The Greater Des Moines Partnership launched a campaign Wednesday designed to take advantage of some of the good publicity the state has received recently in an effort to get more people to move here. The executive vice president of talent development for the Partnership, Mary Bontrager, says the campaign invites people to move to Iowa and “Live Life Without Compromise.”

“It’s a national digital marketing campaign to really tell our story across the nation — both from a talent recruitment perspective and a business attraction perspective,” Bontrager says.

A report from the U-S Census Bureau shows it is the fastest growing metro area in the Midwest, and Bontrager says the campaign will include videos, blog posts and podcasts from residents who share the reasons they live there. Bontrager says the focus goes well beyond Des Moines itself. “When I talk about Des Moines, I really talk about the greater Des Moines region, which is about an eight-county area here in the heart of the state,” Bontrager explains. “But certainly when we put a focus and a spotlight on the capitol city, that reflects back completely on the state of Iowa.”

She says the campaign follows an 18-month research project completed in 2017. That research will allow them to target the campaign at the areas in the country where they think they may have the most success  “Our fastest growing age demographic here is 25 to 35 year olds — so that’s a lot of inmigration of that age demographic. So that is certainly a demographic that we will be targeting,” according to Bontrager. “And again, looking at the research and what the data tells us in what areas have we been successful in attracting new people into our community.”

She says they will be able to track some of their efforts based on the online responses. “We want to drive folks to our website where they can look at opportunities for careers that our here. If they get to the stage where they want to learn more, we’ll track how many relocation requests we receive or information as to relocating here,” Bontrager says.

She says the campaign focuses on getting people to move to Iowa, with complementary focus on business recruitment.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A congressman from Iowa says he made an “administrative oversight” by failing to disclose his ownership of a company that uses his chief of staff in a false testimonial for its services. Republican Rep. Rod Blum says he has amended his personal financial disclosure form to list his role as director of Tin Moon Corp. and list the company as an asset. The moves comes hours after The Associated Press reported that Blum violated House ethics rules by failing to list his ties to Tin Moon on his form.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The federal government is issuing a recall of chicken salad made by an Iowa processing company and distributed by Fareway Stores which has now sickened more than 100 people in five states and has prompted lawsuits involving residents from, Illinois, Iowa and South Dakota. The Iowa Department of Public Health says it has linked 115 cases of salmonella-related illnesses to the chicken salad sold by the Boone, Iowa-based grocery store chain.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Senate Republicans have released a plan they say would cut more than $1 billion annually in taxes. And they appear set to fast-track its passage through the chamber even though few details have been shared publicly about its full fiscal impact. The proposal released Wednesday would make a wide range of changes to Iowa’s tax system. It includes cutting corporate and individual income taxes and phasing out some tax credits.

ORANGE CITY, Iowa (AP) — Residents in northwest Iowa are fighting over a petition that calls on the public library to separate material dealing with LGBTQ issues. The petition also says the library should request public input before acquiring such material. The Sioux City Journal reports that public input was taken during a meeting Tuesday over the Orange City Public Library’s inclusion of LGBTQ materials. The petition was started by a professor at a local Christian liberal arts college.

A little over two weeks ago, the Cass County Board of Supervisors approved the use of ATV’s and UTV’s on designated County roads, with some stipulations. The Board however left it up to each city in the County to determine whether or not those machines could be used within their respective city limits. Atlantic Police Chief Dave Erickson warned during the City Council meeting Wednesday night (Feb. 21st), that ATV’s and UTV’s are NOT allowed on city streets within the city limits.

Erickson said the first violation is punishable by a $250 fine plus $85 court cost. The second offense is a $500 fine plus court costs, and the third offense is a $1,000 fine, plus court costs. The exception would be if a snow blade is attached for legitimate business use. Simply driving around with a snow blade attached to your machine will not exempt you from a fine. Erickson said it hasn’t been a problem so far, but with the Ordinance passed by the County may result in some confusion about where the machines can be used.

In other business, the Atlantic City Council Wednesday, discussed a proposed Rental Inspection Ordinance. The Community Protection Committee met Feb. 13th to discuss a draft inspection ordinance, and decided, after some contentious debate, against recommending the Ordinance to the Council for approval. The packed meeting drew passionate comments from landlords both in favor of, and against the Ordinance. Councilman Chris Jimerson is the CPC Chair.

Jimerson said “Some of them were a little bit out of line with some of their comments. The majority of them though, were pretty interested.” He said “Fear of the unknown,” was a lot of what drove their comments and concerns. “Because you’re going to ask somebody to come in and go through your property. What’s that inspection look like?” That was the biggest key, he said.

Jimerson said a similar Ordinance is working in Red Oak, and has since it began a few years ago. The proposed Ordinance for Atlantic, based on the International Maintenance Code, would have included an inspection every three years, at a cost of $25 per year, or $75 altogether. The inspections would look for things like mold, exposed wiring and other common sense issues that would assure the property is clean, safe and livable.

While the Ordinance died at the CPC meeting, the City Council had the option to approve it, but instead followed the CPC’s recommendation. Councilperson Ashley Hayes said some of the landlords she’s spoken with over the past couple of weeks have told her, efforts are underway to come up with an alternative proposal.

Councilman Dana Halder said the City needs to better focus its Minimum Maintenance Code, and going after those property owners who “Have porches falling in. Those aren’t necessarily rental houses. Some of them may [even] be empty.” Broken windows and vacant properties are another problem. He called for better enforcement of the Code.

Mayor Jones suggested the CPC, representatives from SWIPCO and the landlords get together and try to hammer out another solution and bring it back to the Council. The main thing, he said, is that Atlantic isn’t going to shell out money for pay for an inspector’s annual salary.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The federal government is recalling chicken salad made by an Iowa processing company and distributed by Fareway Stores which has now sickened people in five states.

The Iowa Department of Public Health says it has linked 115 cases of salmonella-related illnesses to the chicken salad sold by the Iowa-based grocery store chain and made at Triple T Specialty Meats Inc. of Ackley, Iowa.

Officials in South Dakota report two illnesses and Nebraska, Minnesota and Illinois report one case each linked to the chicken salad. It was sold in plastic deli containers with a Fareway store deli label.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service issued the recall Wednesday. Lawsuits have been filed in Iowa state court and in federal court by residents from Illinois and South Dakota.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest of a Corning man on Wednesday after a warrant was issued Tuesday. Results from a lab test resulted in a Possession of a Controlled Substance charge for 27-year-old Anthony Darling of Corning. The charge stems from a traffic stop where Marijuana was found in the vehicle. Charges were filed and a warrant issued Tuesday and Darling was arrested at 9:00am Wednesday.

A deadly crash in south-central Iowa this (Wednesday) morning involved a driver going the wrong direction on Interstate 35. Iowa State Patrol Sergeant Nate Ludwig says the head-on crash between a 2005 Toyota SUV and 2015 Mack truck, happened in Warren County around 3:30 a.m. “The vehicle was traveling northbound in the southbound lanes of I-35 near the Cumming exit,” Ludwig said. The driver of the car was killed. He was identified as 32-year old Wayne Christopher Field, of Winterset. The semi driver, 54-year old Richard Hewitt Judkins, of Ankeny, was not injured.

“We don’t know why the driver was heading the wrong way on the interstate or where they got on the interstate at…it’s still under investigation,” Ludwig said. The crash forced the closure of I-35 southbound for several hours. “I think they cleared the interstate at about 8 a.m. and opened it back up,” Ludwig said.

The crash happened near the town of Cumming, which is located about nine miles south of the Des Moines metro area.

(Radio Iowa)

Weapons will once again no longer be allowed in the Woodbury County Courthouse. The Woodbury County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 Tuesday to re-institute a weapons ban. Supervisor Jeremy Taylor proposed rescinding a January 16th board request to Judge Duane Hoffmeyer to allow guns to be brought in to areas of the building and other county facilities:

“I think that practical implications of bringing weapons into the courthouse with varying functions has become unfeasible. It’s impractical, it adds cost, even though maybe not as much as has been purported,” Hoffmeyer says. He says the additional cost is enough to reconsider the issue.

“With adding that cost I think it is not long tenable to continue considering,” he says. Sheriff Dave Drew had estimated it would cost from 600-thousand dollars to more than 900-thousand per year to add more security measures if weapons were allowed into the buildings. Supervisor Matthew Ung, who led the effort to allow guns to be brought into the courthouse, challenged whether current board chairman Rocky DeWitt would be eligible to vote. DeWitt works for the Woodbury County Sheriff’s Department, which provides security to the building, but said he would vote.

He says the county attorney told him he is okay to vote. DeWitt was essentially the deciding vote joining Taylor and Marty Pottebaum, who seconded the motion, to re-institute the ban. Ung and Keith Radig voted against Taylor’s proposal. They also voted against a second Taylor motion to change language in the county employee handbook prohibiting employees from carrying firearms while court is in session or security is provided by courthouse security. That also passed 3-2.

(Radio Iowa)