(Radio Iowa) – A bill tabled in the Iowa House would have eliminated Iowa’s 34 volunteer boards that coordinate local early childhood services, with the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services taking over the system. Supporters of the Early Childhood Iowa boards say they ensure services are tailored to the specific needs of kids in their communities.

McKinley Bailey is executive director of the Early Childhood Iowa board for Hamilton, Humboldt and Wright Counties. He says state officials don’t understand how the boards function. “If you pull all of this out of there, you are ripping apart a system and they have never taken the time to figure out what they’re blowing up,” Bailey said. “They don’t even know the basics of what we do and how we do it.”

The volunteer-led Early Childhood Iowa boards support programs and activities in their areas that focus on children under the age of six. Officials in the Department of Health and Human Services argued having the agency take over would ensure more efficient and consistent services for young Iowa children. Republican members of a House subcommittee say they want to find ways to improve the system, but they don’t support the agency’s bill.

(Atlantic, IA) – The Cass County ISU Extension Office in Atlantic is now taking appointments for FREE preparation of 2025 Taxes for qualifying taxpayers through the VITA Program. Appointments in February and March will be at the Extension Office on the Fairgrounds in Atlantic. The IRS’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, offers free basic tax return preparation to qualified individuals. The VITA program has operated for over 50 years. VITA sites offer free tax help to people who need assistance in preparing their own tax returns, including:

• Households that generally make $69,000 or less per year
• Elderly
• Persons with disabilities; and
• Limited English-speaking taxpayers
• Full information on what types of tax preparation the VITA Program can assist with is available by visiting the IRS website at https://www.irs.gov/individuals/free-tax-return-preparation-for-qualifying-taxpayers.

While the IRS manages the VITA program, VITA sites are operated by IRS partners and staffed by IRS-certified volunteers who want to make a difference in their communities. VITA services are not only free, they are also a reliable and trusted source for preparing tax returns. All VITA volunteers who prepare returns must take and pass tax law training that meets or exceeds IRS standards. This training includes maintaining the privacy and confidentiality of all taxpayer information. In addition to requiring volunteers to certify their knowledge of the tax laws, the IRS requires a quality review check for every return prepared at a VITA site prior to filing. Locally, volunteers are trained and supported by the Iowa Center for Economic Success. Find more information about documents needed for tax preparation at https://theiowacenter.org/taxservices/

In addition to benefiting eligible taxpayers, the VITA program also benefits local communities by helping low-income taxpayers access special tax credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Child Tax Credit, and Credit for the Elderly or Disabled. In Iowa, the average Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) refund is $2,311, and almost 20% of eligible Iowans do not access this credit. When taxpayers claim this credit, local economies get double the benefit, as every EITC dollar claimed results in up to $2 in local economic activity!

Please call the Cass County Extension Office at 712-243-1132 to schedule your appointment. We have limited dates available in February and early March of 2026, and appointments will be offered on a first-come basis. For more information on the VITA program in Cass County or other local Extension programs, visit www.extension.iastate.edu/cass.

(Red Oak, IA) – The Red Oak Police Department reports no one was injured during a collision Tuesday afternoon. Authorities say 89-year-old Nicholas Couse, of Red Oak, was leaving the parking lot of the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital at around Noon on Tuesday. He looked, but failed to see an approaching SUV driven by 18-year-old Thomas Wilcoxen, of Red Oak, that was traveling east on Senate Avenue.

When Couse pulled-out of the parking to turn left onto Senate Avenue, his car struck the SUV broadside behind the front tire. Both drivers denied injury. Damage from the collision amounted to a police-estimated $3,000 altogether. Both vehicles were driven away from the scene. Red Oak Police cited Couse for Failure to Yield Upon Entering a Highway/Street.

(Creston, IA) – Two people were arrested on separate charges, Wednesday, in Creston. According to the Creston Police Department, 19-year-old Michael Robert Goodall, of Creston, was arrested at the Creston WalMart store, at around 2:30-p.m., for 5th Degree Theft. Goodall was cited and then released from the scene on a Promise to Appear in court.

And, at around 11:30-p.m., Wednesday, Creston Police arrested 20-year-old Alec Steven Belter, from League City, Texas. Belter was charged with Operating While Under the Influence 1st Offense. He was taken to the Union County Jail and later posted bond before being released.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Poison Control Center is seeing an uptick in calls about carbon monoxide poisoning as many of us are indoors most of the time, with our homes and offices sealed up from the cold. Poison Center spokeswoman Janna Day, a licensed practical nurse, says she hasn’t heard of any carbon monoxide deaths in the state this winter, but there -have- been plenty of poisoning cases. “Carbon monoxide is actually known as the silent killer because it is invisible, and it’s odorless, and it’s tasteless,” Day says, “and you don’t know that it exists in your home unless you have a carbon monoxide detector.” Day says several home appliances are the most common causes of carbon monoxide poisonings.

“That could be something like your water heater, your furnace, your fireplace, stoves,” Day says. “When fuels like gasoline or natural gas are burned, we get carbon monoxide as a byproduct. If those appliances in your home aren’t well maintained, you might get a carbon monoxide leak.” Some appliances should never be used inside, like generators. If your house loses power, position the generator at least 20 feet away from your home. Day says another big risk for carbon monoxide poisoning comes from something many Iowans do frequently during the winter.

“If you want to start your car to warm it up in the morning — or any time of the day — when it’s cold, make sure that you’re not doing that inside your garage, even if your garage door is up,” Day says. “You would want to make sure that your car is outside of your garage because that carbon monoxide can come into your home.” Warming up a snow blower in the garage could create the same risk. Day recommends getting annual check-ups on your furnace and having at least one carbon monoxide detector in your home, and better yet, at least one on each level.

The Sioux City-based Iowa Poison Control Center responds to more than 23,000 cases each year and makes more than 50,000 follow-up calls to ensure patients remain safe. More than half of all cases involve children under the age of 19. The round-the-clock number is 800-222-1222.

(Cedar Rapids, IA) – A vehicle driven by a man suspected of being impaired by alcohol, collided head-on with a Linn County Sheriff’s Deputy Thursday night, near Cedar Rapids. According to the Iowa State Patrol, a 2003 Dodge Dakota pickup driven by 69-year-old Scott Rohwedder, of Coralville, was traveling westbound in the eastbound lanes of Highway 100 at around 7:45-p.m.

A Linn County Deputy (whose name was not immediately released driving a 2025 Ford Explorer (SUV) attempted to stop the pickup, when the vehicles collided head-on at the Cedar River on Highway 100.

Rohwedder and the Deputy were both injured in the crash. Rohwedder was transported by ambulance to Mercy Hospital/Cedar Rapids. The Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Linn County Sheriff’s Office, Cedar Rapids and Hiawatha Police, along with the Palo Fire Dept.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House Education Committee has approved a bill that would eliminate all vaccination requirements for students in Iowa’s public K-through-12 schools. Under current law, parents must provide the school nurse with proof their child has been vaccinated against polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, measles, Hepatitus B and chicken pox. A vaccination against meningitis is required for students in 7th through 12th grade.

Republican Representative Brooke Boden, of Indianola, says while parents may seek a medical or religious exemption from those requirements, that falls short of full autonomy. “You either really have to have a medical concern or you have to claim that you’re religious,” she said, “and I think that’s coercing parents into a situation in which they’re not able to utilize their parental right to find the right vaccination schedule for their child.”

Representative Heather Matson, a Democrat from Ankeny, opposes the bill. “Childhood vaccines are one of the most thoroughly studied inventions in history. They have saved so many lives,” Matson says. “Public health matters. It matters for our kids. It matters for all of us.” Matson says the requirements are important to reach herd immunity and protect kids who cannot be vaccinated.

“This bill is dangerous for our kids,” Matson said, “and I don’t know why we would be telling families in Iowa that we do not value public health or making sure that their kids are healthy.” Boden says the bill lets parents make the decision about their child’s vaccinations. “This is a bill that says that you don’t have to be vaccinated to attend school,” Boden said. “(It) leaves the medical decisions between you and your medical provider instead of putting it back on the educational system…to make that part of their purview.”

Iowa medical groups say schools are places where illnesses spread quickly and ending the vaccination requirements will lead to more Iowans getting sick with preventable diseases. All 50 states currently require children to be vaccinated against certain diseases in order to attend public schools, but most allow medical and religious exemptions.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s secretary of state is proposing that candidates in Iowa school board and city elections file the petitions to get their names printed on ballots with their county auditor. School board secretaries and city clerks have been handling that paperwork for years. However, at least 34 local candidates were left off ballots this past November after city clerks and school board secretaries in seven counties missed the deadline for submitting the petitions to county auditors.

The bill also clarifies when recounts are permitted in bond elections that require 60 percent approval. Cerro Gordo County Auditor Adam Wedmore is president of the Iowa State Association of County Auditors, which backs the bill. “It’s making some timely tweaks to current election law,” Wedmore said. “It does clean up some of the things that we have found over the last few elections.”

The bill would give county auditors authority to decide when to convene the boards that count absentee ballots on election day. Under current law, those boards are required to begin at 9 a.m. That would continue for statewide and federal elections, but officials say in low-turn-out elections for bonding issues or city and school board elections, it doesn’t take that much time to count absentee ballots.

(Radio Iowa) – A House subcommittee has advanced the governor’s proposal to require annual reports from Iowa’s public school districts, community colleges and state-supported universities about how each complaint or incident of antisemitism was handled at the schools. David Adelman is president of the Jewish Federation Foundation of Greater Des Moines. He says there’s been a nearly 900 percent increase in antisemitic incidents over the past decade.

“There’s been an 84% increase in anti-Semitic incidents on college campuses from 2023 to 2024,” Adelman said. Adelman says there have been very few incidents of antisemitism in Iowa educational settings and the bill is an attempt to get in front of the problems reported in other states. David Soffer, director of state engagement for the “Combat Antisemitism Movement,” drove from Kansas City to speak to legislators in Des Moines.

“No Jewish person in the state of Iowa should feel targeted based on their religion,” he said. “No Jewish person should feel targeted just because of what’s going on in the Middle East.” University of Iowa history professor Lisa Heineman told lawmakers she’s a direct descendant of Holocaust survivors and she opposes the bill. She says it has a faulty definition of antisemitism that would suppress legitimate political discussions.

“It would require schools and universities to report speech critical of Israel as antisemitic incidents and follow by explaining what action they’re going to take to prevent re-occurrence,” Heineman said. “…It would also stifle discussion of global affairs in history and political science classes.” Ezra Wright of Iowa City says the bill does not address the root cause of the problem. “Antisemitism is a function of white supremacy,” she said. “…This is nothing more than a cynical attempt to use Jews as a shield against criticism, to paint the Star of David on a battering ram that they intend to use to demolish free speech in this state.”

Wright was among a group of Jewish people from eastern Iowa who’d driven to Des Moines and wanted to testify against the bill, but the subcommittee was scheduled to last just 15 minutes and concluded after five people spoke to lawmakers.