WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Tuesday, co-led the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship’s hearing on the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) lending of COVID-19 relief loan programs, where she highlighted the ways these programs were exploited by bad actors, and the economic impact that record federal spending levels has had on inflation and Iowa small businesses.

IA Senator Joni Ernst speaks during a SBA hearing, Tuesday (8/2/22)

Ernst pressed the SBA on the amount of fraudulent loans awarded, efforts to recover these funds, and how she can work with the agency to ensure this does not happen again in the future

Ernst went on to say:

DES MOINES – Iowa Governor Reynolds and the Department of Management Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), Tuesday, announced the release of a new broadband map of Iowa, reporting the conditions of broadband availability in accordance with federal grant guidelines at over 1 million locations throughout the state. The public can view the map here.

The new map provides a more detailed view than prior maps, identifying the broadband service available at homes and businesses across Iowa as reported by broadband providers. Locations with slower broadband speeds – defined by relevant federal guidelines to be slower than 100 upload/20 download – may be eligible for future grant funding opportunities issued by Governor Reynolds’ Empower Rural Iowa Broadband Program.  The Governor said “We are making important progress to connect all Iowans to high-speed broadband, but many communities remain unserved.” She’s asking all Iowans to visit the broadband map and let the State know if the broadband service reported at their location, is inaccurate. “This feedback,” she says, “Will help us to direct resources to areas with the greatest need for broadband investment in the future.”

The publication of the map commences a 30-day challenge process where the public, broadband providers, and communities throughout Iowa can submit information to the OCIO wherever they believe the map incorrectly reports broadband service data. 

Instructions for challenging the map are available here, including videos, guides, and templates to assist members of the public, broadband providers, and communities who wish to submit a challenge. Challengers may also e-mail ociogrants@iowa.gov for assistance and questions.

(Radio Iowa) – When you visit the doctor’s office, someone will usually check your height, weight and blood pressure. New research from Iowa State University finds that last simple procedure could help to reduce the risk of a heart attack or stroke. Dr. Jim Lang, an I-S-U professor of kinesiology, says they put a blood pressure cuff on test patients for five minutes or so and did that three or four times — with surprising results. “That improved microvascular function, that improved small blood vessel function in the skin and in other places besides where the blood pressure cuff was administered,” Lang says, “and we actually increased microcirculatory capacity by about 50%.”

Much the way exercise helps muscles adapt to more strenuous workouts, studies find that short, repeated bouts of reduced circulation with a blood pressure cuff may help reduce tissue damage and prevent the worst outcomes of heart attacks and strokes. The research finds people who’ve survived a heart attack or stroke may benefit from routine use of a blood pressure cuff, and it could also have positive impacts on people with diabetes and other ailments. “People that are immobilized or people that have joint issues and so forth that really prevent them from being able to do much exercise, this could be a benefit to them,” Lang says. “And I’m not going to say it’s a substitute for exercise, but it’s an additional intervention that could be a benefit.”

A decent blood pressure cuff only costs about 25 dollars and Lang says the study suggests this do-it-yourself, non-invasive procedure can boost vascular and cardiac functions, modestly lower blood pressure and reduce the heart’s workload. “There’s a lot of different types of avenues that this type of intervention could go towards,” Lang says. “Again, it’s a very simple intervention. It doesn’t require any type of pharmacological component. It’s just simply inflating a blood pressure cuff on a limb.”

Using the cuff could benefit someone preparing for an upcoming surgery, people who are pre-hypertensive or who have sleep apnea, Lang says, adding, even astronauts could find the procedure as an effective supplement to their workouts in orbit. Lang’s study was recently published in the Journal of Physiology.

(Radio Iowa) – Sweet corn….those two words mean the true taste of summer for Iowans. This year has been an interesting and challenging one for growers like Todd Kjormoe (CHORE-mo) in rural Hardin County. “The prices of everything have obviously skyrocketed and takes a lot of nitrogen to grow our corn. And it’s been challenging,”. The weather over here hasn’t been too bad. We’ve had good rains. And we’re about halfway through our patch. So it shouldn’t be out there for another couple of weeks I suppose,” Kjormoe says. He says getting enough people to help tend and bring in the sweet corn to sell has been another issue.

“Labor is getting harder and harder to find like always — and you’ve got to just keep trying to go through it,” he says. He has been growing east of Iowa Falls for ten years and says the taste of the sweet corn they are picking is a bit different compared to previous years… “This year for some reason we don’t feel like we quite have the sugar content. I don’t know if it’s because of the extreme drought we had last year, the soils gotten messed up, and then this spring it was so cold and wet that I don’t know if it got off to a great start,” he says. “We are about halfway through and the sugar content just still isn’t quite there. It’s still really good corn — but it’s not as good as it has been.”

Kjormoe believes one issue is causing the variance in the sweet corn taste this year. “I think weather is 99 percent of it to be honest with you — because like I said we’ve been at it for a long time now, ten seasons — and we’ve never changed the land at all. We get adequate soil sampling on it that land is in tip-top condition,” according to Kjormoe.

Kjormoe has nine locations in north central and northeast Iowa for his homegrown sweet corn this summer.

(Dyersville, Iowa) – Two people from Cedar Falls died in a crash that occurred Tuesday evening in eastern Iowa’s Dubuque County. The Iowa State Patrol says a 2018 Chevy Equinox driven by 20-year-old Miranda Lynn Held, of Cedar Falls, and a 1999 Sterling sanitation vehicle (garbage truck) driven by 32-year-old Adam Ray Linden, of Sherrill, were traveling east on Highway 20 at around 5:13-p.m. While the truck was waiting to turn north onto Olde Castle Road, Miranda Held tried to pass vehicles in the turning lane.

Her Chevy rear-ended the garbage truck. Held, and a passenger in the Equinox, 21-year-old Samuel Jon Linck, of Cedar Falls, died in the crash, which remains under investigation.

The Patrol was assisted at the crash scene by Farley Fire & EMS, Farley Police, Dyersville Police, the Dubuque County Sheriff’s Office, Iowa DOT MVE, and  the Dubuque County Medical Examiner.

(Radio Iowa) – Senator Joni Ernst — a “no” last week on advancing a bill to ensure veterans exposed to toxic burn pits get medial care — has voted to send the bill to the president’s desk. Ernst, a combat veteran, told The Cedar Rapids Gazette her initial vote to block passage of the bill was because Democrats prevented Republicans from offering amendments to improve the legislation. Last night, the bill passed — without changes — and Ernst voted for it.

Ernst issued a written statement, saying veterans who continue to pay the price for their service deserve the life-saving benefits of the bill. Iowa’s other Republican senator, Chuck Grassley, tweeted that he had consistently supported the bill — even when it stalled — and he’s grateful it finally passed.

Retired Navy Admiral Mike Franken, the Democrat who’s running against Grassley, says Grassley voted right on the bill all along, but Franken says Grassley failed to rally his fellow Republicans in the senate to do what was right last week.

(Radio Iowa) – Friends and neighbors of the three people killed while camping last month gathered in a Cedar Falls park last (Tuesday) night to honor Tyler and Sarah Schmidt and their six-year-old daughter, Lula. Cedar Falls Mayor Bob Green says the celebration of life service wasn’t just for those in attendance, but for the Schmidt’s nine-year-old son who survived the attack. “This is for Arlo,” Green said. “…I want you to know how much your community loves you.”

Tyler Schmidt’s aunt thanked the community for focusing on the joy Tyler and his family spread in the community, then she read a statement from Tyler’s parents, who were home with Arlo. “Our hearts are beyond broken and our lives are shattered to pieces. We go on for Arlo, to love and support him,” the statement said. “…Tyler, Sarah and Lula changed the world by being who they were and through their daily interactions with many of you their love, joy and kindness made the world a better place. The light of their beautiful souls has been put out, but we ask each of you to carry that light forward.”

Sarah Schmidt’s sisters, Jana and Karen, held hands as they approached the microphone.) “First I have to say: ‘Wow,'” one of the sisters said. “I think it’s pretty incredible that all of you would come out to support us and to support Arlo and to remember my sister, my brother-in-law and my niece.” K-W-W-L and K-C-R-G live-streamed the event.

Authorities say a 23-year-old Nebraska man shot the three Schimdts to death in the campground at Maquoketa Caves State Park, then took his own life.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s Attorney General is joining others in nationwide Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force. A-G spokesman, Linn Hicks, says it allows them to combine their efforts into one. “We can work together to look at these reports that we’re getting of robocalls to investigate, to send out subpoenas in some cases, and also prosecute,” Hicks says. Hicks says they are trying to get to the source of the calls.

“So far the task force has issued subpoenas to 20 gateway providers — and these are the, these are the entities that are responsible for bringing foreign calls into the U-S telephone network,” he says. He says it’s their job to make sure that those calls are not illegal, and the Attorney’s General we don’t believe that they’re doing enough to stop the robo traffic.

“In some cases, you know, we’re concerned that they are turning a blind eye just to make sure that they continue to get revenue,” Hicks says. The calls can be annoying — but they also target people with scams — and Hicks says the task force is concerned about preventing that from happening.

“People fall for those robo calls and if they provide money or information, it’s very difficult to get that money back or to make things right, ” Hicks says. It’s estimated there are some 33 million robo calls nationwide. And those callers scam millions from Americans every year.

(Radio Iowa) – Both of Iowa’s Republican Senators are expressing support for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.

Pelosi is the highest-ranking American lawmaker to visit Taiwan in 25 years. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley are among more than two dozen Republicans in the Senate who signed onto a message, saying the California Democrat’s visit is consistent with U.S. policy on Taiwan.

Senator Grassley tweeted that he doesn’t agree with Pelosi much on domestic issues, but Grassley said he appreciates Pelosi for standing up to China.

China opposed Pelosi’s visit and the Chinese military started military drills around the island of Taiwan as Pelosi landed. Pelosi says her visit illustrates America’s unwavering support of Taiwan’s democracy.

(Radio Iowa) Afghan refugees in western Iowa can now take the state driver’s license exam in their own languages, as driving courses are now available in Pashto and Dari for Iowa’s latest arrivals. Ahmedullah Kohbandi passed his written exam last week and, speaking through a translator, says he’s excited to drive to places other than work or home, once he passes the road test.

Kohbandi says, “If I want to go visit my relatives and go to park with friends or buying grocery, going to the grocery shop, so yeah, of course, I’ll need car for that.” Refugee organizations are collaborating with the Iowa Department of Transportation to ensure the tests are available in Afghan languages.

The D-O-T currently offers the test in 21 languages, but not in Pashto or Dari. That’s why Lutheran Services of Iowa in Sioux City is offering twice monthly opportunities for the test to be translated and read aloud. L-S-I refugee coordinator Katie Hagen (HAY-gun) says it’s a means of empowering the Afghans to get to know their community.

“This allows them not only to go to the grocery store or get to work but it also allows them socialization,” Hagen says. “So now they can not only socialize with the guys that are living around their area, but all over town.” Hagen says it’s especially important given western Iowa’s lack of a robust public transit system. She says many of the recent arrivals have driven before and just need to overcome the test’s language barrier to get back on the road.

(reporting by Kendall Crawford, Iowa Public Radio)