A bill that would further deregulate telephone service in Iowa stalled at the statehouse this past week. More than two dozen lobbyists crowded into a committee room to argue about the bill, which would affect phone companies that use the Internet as the link between a call from one landline to the landline the caller’s trying to reach. Some giant phone companies say this new internet-based phone service will be slowed if they can’t get out from under the oversight of the Iowa Utilities Board. Michael Sadler is an executive with CenturyLink.

“My company is going to be investing billions of dollars in IP technology moving forward,” Sadler told legislators. CenturyLink, Verizon, and AT&T all want the service to be regulated by the Federal Communications Commission — like cellphones are. Critics say that would mean unhappy customers could no longer go to the Iowa Utilities Board for relief. Kerri Johannsen, a spokesman for the board, says recent complaints include dropped calls.

“We’re dealing with issues in consumer protection, especially in rural call completion,” she says. Rural phone providers oppose the bill. So do telecommunications giants Sprint and U.S. Cellular who worry how it will affect their connections with the other providers. Lawmakers say the issue needs more study and they’ve tabled the proposal.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press…

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Governor Terry Branstad has asked the Iowa Supreme Court to overturn a district court order to reopen the Iowa Juvenile Home. Branstad announced his plans on Friday. Branstad says the children residing at the home in Toledo were not receiving the education and care they needed.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Wisconsin infant who was abducted and left out in the cold in Iowa has been reunited with his parents and is on his way home. Kayden Powell’s mother discovered him missing early Thursday morning from his bassinet in a Town of Beloit home. Police found him tucked in a storage crate outside an Iowa gas station in frigid temperatures more than 24 hours later.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Cedar Rapids police say they do not suspect a crime is involved in the death of a man whose body was found in a gazebo at a cemetery. Police spokesman Greg Buelow said yesterday that 64-year-old Stuart Smith-Dromey had been reported missing on Wednesday.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld a jury verdict that found a Cedar Falls woman was not negligent when she rear-ended a pickup truck stopped at a red light in 2008 because she had suffered a stroke just before the crash. Betty Schmidt, who was 75 in November 2008, was returning from grocery shopping when she rear-ended Dennis Hagenow’s truck. It was her first accident ever.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Terry Branstad has asked the Iowa Supreme Court to overturn a district court order to reopen the Iowa Juvenile Home. Branstad announced his plans Friday. He is being represented by the Iowa Attorney General. In a press release, Branstad says the children residing at the home in Toledo were not receiving the education and care they needed.

Branstad closed the home in January following allegations that teens were improperly treated and denied a proper education. Four lawmakers then sued Branstad to keep the home open. A district court judge on Wednesday ordered the state to reopen the home and use funds the Legislature approved to operate it. The 21 girls who had been living at the home now live elsewhere.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey today announced that he will be visiting Griswold and Red Oak on Monday, February 10th. Northey will tour Schuler Manufacturing in Griswold and then speak to an Iowa Corn Growers Association meeting in Red Oak.

His tour begins 10:30-a.m. Monday  at Schuler Manufacturing in Griswold, and continues in  Red Oak at 12:30-p.m., with an  address to the Iowa Corn Growers Association meeting at the Red Coach Inn.

Northey, a corn and soybean farmer from Spirit Lake, is serving his second term as Secretary of Agriculture. His priorities as Secretary of Agriculture are promoting the use of science and new technologies to better care for our air, soil and water, and reaching out to tell the story of Iowa agriculture.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — New rules will soon go into effect that give state transportation officials control over whether speed and red light cameras are placed by cities and counties on state-supervised highways and interstates. The Legislature’s Administrative Rules Review Committee, a group of five Democrats and five Republicans, did not vote on the rules Friday. That means the regulations will go into effect Feb. 12.

The rules will require local agencies to show cameras are targeting “high-crash or high-risk locations.” They will have to justify renewal every year. Local officials have criticized the rules, saying the state is taking away local control.

Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and Sioux City have cameras on interstates that would be regulated by the new rules. The state has no laws governing their use.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – Sioux City hospitals are requiring health care workers who haven’t received a flu shot to wear masks when consulting with patients.  Mercy Medical Center Sioux City and UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s want anyone who comes in contact with patients to be immunized or wear a mask if they opt out for medical or religious reasons. The hospitals’ policies aren’t mandated by the state.

The Sioux City Journal reports the state Department of Public Health has upgraded influenza activity in Iowa from regional to widespread. Officials have confirmed more than 500 cases of the virus. Hospital officials say catching the flu while being hospitalized with another medical condition can be dangerous. It could lead to longer hospital stays or cause death.

The lead character in the new movie “The Monuments Men” is based on a Winterset native who went to the University of Iowa. U-I president, Sally Mason, told the Board of Regents Thursday that George Stout got his beginning in the art world in Iowa City. “Stout served in World War One in a military hospital and then he attended the University of Iowa. So, we are proud obviously that he is an alum of the University of Iowa,” Mason says. “While he was at the University of Iowa he studied drawing — which during his time at Iowa was a required course — and he fell in love with art.”

Mason says Stout traveled around Europe visiting art museums after he graduated, and then he went on to Harvard for his graduate studies. It was at the Harvard Art Museum where Mason says Stout developed the modern science of art conservation. “He was really the first person that believed that rather than having artists repaint great masterpieces when they needed restoration, that there were ways that you could conserve art,” according to Mason. Mason says many of the techniques that Stout developed are still in practice today. Stout interrupted his career in the art world and took the unusual step of re-enlisting in the military in World War Two at the age of 45.

“Because he wanted to save world culture from being destroyed by the Nazis. And he was absolutely convinced that that was what was happening,” Mason says. “He led a group of art experts and museum professionals that were popularly know as monuments men.” Mason says the movie is based on a book about Stout and the work his team did during the war. “His Army team saved over 40 tons of artwork, including Davinci’s Mona Lisa and the Bayeux Tapestry. And they also worked to save priceless manuscripts and monuments — including a lot of Europe’s great churches and cathedrals,” Mason says.

When Japan surrendered, Stout went there and oversaw restoration projects. The movie is based on the 2009 book “The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History.” George Clooney plays Stout in the movie. Stout went on to become the director of the Worcester Art Museum in Worcester, Massachusetts and then the Isabella Gardner Museum in Boston. He died at the age of 80 in 1978.

(Radio Iowa)

Over six hundred youth including students from Atlantic, will be competing in the archery competition of the 2014 Winter Iowa Games powered by the Iowa Food & Family Project. Partnering with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, the event will take place Saturday, Feb. 8th, at Johnston High School. Archers will begin their first flight at 9:00 a.m. and continue shooting throughout the day. Students will compete both on the individual and team level. Teams from Atlantic, Central Decatur, Mount Ayr, Spencer and central Iowa will be participating.

The National Archery in the Schools Program in Iowa is coordinated through the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Currently there are nearly 200 Iowa schools participating in the program. The Iowa Games added the archery competition to the docket of sports in 2011 and the event continues to grow. In 2011, the event was held in Central City and had 67 participants. This year with a total of 617 archers from 21 schools, the event will break the previous record set in 2013 by more than 150 participants.

Among the schools competing at the event is the Atlantic High School/Middle School, Diagonal, Fremont Elementary, and Mount Ayr Community School.  The 2014 Games will look to set a new participation record with over 4,300 athletes to compete in the annual winter sports festival. The 2014 Games kicked off in late January and will continue through February. Over the course of four weekends, the Winter Iowa Games will hold competitions for 23 sports in 15 different communities.

Alliant Energy is warning its customers in Iowa about a new scam. Utility spokesman Justin Foss says a couple of customers in Mason City say they’ve been approached by someone claiming to be with Alliant and saying they had to pay their bill on the spot.  Somebody came to the door and demanded they be paid in cash or that the person go buy a pre-paid debit card and hand that over right away or their electricity would be disconnected. Foss says they do -not- go door-to-door demanding payment. Foss says if you get someone at your door or on the phone demanding immediate payment and it sounds suspicious, it’s likely bogus.

If there’s any time that something doesn’t seem right, just hang up or shut the door and call Alliant. They’ll be able to tell you if the request is legitimate. Foss says if you’ve been conned by a scam like this or you’ve been approached by a con artist, contact law enforcement. He says always call your local police department right away. He says one person reporting it might help police realize if it’s a trend that someone is trying to pull the scam in multiple neighborhoods or communities. Foss says the two Mason City clients who were approached this week didn’t fall for the scam and contacted Alliant to let them know what was taking place.

(Radio Iowa)

A light pole owned by the State of Iowa sustained $1,000 damage, but no one was injured, when a motorgrader grazed it Thursday morning. The Page County Sheriff’s Office says the 2011 Caterpillar road grader operated by 40-year old Troy Sands, of New Market, was clearing snow from the intersection of Highway 71 and 210th Street just east of Clarinda at around 11:50-a.m., Thursday, when the machine hit the pole, causing it to topple over. The grader was not damaged. No citations were issued.