DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A jury has awarded $2.2 million to a former Iowa Senate Republican caucus aide who sued the state and others for sexual harassment. The Des Moines Register reports that jurors handed down the award Tuesday to Kirsten Anderson, who was fired in 2012 as the caucus communications director hours after handing in a memo detailing rampant sexual harassment in the caucus office.

The 39-year-old Anderson testified at trial last week that sex, race and sexual orientation were regular topics of conversations and jokes in the office. Republican officials had denied she was harassed and argued she was fired because of poor job performance. But several other current and former staffers corroborated her claims of a hostile work environment.

AMES – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources forestry section’s fire program, working in coordination with the U.S. Forest Service has grant money available for Iowa’s rural fire departments to help battle wildfires.

The grants offer funding assistance for wildfire suppression equipment, slide in units, hoses, nozzles, adapters, portable tanks and pumps, personal protective equipment and communications equipment.  Additionally, if a fire department has a special need that can be tied directly to wildfire suppression, this grant allows for such special requests.

The grant provides 50 percent reimbursement for wildland fire equipment with a maximum reimbursement grant of $3,500 per department. Gail Kantak, state wildland fire supervisor for the Iowa DNR, reminds fire departments that they should send her a Wildland Fire Report whenever they respond to a wildland fire or provide assistance to a prescribed or controlled wildland fire. Departments actively returning these reports can receive priority points in the Volunteer Fire Assistance grant application scoring process.

“It is important for rural fire departments to return these reports so we can assess the actual demands on our rural fire departments as a result of wildfire activity,” Kantak said. “The wildland fire reports are compiled locally and nationally and reported to Congress.”

The Volunteer Fire Assistance Grant applications are due October 15, 2017.  In mid-June, fire departments were mailed information about the Volunteer Fire Assistance Grant. The grant application package and the Wildland Fire Report form are also available online at www.iowadnr.gov/fire.

For more information, contact Gail Kantak at gail.kantak@dnr.iowa.gov, 515-233-8067 or 515-233-1161.

Governor Kim Reynolds says she’s submitting policy proposals to Iowa’s congressional delegation as her fellow Republicans in the U.S. Senate consider changes in the nation’s individual insurance markets as well as the future of Medicaid. “You cannot continue to see the cost of Medicaid go up. It is just taking over state budgets,” Reynolds says. “We have to figure out a way, reasonably and responsibly, to make that happen and still provide the most vulnerable the services that they need. We are expected to do that and we should do that.”

Reynolds isn’t revealing what her proposals may be, but Reynolds told reporters this (Tuesday) morning there’s a need for both a “long-term solution” and a “stop gap” measure for the nearly 150-thousand Iowans who got Medicaid coverage through the Affordable Care Act. “We can’t just take it away,” Reynolds says. “We have to be sure that we work with that population as we look to help them find job, provide them the support system they need…(or) a skill.”

Reynolds says congress should “relieve mandates” and provide more flexibility so states have more latitude in deciding who may enroll in Medicaid and what services are covered. Reynolds told reporters this (Tuesday) morning that she and other governors around the country are concerned about what congress may do on health care. “They need to get something done in Washington, D.C.,” Reynold says. “I’m frustrated as well as I think other governors are…I’m okay with flexibility, but they can’t shift all of the costs to the states. They have to be responsible in that state-and-federal partnership.”

There are about 72-thousand other Iowans who have gotten federal subsidies to buy private insurance through the Affordable Care Act “exchanges,” but only one company will offer policies on the exchange in 2018. Reynolds met with two top Trump Administration officials last week, lobbying for approval of the Iowa Insurance Commissioner’s temporary plan that may bring insurers back into Iowa’s exchange. “Making sure that 72,000 Iowans have some type of health care coverage come January 1 of 2018, so that is my focus right now,” Reynolds says.

Ron Corbett, the Republican challenging Reynolds’ bid for a four-year term as governor, has said Reynolds and the Republican-led legislature should have come up with their own solution months ago.

(Radio Iowa)

A public hearing will take place Wednesday morning in Greenfield, as part of the Adair County Board of Supervisor’s regularly scheduled session. The meeting gets underway at 9-a.m. with normal business updates and reports. County Engineer Nick Kauffman will present his report at around 9:10-a.m., which will include a Resolution to Request a Change to the Farm to Market System.

The Public Hearing at 9:30-a.m., is with regard to leasing County property. That will be followed at 9:45, by a report from Mike Kastner with ASK Studio, with regard to the courthouse elevator.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports 32-year old Troy Gene Mack, of Audubon, was arrested a little before 10-p.m. Monday on an Iowa State Patrol warrant for Failure to Stop in an Assured Clear Distance. Mack was transported by a Cass County Sheriff’s Deputy to a location in Walnut, where a Pott. County Deputy took custody of him and transported Mack to the Pottawattamie County Jail.

Officials with USDA Rural Development say recent changes to USDA Rural Development’s home loan programs mean more rural Iowans can now achieve their homeownership goals. Earlier this year the maximum mortgage limit for a USDA Rural Development direct home loan increased to $220,532, a jump of nearly $3,700 from the previous mortgage limit.

Also, a typical income limit for a one-person household using the USDA direct home loan program to purchase a home in an eligible rural Iowa community or area is now $41,250. For a family of four a common limit is $56,600.

Income limits vary by county and household size, so applicants are encouraged to contact USDA Rural Development staff for limits in their specific area by calling (515) 284-4444 or emailing DirectIA@ia.usda.gov.

The interest rate for USDA Rural Development’s direct home loan program is 3.25 percent for a 33-year term. The program can be used to assist rural Iowans with buying a home, financing the construction costs of a new home or making significant home repairs. Program features include no down payment and long-term, fixed-interest-rate financing. Also, payment assistance with interest rates as low as 1 percent may be available to applicants with qualifying incomes.

The lower interest rate makes monthly payments affordable, and often may be less than rent.  For example, a $100,000 loan at 3.25 percent would have monthly principal and interest payments of $413. If an applicant qualified for a 1-percent loan the monthly payment would be only $297.

USDA Rural Development also offers a guaranteed home loan program with a typical income limit for a one- to four-person household of $78,200 with no down payment required. Applicants work directly with their lenders to establish mortgage rates and terms. Loans, and some grants, are also available from USDA Rural Development to help qualifying homeowners make needed repairs to their homes.

Applicants are encouraged to contact USDA Rural Development staff before September 1, 2017 to take full advantage of all the agency’s housing programs. Further information about housing programs available through USDA Rural Development is available by calling (515) 284-4444, visiting www.rd.usda.gov/ia, or emailing DirectIA@ia.usda.gov.

USDA Rural Development has 11 offices across the state to serve the 1.7 million Iowans living in rural communities and areas, including here in Atlantic.

Gov. Kim Reynolds and Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg have announced the state’s participation in a new nationwide first responder network. Iowa is one of the first states in the country to opt-in to the FirstNet cell network. The network gives priority to police, fire and other emergency workers during a crisis. Until now, first responders have used more than 10,000 different networks to communicate, creating issues during emergencies. First responders have also had to compete with consumers trying to access the same cellular network.

With FirstNet, Iowa’s first responders will have special SIM cards for their smartphones, putting them first on the network to connect and stay connected. The system will also provide interoperability, allowing first responders from different agencies, jurisdictions or even over state lines to talk to one another.

Iowa’s opt-in also brings rural responders accelerated access to broadband services. FirstNet will help bring broadband 4G LTE to both citizens and public safety users in rural areas—some for the first time—helping erase the “digital divide” between the technologies available to urban versus rural areas.

The Governor said “The FirstNet network will not only strengthen and modernize public safety communications in our state, but also bring much needed investment to our communications infrastructure. The network builds on AT&T’s existing footprint to expand coverage and capacity. AT&T has invested nearly $150 million in its Iowa network infrastructure over the past three years.”

She says “By partnering with FirstNet, we will be able to expand coverage for first responders. As a result, this will also help expand coverage for rural Iowans, providing access to a reliable, high speed wireless connection in areas with little or no connectivity today.”

Iowa incurs no risk, responsibility or cost for the FirstNet network and makes no commitment with this opt-in. FirstNet and AT&T will deploy, operate, maintain and improve the FirstNet network in Iowa and assume all responsibility for capital expenditures, operating costs and other costs like staffing, training, integration, environmental compliance and program management.

Lt. Gov. Gregg said “Iowa, FirstNet and AT&T have formed an innovative public-private partnership to expand coverage, enhance capacity and launch new devices and applications for first responders. This network is designed specifically for Iowa’s public safety professionals, by Iowa’s public safety professionals. We wanted our brave men and women to have the best. This solution will help us continue to build a better Iowa by ushering in a new wave of innovation for Iowa’s first responders.”