Twenty-two Iowans have applied with the State Judicial Nominating Commission to fill the vacancy on the Iowa Supreme Court that will occur when Justice Bruce Zager retires September 3, 2018. One of the applicants, according to the Iowa Judicial Branch, is Susan Christensen, District Court Judge, Fourth Judicial District, from Harlan.

The nominating commission will meet Monday, July 9, in the Iowa Supreme Court Courtroom on the fourth floor of the Judicial Branch Building to interview the applicants. The public is invited to observe the interviews in the courtroom. The interviews will also be live streamed and the videos archived on the Iowa Judicial Branch YouTube channel for those unable to observe in person. A schedule of the interviews will be posted at https://www.iowacourts.gov/iowa-courts/supreme-court/judicial-vacancy/ as soon as the schedule is available.

Immediately following the interviews, the commission will begin deliberations to select a slate of three nominees from the group of applicants.  Once the commission selects its slate of nominees, the commission will forward those names to the governor. The governor will then have thirty (30) days in which to appoint the new justice. The commission welcomes written comments from the public about the qualifications of any of the applicants. Comments must be submitted to the secretary of the commission by the conclusion of all of the interviews.

Iowa held its place at fifth in an annual Kids Count report which ranks each of the states on how well they do in taking care of kids. Iowa Kids Count Director, Michael Crawford, says the state has ranked anywhere from third to fifth in the last five years — and this year holds that trend. “We’ve had some good things and some bad things,” Crawford says, “really overall it’s a good report for Iowa.” The report uses 16 measures to rank the states against each other. Crawford says there are a lot of differences between states and it is tough to get a true picture of how they match up against each other. He says it is important to look at the data from Iowa and compare it to the past and he says there are positives when you look at the numbers. “The teen birth rate has decreased 41 percent since 2010– so that is a good sign. In addition we’ve had decreases in the number of children without health insurance coverage. We are down to three percent of all of our children are uninsured right now. And then also, high school students not graduating on time is down to nine percent,” according to Crawford.

Iowa ranks fourth in the report nationwide in the economic well-being category. But Crawford says there are areas there where there could be improvement. “The bad news is, just a couple of areas, is our child poverty rate has somewhat stagnated the last few years,” Crawford says. “It has decreased a little from 2010, but since 2014 it has stayed relatively stable or stagnated about 15 percent.” He says the poverty numbers are higher for children of color in the state. Another area where he seeds a need for improvement is the number of kids living with just one parent. “Right now that’s about 30 percent of all of our kids in Iowa live in single parent families,” he explains. “We are lower than the national average in that indicator — but still it’s higher than we’d like to be.” Crawford says.

He says there are a couple of things that could be done to improve the economic well-being of kids. One is an increase in the minimum wage. “We feel it should be increased to about 10 dollars per hour. I think it would help families cover the cost of raising and supporting their kids….so that’s one area where we could help families financially,” Crawford says. “Another area I think is on the income tax return, on the Iowa income tax return. I think increasing the child tax credit from 40 dollars to 100 dollars per child I think would help families quite a bit also.”

Crawford works at the Child and Family Policy Center and says the state does a good job when you look at the history and progress Iowa is making.  “It is a good place to live and a good place to raise kids and I think overall we do well,” Crawford says. “And as I mentioned, rankings compared to other states, it’s good to look at that it makes us feel good — but we think it is also very important to look at Iowa compared to Iowa. Where we are now compared to where we were five to ten years ago.”

You can see the full results of the Kids County survey at www.cfpciowa.org.

(Radio Iowa)

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — Dubuque would have to pay at least $30 million in the first year to start a city-run internet service that would guarantee equal access to all residents. The Telegraph Herald reports that City Council members learned more this week about the logistics of creating such a service. Dave Lyons is the council’s sustainability consultant. He says providing universal access to residents with fiber or fiber-like connectivity could cost $30 million to $40 million in first-year capital expenses.

Christine Darr is a co-organizer of the Campaign for Dubuque Municipal Internet. She told council members that a driving concern is the Federal Communications Commission’s recent repeal of net neutrality regulations. The City Council will consider later this year whether they want to commission an updated feasibility study on such a service.

WAUKEE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a woman died after being pulled unconscious from her submerged car in a pond near a vehicle dealership in central Iowa. Police and firefighters were dispatched to the scene in Waukee around 1:50 p.m. Tuesday. The woman was sent to a hospital after being rescued from the car, but police say she didn’t survive.
Police identified her as 38-year-old Shessla Whitlow. An autopsy is scheduled for Thursday.

Waukee fire Capt. Tomme Tysdal says she may have suffered a medical problem before her car ran into the detention pond, which is believed to be about 8 feet deep (less than 3 meters) in the middle.

The President of the Partnership for a Drug Free Iowa says a series of town hall meetings will be held across Iowa to talk about the growing opioid epidemic. During a meeting last (Tuesday) night in Webster City, Peter Komendowski said the problem is already bad in Iowa and it’ll likely get worse, but he says we can all play a constructive role in limiting the damage. Komendowski says, “We have more knowledge, more information, a good community resource with the people that organized this meeting to give ideas to parents, caregivers, grandparents, educators and even businesses to help mitigate the problem with substance abuse, especially to deter some of the opioid-related problems that are happening all over the country, and reduce the economic cost.”

Komendowski says Iowa’s business community needs to take particular note of the opioid epidemic and become much more active, as it will otherwise be very costly. “The irony is that when you have one of the highest absentee rates in a company and you’ll expect me to say it’s a substance abuser, but it’s not,” he says. “It’s the non-substance abuser that is caring for a substance abuser at home. Ten times the absentee rate, because they’re your best employees who are essentially staying home to cure the family. It’s the kind of people you want working for you.”

Deaths from opioid overdoses are much higher on the East Coast and he says this is a different sort of war on drugs. “The war is moving from East to West and Iowa is in the path and the more we do and the knowledge we have with what they’ve learned out East, we know how to do things that will not only reduce the impact of the problem, but maybe avoid a lot of the impact,” Komendowski says. “They predict in Iowa, the peak of the opioid crisis is five to seven years away, which means we have time to prepare before it’s supposed to be at its worst.”

He says opioids have a casualty rate of 175 people per day nationwide, or 65-thousand deaths per year. State health officials say there were just over 200 opioid-related overdose deaths in Iowa last year.

(Radio Iowa)

OSAGE, Iowa (AP) — A man has pleaded guilty to allegations that he supplied alcohol to a woman who authorities say was drunk when her vehicle hit a tree in northern Iowa, killing her. Mitchell County District Court records say a July 17 hearing has been scheduled for 22-year-old Justin Slaichert, of St. Ansgar.

Authorities say Slaichert’s girlfriend, 19-year-old Hanna Pfeifer, died Jan. 6 in St. Ansgar. Court documents say Slaichert told officers he’d bought three beers for Pfeifer. He’d initially pleaded not guilty. The documents show he’s made a deal with prosecutors and filed a written guilty plea to a reduced charge. Prosecutors will recommend in return a two-year suspended prison sentence, a $625 fine and three years of probation. The judge is not bound by the agreement, however.