SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — Compared to this time last year, traffic deaths in Iowa are now on the decline, and the Iowa State Patrol wants that trend to continue.

So far, there have been 308 traffic fatalities in the state of Iowa. Last year during the week of Thanksgiving, 34 people were either seriously injured or killed in a car crash, and 40 percent of those were not wearing seat belts. The Iowa State Patrol has now come up with a theme to try and help minimize potential accidents from occurring: “S.I.D.E.”

“S, Seat belt; I, Impaired driving; D, Distracted driving; E, Excessive speed,” trooper Jay Kirkpatrick said. “If we can wear our seat belt, if we can slow down, if we can give ourselves more time, if we can take away distractions, whether that be a phone or dogs in the car or animals or kids or whatever. Whatever the distraction is, if we can remove that, we’re gonna save lives.”

Trooper Kirkpatrick also added to avoid using cruise control when it’s snowing or icy to keep your car from spinning out of control. A reminder also, the Iowa Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau (GTSB) is partnering with law enforcement across Iowa to promote road safety during the Thanksgiving holiday season. Now through December 1, drivers can expect to see increased law enforcement on our roads. The State Patrol advises motorists to “Please buckle up, slow down, and drive sober!”

The Iowa Department of Transportation reports road construction is not expected to cause any delays for those heading to Grandma’s house. Brian Worrel, of the Iowa DOT Workzone Operations says construction weather was good this past summer, but was slowed a little by rains this fall. While he expects an uptick in the amount of traffic  volume over the holiday travel period, those construction  zones shouldn’t have any more of an impact than it did over the summer, and they’re hoping to get motorists through those zones as safely as possible.

The DOT provides road information on its Iowa 511 website.

NEW YORK — With the holidays comes festive feasts, and those often feature turkey. However, cooking a whole turkey isn’t the easiest thing in the world, as proven by the popularity of the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line.

Since 1981, turkey company Butterball has offered a hotline for home chefs to call and ask experts for advice as they prepare their turkeys. Over the years, they’ve answered millions of questions and have expanded beyond just a phone line to accepting queries over text, email and social media as well.

According to Butterball, the most common question they receive is when and how to thaw a turkey. This year, the hotline will be open from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24 and staffed by more than 50 experts, reachable via call at 1-800-BUTTERBALL or text at 844-877-3456.

They’re even open on Thanksgiving Day, fielding questions from across the country. Butterball shared that last Thanksgiving, the state they received the most calls from was California, and the top city was New York City, followed by Chicago and Nassau, New York.

Check out the maps below to see the 10 cities and states that made the most calls last year.

Millions of Americans will cook and eat turkeys, and many will opt to get frozen turkeys so they can finish their grocery shopping ahead of time. Here are the safest ways to thaw your frozen birds, according to experts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Butterball.

Norman Rockwell, Freedom From Want (1943). Norman Rockwell Museum Collections.

(Des Moines, Iowqa)  – A new committee established by Iowa House Republicans will a conduct “comprehensive review” of Iowa’s higher education system, curriculum and administrative costs, the new chairman says, but the panel is sparking some concerns among students and faculty members. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports Representative Taylor Collins, a Republican from Mediapolis, will lead the new committee announced this week by House Speaker Pat Grassley. Leaders from organizations at state universities said their institutions already have a tremendous impact, and shared concerns that certain changes could hurt students, the universities themselves and the workforce.

Collins said he is grateful to be able to lead the committee in its “holistic review” of Iowa’s higher education system, looking at how colleges and universities handle state dollars and what they’re doing for Iowa’s workforce needs.

Rep. Taylor Collins (left) will chair a new committee on higher education in the Iowa House of Representatives. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

“I think that a review, a comprehensive review, of our higher education system is long overdue,” Collins said. “And it’s important that … these institutions that spend billions of dollars each year, not only Iowa taxpayer dollars but also tuition revenue that is given to them by Iowa students and taxpayers, that they are operating as efficiently as possible, and that they are preparing Iowa’s workforce.”

The committee will also work to ensure that Iowa’s universities are “mission-focused” and that they aren’t using tax dollars without oversight, Collins said.

Iowa’s state universities are overseen by the Board of Regents, with nine members appointed by the governor.

(Red Oak, Iowa) — A man suspected of 5th Degree Theft was arrested Friday afternoon in Red Oak. According to the Red Oak Police Department, 21-year-old Mason Dean Franzen, of Red Oak, was arrested on the theft charge, and for driving while barred. He was taken into custody at around 1:15-p.m. in the 1000 block of Miller Avenue, in Red Oak.

Franzen was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $2,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Tri-Center won the Class A State Football Championship Game Thursday with 14-10 victory over West Hancock at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. The school’s first football championship comes about seven months after a tornado rolled through Minden–one of the communities served by the district. Superintendent Angela Huseman says the championship has everyone happy.

Huseman says the championship brings everyone together, just as they did when the E-F-4 tornado rolled through Minden on April 26th.

Though Minden is rebuilding from the tornado, Huseman says many students are still not in their houses as Thanksgiving approaches. She hopes the Trojans’ championship eases some of the lingering pain from the disaster.

Huseman says the district took an additional step in recovery efforts by hiring an interventionist to help students still coping with the tornado. Despite the disaster, the superintendent says Tri-Center’s enrollment is actually up 10 students over last school year’s numbers.

(Radio Iowa) – The recount of ballots in a race for a state senate seat in Des Moines has concluded and the incumbent has conceded. Election night results showed Republican Mike Pike leading State Senator Nate Boulton by two-tenths of a percent — or 44 votes. Senator-elect Pike is a plumber who had never run for office before. Boulton, an attorney, had been expected to compete to be Senate Minority Leader, but has concede the race today (Friday). Democrats in the Senate are scheduled to select a floor leader at a private meeting early this (Friday) evening.

Republican Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks says four of the 20 counties in Iowa’s first congressional district have completed recounts and her lead over Democrat Christina Bohannan has grown by two votes. Election Night results showed Bohanann trailing Miller-Meeks by just over 800 votes.

Two OTHER recounts for seats in the state legislature are not yet complete. The closest race is in a state senate district in central Iowa, where certified results showed the incumbent leading by 24 votes. Republican Mark Hanson, a current member of the Dallas County Board of Supervisors, requested a recount in his race against Democrat Sarah Trone Garriott, a state senator who’s a Lutheran minister.

The Iowa Senate chamber in the Iowa Capitol in Des Moines. (RI photo)

In a Scott County race for a seat in the Iowa House, Republican challenger Nathan Ramker asked for a recount. Certified results showed Representative Monica Kurth, a Democrat from Davenport, ahead by a few dozen votes.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa adults with several adverse childhood experiences or ACEs (AY-sez) are more likely to be diagnosed with depression, asthma and C-O-P-D later in life, according to recent state data and a report by the group Iowa ACEs 3-60. That nonprofit’s executive director Lisa Cushatt (kuh-SHAT) says early trauma prevention is a short-term investment that doesn’t always show immediate outcomes, but she says it’s worth it.

ACEs are hardships that happened before the age of 18, like physical abuse from a caregiver, neglect, or separated parents. About 40-percent of Iowa adults who have four or more adverse experiences have had depression diagnosis. The report found Iowa youth who have a trusted adult or friend to talk to don’t feel hopeless as often as youth who don’t. Cushatt says this is an important prevention tool.

The report finds nearly 60-percent of Iowa youth had at least one adverse experience, while 18-percent experienced more than four ACEs. Cushatt says investment in prevention is about more than home or personal issues, and a higher number of ACEs correlates with a higher risk of mental and physical health conditions later in life.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Education, this week, announced nine teachers, representing all education regions of the state, as the first-ever Iowa Regional Teachers of the Year. Each teacher represents outstanding achievements in K-12 instruction within Iowa’s nine education regions. Iowa Department of Education Director McKenzie Snow said “This year, the Department of Education was excited to establish a new Regional Teacher of the Year designation that celebrates excellence in teaching across all corners of our state. We recognize the expertise, commitment and care of each of Iowa’s inaugural 2025 Regional Teachers of the Year, and we thank them for choosing this honored profession, putting students at the center of all they do.”

In Southwest Iowa’s Green Hills Region, Sarah Stephens with the Creston Community School District was named Teacher of the Year.

Green Hills Regional Teacher of the Year: Sarah Stephens, Creston Community School District

Stephens, a special education teacher at Creston Elementary School, is a veteran educator with 14 years of experience working with first through fifth grade students. She earned her teaching degree at Northwest Missouri State and a Master’s degree in education from Morningside University. She has served as an instructional coach, lead team member, peer mentor and middle school basketball coach. Stephens also serves as a Paraeducator Certification Course instructor. She believes that infusing employability skills with community opportunities in the classroom engages students and sets them up for success.

Others selected across the State from nominations submitted by educators, students, families and fellow Iowans, include: Kevin Gartman; Susie Stark; Samantha Freeman; Blake Hammond; Alyssa Dalsing; Kaitlin Mahoney; Beth Oolman and Melanie Bloom. Each is an Iowa 2025 Regional Teachers of the Year. Those teachers will now serve as finalists for the 2025 Iowa Teacher of the Year award, which will be announced later this year. (Read more HERE)

Established in 1958, the prestigious Teacher of the Year award recognizes an Iowa teacher who advances student learning through evidence-based instruction, empowers students with multiple pathways to postsecondary success, learns from and invests in fellow educators and serves students in partnership with families.

Last year, Ann Mincks, an English Language Learner educator from Des Moines Public Schools’ Herbert Hoover High School, was named as the 2024 Iowa Teacher of the Year. The Iowa Teacher of the Year serves as an ambassador for the Iowa Department of Education and a representative of and liaison for all Iowa educators.

(Carroll, Iowa) – A western Iowa man has entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors, with regard to sex abuse charges. According to reports, 38-year-old Michael William Alexander, of Manning, will plead guilty to two Class-C Felony counts of lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14 years.

His plea hearing has been scheduled for Dec. 16, 2024. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and $20,000 in fines.

Court records say Alexander was originally arrested this past April (2024) on a charge of sexual abuse in the second degree, a class B felony. The charge was for crimes with a minor that occurred between March 1, 2019, and May 31, 2019. A jury trial had been scheduled in his case for January 14, 2025.