shortage Area the population-to-provider ratio must be at least 30,000-to-one.
(Radio Iowa) – The state’s top economic development official says if lawmakers create a tax credit for production of sustainable aviation fuel, Iowa could land a refinery. There are already refineries in Georgia, North Dakota and Montana producing the renewable fuel for airplanes, but Iowa Economic Development Authority director Debi (like “Debbie”) Durham says there’s a market for several more around the country.
“We believe Iowa’s the perfect place to do that and actually there’s a lot of interest from the private sector to do that, based on our lead activity,” Durham says. “When you look at our overall competitive nature of our taxes, when you look where the supply is from a transportation point of view, when you look at what we’re proposing, just simply having a conversation around a production tax credit would be, I think, just stuff to move the needle a little bit because there is plenty of room in this marketplace for growth.”
Durham says the governor will reveal the specifics on tax-related recommendations in January. Durham suggests some long-standing tax credits the state has offered businesses are up for a potential overhaul. “We’ve done research on other states, the states we compete with,” Durham says, “because we want to make sure we’re not outliers in doing something.” Durham says the state tax credit for research and development is critical, but can be adjusted.
However, Durham says change is needed in the state’s 20-year-old High Quality Jobs Program. It has provided tax breaks to Iowa businesses expanding their operations here and to out-of-state companies launching an Iowa location. Durham says the program’s tax credits and exemptions were created to buy down Iowa’s corporate tax rate, which was among the highest in the country. “Even at a 7.1% corporate flat rate now, or a two tier, getting to a goal of 5.5% with single factor — all of just makes us pretty competitive and so those incentives are not as meaningful,” Durham says. “…We don’t need as many tax incentives, we don’t need as much tax incentives, but they need to look differently and they need to function differently.”
Durham has been Iowa’s top economic development official since 2011.
(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Joni Ernst is not yet ready to say how she’ll vote on President-elect Trump’s pick to head the Pentagon. During an appearance on Fox News, Ernst indicated she has not gotten to yes on Pete Hegseth’s nomination to be U-S Secretary of Defense. Ernst says she had a very thorough discussion with Hegseth on Wednesday about allegations that have been made against him.
Ernst, the first female combat veteran elected to the U-S Senate, is a sexual assault survivor. Ernst says a number senators want to make sure that any allegations against Hegseth have been cleared before his confirmation vote.
Ernst indicated the vetting of Hegseth will continue for the next month or so, until his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Ernst is a member of the panel. Another Republican on the committee praised Hegseth after meeting with him today (Thursday). However, South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds says he wants Hegseth to be able to respond publicly to the accusations against him at the committee’s confirmation hearing in January.
(Radio Iowa) – Leaders of the State Dental Association want Iowa lawmakers to address a critical shortage of dentists who accept Medicaid patients. Carroll dentist Chris Bogue, is the president of the organization. “The reimbursement rate is one, and then the secondary is we don’t have the staff to help us see a lot of these patients,” he says. “We kind of have a double whammy and both of those issues are kind of our legislative priorities this year.” Dr. Bogue says Medicaid reimbursement rates have stayed stagnant for almost 20 years.
“It is hard and that’s the struggle. As dentists, we wanna do everything we can to help when we actually see the patients. We’re probably getting paid 20 to 30 cents on the dollar. And that doesn’t even cover overhead for a lot of the cases,” Bogue says. Tracy Gotto of the Buena Vista County Health Department says none of the five dentists in Storm Lake accepts Medicaid patients, and the local health center is the only option.
“Dentists are just saying that they can’t do it based on the reimbursement, and I think we’re just having this crisis all over. We were sending kids to Fort Dodge at one point, and now Fort Dodge is saying they can’t take any more kids either,” Gotto says. Dr. Bogue also wants the legislature to address a severe shortage of dental hygienists and assistants.
The need for Medicaid providers is so great that a free “Mission of Mercy” clinic in Sioux City in October treated one thousand people – but was forced to turn down another thousand who officials say exhausted all other options for care.
(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds is suggesting the tax and budget cutting formula she’s used over the past seven years could be the model for Republicans who will be in control of congress and the White House next year. “As Washington prepares for taxes to take center stage in the next administration, there’s a new growth oriented, fiscally conscious model to look to in the heartland,” Reynolds says.
Reynolds, a Republican who’s a former county treasurer and state senator, took over as governor in mid-2017. She has signed five separate tax reduction plans into law. Next month, Iowa’s personal income tax will shrink to a single rate of three-point-eight percent. The state income tax for corporations has been reduced as well. “Iowa’s journey to tax competitiveness — it wasn’t a matter of a few modest tweaks,” Reynolds says. “It was a complete, top-to-bottom transformation.” Reynolds also spearheaded a reorganization plan for state government in 2023. It consolidated 37 state agencies into 16.
Earlier this year Reynolds signed the law that has eliminated dozens of state boards and commissions. Reynolds says her budget trimming is required in order to cut taxes responsibly. “Fundamentally the story of Iowa’s transformation was less about implementing clever policies and it was more about unleashing the energy and creativity in Iowans and in our communities,” Reynolds syas. “It was truly the triumph of simplicity over complexity, growth over spending and bottom up energy over top down management.”
Reynolds reviewed these and other policies of the past during remarks at the Iowa Taxpayers Association’s annual symposium, but did not reveal what tax or spending ideas she’ll ask legislators to implement in 2025. Reynolds received the annual Iowa Taxpayers Association’s award for advancing business-friendly tax policies. The national Tax Foundation gave Reynolds its annual distinguished service award last month.
(Council Bluffs, IA) – Officials with the Iowa West Foundation report nearly $1 million in grant funding was awarded to five southwest Iowa towns with populations around 1,000 as part of the Vibrant Rural Communities program (VIBE). The grants will support projects that include a community center renovation and water and sewer infrastructure for future housing development among other projects. Among the rural communities receiving 2024 Cycle 3 Grants and Initiatives, was:
(see the list of other communities and their awards, below) 
Brenda Mainwaring, President, and CEO of the Iowa West Foundation, said “Our vision strives for communities where people love to live with an emphasis on the ‘S’ in communities. Rural residents have immense pride in their towns, and we are pleased to be able to support their efforts to build and grow their hometowns.”
The IWF’s VIBE program is supported by Advance Southwest Iowa – which also received an operating grant for $225,000 – with consulting assistance from McClure Engineering. Together, they help Pottawattamie County communities identify capital improvement projects and assist with applications for potential funding resources. Paula Hazlewood, CEO of Advance Southwest Iowa, said “We are grateful for the Foundation’s support, which has empowered us to create new opportunities for growth in rural communities.“Thanks to this partnership, we are building a stronger local economy and a brighter future for our residents.”
Bethany Wilcoxon, Senior Advisor with McClure Engineering, said “We look at communities around Pottawattamie County through our work with Iowa West Foundation, and there are so many opportunities. However, a lot of these communities only have a city clerk and they’re trying to get out water bills and keep city councils moving forward. VIBE is about figuring out how do we pull all the resources together to help.”
In addition to VIBE projects, the Foundation awarded grants in Adams County for building revitalization, Crawford County mobile pantries, and Cass County for a new mental health program. Carson also received a grant for a façade renovation on Main Street and Macedonia for fire safety equipment for their volunteer fire department.
Partnerships with local casinos Ameristar, Harrah’s, and Horseshoe make it possible for the Foundation to continuously award outcome-focused grants in southwest Iowa communities that support belonging, financial stability, opportunities, and wellbeing. Fees from gaming and income from Foundation investments provide funding for programs and projects that benefit the residents of 14 counties in southwest Iowa.
The Iowa West Foundation has a two-step grants process, with Letters of Inquiry (LOI) accepted year-round. LOIs received by Jan. 2 will be considered in the next cycle with final applications due by Jan. 15th. All applicants will need to create a Giving Data account to access the LOI and application unless they have already done so.
Other 2024 Cycle 3 Grants and Initiatives:
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