(Des Moines, Iowa) – State Auditor Rob Sand today (Thursday) announced improvements in average efficiency scores in the three categories of government entities participating in the 2022 Public Innovations and Efficiencies (PIE) program.

“No matter how you cut it, Iowa’s taxpayers are getting a bigger piece of the pie,” said Sand. “The savings are baked into the innovative, cost-cutting measures being implemented by every participating city, county, and school district.”

Auditor Sand created the PIE program in 2019 to encourage government entities to uncover ways to save money. Their ideas include innovative heating and cooling systems that reduce energy costs, to 28-E agreements that eliminate redundancy. Sand says the program is so effective, it has been replicated by Mississippi State Auditor Shad White, a Republican.

A total of 488 Iowa entities participated in the PIE program in 2022, and once again, the Auditor’s Office received submissions from all of Iowa’s 99 counties. The graph below illustrates the increase in the average efficiency scores for cities, counties, and school districts. The average efficiency score is based on the number of efficiency measures adopted.

Auditor Sand will announce the PIE program winners later this year and hand-deliver a pie to each winning entity.

DES MOINES – Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate is encouraging Iowans who receive a ‘No Activity’ notice from his office in the mail to respond to it quickly. Registered voters who did not participate in the 2022 general election have been made inactive and will receive a notice in the mail to confirm their residential address. Those who do not respond will remain as an ‘inactive’ status.

Registered voters made inactive through the list maintenance process can return themselves to active status by requesting an absentee ballot, voting in an election, submitting a new registration, or updating their voter registration prior to the end of 2026 general election cycle.

During the first quarter of each year, the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office conducts voter list maintenance as required by state and federal law. The ‘No Activity’ mailing occurs during each odd-numbered year.

“This mailing is just one part of the process to ensure Iowa’s voter rolls remain up-to-date and as accurate as possible,” Secretary Pate said. “It’s a crucial component to ensure clean, accurate and fair elections across the state.”

Iowans who receive the mailing should check the appropriate box, sign their name, and return the postcard in the mail. Postage is pre-paid, so there’s no need to attach a stamp. If the voter no longer lives at the address, the current resident may discard the mailing.

To check your voter registration status, visit VoterReady.Iowa.gov.

An example of the ‘No Activity’ notice is available for your use at this link.

(Radio Iowa) – Forecasters say there’s a higher risk of flooding this spring on the upper Mississippi River, including all of Iowa’s eastern border and stretching from Minneapolis to St. Louis. Jeffrey Brewer, a spokesman for the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, says higher snowfall levels up north this winter are partially to blame for the increase flood risk. “We’ve had a little bit more snow this year, so that’s putting a little more pressure on the tributaries to the Mississippi River,” Brewer says, “and so, from the northern part of the river, it’s expected to be a little bit more flooded than it has in past years.”

Brewer also says flash floods can be especially dangerous, noting the three deaths of motorists in Missouri last weekend whose vehicles were swept away by fast-moving water. A report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts about 44-percent of the U-S is at risk for flooding this spring, which includes possible “moderate to major flooding” along the upper Mississippi. Brewer urges Iowans to check their homeowner’s insurance policy to see what’s covered in the event of a flood.

“Even one inch of water could cause up to $25,000 in damage,” Brewer says, “and so it’s real important to know what your flood risk is and then take steps to make sure that you’re prepared.” He says most homeowners’ policies don’t cover flooding and you may need to buy a separate flood insurance policy. Iowans need to be alert for flash floods, especially during the spring.

“They can occur really quickly and you don’t always have a lot of time to respond and react,” he says, “so advanced preparation is the key.” Brewer suggests creating an inventory of your home’s contents in order to quickly account for any items damaged or destroyed during a flood.

(Radio Iowa) – Major League Baseball officials flew to Des Moines to meet with Iowa lawmakers this week to discuss a bill that would ban T-V blackouts that prevent Iowans from watching six different teams in the region. Representative J.D. Scholten, a Democrat from Sioux City who played professional baseball in six countries, co-sponsored the bill. It seeks to end Major League Baseball rules that prohibit games featuring the Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins and Milwaukee Brewers from airing on T-V screens in Iowa.

Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver also met with the M-L-B officials.

Whitver calls the blackouts ridiculous and he says the league plans to work with their network broadcast partners to fix it.

Scholten says Major League Baseball has been promising to fix this issue since 2015, so he plans to continue pressing for
passage of the bill.

But Scholten says the first test of whether the league is serious about broadcasting more games into Iowa may come soon. The Diamond Sports Group that’s been broadcasting Twins, Royals, Cardinals and Brewers games on T-V has filed for bankruptcy. Major League Baseball has announced that if the company doesn’t pay its rights fees, the league is prepared to take over broadcasting duties.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Joni Ernst spoke out again today (Thursday) against President Biden’s proposal to forgive student loan debt. “Why should countless Americans who made responsible financial planning decisions be forced to take on the debts of others?,” Ernst asked. She calls the plan unfair and unaffordable. “It is fanning the flames of inflation and is a driving factor in our growing federal debt,” she says.. Ernst says the plan won’t accomplish what’s needed.

“This transfer of student loan debt does nothing to address and may actually be contributing to the real issue of rising costs to attend college,” Ernst says. Ernst says her brother entered the workforce right out of college and he is an example of the people who will have to pay for the costs of others who took out loans to go to college. She says it also hurts legitimate programs.

“President Biden’s radical proposal invalidates many other successful loan forgiveness and repayment programs designed to incentivize participation in critical fields including the military, public service, and medicine,” Ernst says. Ernst says she is proud to join Republican colleagues in “working to stop this scheme.”

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Lottery sales through February are up 16 percent compared to last year and 57 percent above budget projections. Lottery spokesperson, Mary Neubauer says the record sales pace is due to some large lotto jackpots. “Sales in games like Powerball and Mega Millions are almost entirely jackpot driven and so there are huge peaks and valleys in the sales in those games. You never know when the next big one is going to come along,” she says. Neubauer says this is one of the years where things have lined up for the jackpots. “This year we’ve seen a bin buster in terms of both of those games having huge jackpots — not at exactly the same time but really following each other,” Neubauer says.

Sales of scratch ticket sales are another factor in the numbers. Those sales went from a nearly four percent decrease in the last fiscal year to up slightly so far in this fiscal year. Neubauer says high gas prices impact scratch ticket sales. “None of us can control gas prices and inflationary pressures and as I said, I think all of us were feeling that in the last year,” she says. “And so it’s understandable why something like scratch tickets would be impacted. Scratch ticket sales have always been most closely tied to gas prices and I think it’s because notice I said when you’re at the pump and gas prices are high, you just don’t feel like you have those extra dollars to spend.”

Total Iowa Lottery revenue through February are around 36-point-four million dollars. The fiscal year ends on June 30th.

(Harlan, Iowa) [UPDATE12:34-p.m.]- The mother of an Avoca woman missing since Tuesday night, posted on her social media page early this (Thursday) afternoon, Eden Shaeffer was found deceased. Cynthia Shaeffer said “They are doing an autopsy to find out exactly what happened. Right now foul play is not suspected. Please pray for our family we are hurting more than I can describe and please respect our privacy at this time. I am broken, destroyed and crushed by this.”

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest Wednesday night of 42-year-old Kenneth Wayne Jenkins, of Malvern. He was taken into custody at around 9:07-p.m., following a traffic stop at 280th Street and Highway 34. Jenkins faces charges that include Possession of a Controlled Substance, from 5-grams to 100-kilograms, and a Drug Tax Stamp Violation. His bond was set at $30,000.

A little after 7-p.m. Wednesday, Mills County Deputies arrested 40-year-old Crystal Marie Paroda, of Plattsmouth, NE, for Simple Assault ($300 bond). And, at around 5-p.m., Wednesday, 53-year-old Wilmer Tucker, of Battle Creek, NE, was arrested at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office on a warrant for Simple Assault (Bond $300).

(Creston, Iowa) – Police in Creston, Wednesday afternoon, arrested three women on Theft in the 5th Degree, charges. 33-year-old Natasha Ann Campbell, of Creston, was arrested at her home. 54-year-old Gena Ann Chumbley, of Creston, was arrested at 302 N. Pine Street. And, 36-year-old Amber Marie Buchanan, of Creston, was arrested at the Union County Law Enforcement Center. All three women each posted a $300 bond and was released.

Separately, 35-year-old Wesley Gene Keeler, of Creston, was arrested following a traffic stop. He was charged with Driving while Suspended and later posted a $300 bond before being released.

(Radio Iowa) – A Central College math professor has updated work that figures the lowest amount of the popular vote a candidate would need to win enough electoral college votes to become president. Professor Russ Goodman says the work was first done in 1961 and then updated in 2012. “So we’ve had a few presidential elections since then, and we’ve had a census since then, also, so the number of representatives per state has changed. And so I really familiarize myself with what their model looked like, and it was just interesting and timely, and I just wanted to push it forward a little bit,” Goodman says. His work shows you could theoretically win the presidency with only 20 to 24 percent of the popular vote depending on the year.

The modern day strategy has been to win the states with the most electoral votes — but Goodman says winning with the fewest number of votes goes completely against that plan.  “Overall, the mathematical model says the exact opposite. What a candidate should do is actually stock up on all of the small states and not get any votes at all from the big states,” he says. Goodman says a candidate would stay away from states like Texas, Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania that have the most electoral votes. “If you stock up on the states, like Maine and Iowa, you know, all the smaller states, if you accumulate those electoral votes, and you get to 270, and you only earn half of those votes, like you just barely win the majority and each of those states, that’ll actually get you more easily to the minimum percentage of the popular vote. Because remember, those big states have lots of people voting,” Goodman says.

Goodman says the proposal is based solely on the mathematics of winning one particular way and doesn’t figure in politics. “So if a candidate wanted to look at this, and think of it as a particular strategy, I don’t know that our current national politics would work all that well,” Goodman says. “Because a state like Maine is very different from a state like Iowa, politically.” He says it’s fun to figure out the mathematics of the problem — but he says the odds are stacked against it ever happening. “Virtually zero. I mean, in reality, it’s virtually zero,” he says.

Goodman says anyone who’s campaigning, probably is using data to help them make good decisions, and using this strategy is not one they would use to give themselves the best chance to win.