March 23, 2023 (Des Moines, Iowa) — The Iowa Tourism Office presented 25 awards recognizing excellence in the tourism industry during the 2023 Iowa Tourism Conference in Altoona this week. Council Bluffs and Winterset won awards for “Outstanding Community” (Council Bluffs in the Metro category & Winterset in the Rural category). Council Bluffs also won an award in the Metro category for Outstanding Event: “Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience.” In the same award went to Sidney, Iowa for their “Championship Rodeo” event in the Rural category.

Outstanding Event (Rural): Sidney Championship Rodeo

Outstanding Event (Metro): Council Bluffs’ Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience

“We continue to see tourism rebound in Iowa,” said Amy Zeigler, state tourism manager for the Iowa Tourism Office. “Events are definitely back, as evidenced by the 25 nominations we received for Outstanding Event. We look forward to continuing the positive momentum in 2023.”

Awards, divided into metro and rural distinctions, were made in 13 categories. In addition, conference attendees voted for the People’s Choice Award; nominees were the second-highest scoring nominations. (See the complete list and more photo’s, HERE)

The Iowa Tourism Office, part of the Iowa Economic Development Authority, works closely with community partners, attractions and events, to promote the state’s beautifully vast scenery and unique history. Tourism in Iowa generated $1.8 billion in tax revenues in 2021, with more than $1 billion supporting state and local governments, while employing a total of 65,000 people statewide. For more information on everything Iowa has to offer tourists, visit traveliowa.com.

(Radio Iowa) – The governor of Minnesota is blasting Iowa and Florida for efforts to ban books. Democrat Governor Tim Walz is installing a Little Free Library in the anteroom of his State Capitol office and says, “For every book you ban in Iowa and Florida, we’ll put ten of them out in Minnesota.”

Walz says, “We’ve got folks that want to make it harder to get ‘Lord of the Flies’ than to get a dang AR-15.” Books with obscene or graphic sexual content would have to be removed from Iowa school libraries if a bill that cleared the Iowa House becomes law. The Iowa Senate version calls for removing books from school libraries that describe or depict sex acts. Minnesota’s governor was asked if people on the other side of the political aisle can also put their books in his Little Free Library.

“Absolutely, you can put any book you want to in here,” Walz says. “We all know what the most-banned book in history is: the Bible. Bring it! Put it on there. That’s what this is about! This is about freedom.” Members of the Iowa group “Moms for Liberty” have led efforts to remove books they consider obscene from Iowa school libraries. They also support a bill to ban materials or instruction about gender identity in kindergarten through eighth grade classrooms.

Governor Walz acknowledges his actions are a pro-active effort “to make it very clear to Americans there is a vast number of people who disagree with these policies.” “This is a state where reproductive choices are yours,” he says. “This is a place where you can bring your authentic self and be protected. This is a state where you read what you choose to read.”

Walz says, “I want to be very clear: If you’re on the side of book-banning, they have never been on the right side of history.” The press secretary for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis indicates only pornographic and inappropriate books are being removed from that state’s schools and says, “We find it kind of strange that a governor would put pornography in a library outside of his office.”

(Thanks to Bill Werner, Minnesota News Network)

(Radio Iowa) – House Speaker Pat Grassley says Republicans in the House plan to increase the rate Iowa nursing homes are paid to care for residents enrolled in Medicaid.

The Medicaid program pays for the care of over half of Iowa nursing home residents. Grassley says the current reimbursement rate was set before COVID hit, based on nursing home costs in 2018. Since then, nursing homes have been dealing with inflation and paying higher wages to try to keep and attract workers. Seventeen nursing homes closed last year due to financial strain and advocates warn more closures will happen if the Medicaid reimbursement rate doesn’t rise.

“We recognize that there is that need,” Grassley told reporters during a news conference on the House floor.

According to the Iowa Health Care Association, the daily rate Iowa Medicaid pays is covering just 80% of the costs of providing nursing home care.

“I don’t know if we can fix it in one year as it was created over a couple year period, this gap that now exists again, but that’s why we went higher with our budget target.” Grassley said.

House Republicans have a handful of state spending priorities like this one that put their overall state spending plan about $50 million above the target amount Governor Reynolds recommended in January. Republicans in the Senate have signaled they’re building a budget with a bottom line number of about $8.5 billion — identical to the governor’s budget plan.

Governor Reynolds is recommending the state spend $15 million on the Medicaid reimbursement rate for nursing homes. Grassley says Republicans in the House have not yet decided on an amount.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has released a summary of PFAS testing of public water supplies from October 2021 to December 2022. Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are chemicals used in water-resistant, stain-resistant, and heat-resistant products such as carpets, clothing, fire-fighting foams, non-stick pans, and food packaging. Ingestion of these chemicals may increase cancer risk, affect the ability to become pregnant and interfere with pancreatic, thyroid and liver function. The DNR began sampling public water systems in October 2021 using a tiered system prioritizing locations in close  proximity to potential locations of PFAS storage or use and surface water or groundwater sources at higher risk of being contaminated.

The 116 drinking water supplies tested represent approximately 46% of Iowa’s population. Water samples included both treated finished, or treated, water and raw/untreated water from wells and surface water bodies used for drinking water.  Samples were analyzed for 25 different PFAS compounds, four of which currently have health advisory (HA) levels set by the Environmental Protection Agency: PFOA, PFOS, PFBS, and HFPO DA (also known as Gen X Chemicals). Although one or more PFAS compounds were found in 52 finished water samples, just 15 (12%) of the finished water samples reported PFAS concentrations above the current health advisory levels.

If a PFAS chemical with a health advisory is found at a community water supply in either treated or untreated samples, the DNR will revise operation permits to the public water supply. To date, 20 water supply operations permits were revised to require quarterly monitoring.

This summary report was written prior to EPA’s recent announcement of proposed drinking water standards for PFAS chemicals. Once standards become effective, possibly by the end of 2023, water supplies that exceed the standards in finished water will be required to develop and execute treatment plans. In the meantime, many communities have already adjusted their operations to reduce or remove PFAS.

The DNR will continue to sample PFAS in raw and treated water at public water supplies over the next few years. The Environmental Protection Agency will also require testing of finished water supplies as part of the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule #5, which includes communities with 3,300 or more people and 18 smaller communities, between 2023-25.

The complete summary and results can be found at iowadnr.gov.

(Radio Iowa) – Numbers out today show Iowa’s unemployment rate dropped below three percent in February. Iowa Workforce Development director, Beth Townsend, says that’s one of the positives for the state. “The unemployment rate went down to two-point-nine percent (2.9%), which is a tenth of a point decrease from last month, which is always good news. And our labor force participation rate, we maintained the strong gains we had made in December in January. So we’re still at, we’re at 68point-one percent which is a good sign,” Townsend says.

She says the participation rate is important as they have been working to get more people back into the workforce. “In January I think we gained almost a half a point, that was a pretty good increase. We had been trending up, but it was pretty small increments, and then we saw a big jump in December,” she says. Townsend says manufacturing added 700 jobs in February. “They’re up about four-thousand-300 jobs over the course of the year. Iowa’s economy is really reliant upon advanced manufacturing. So that’s a good sign,” she says. “We do see that transportation and warehousing is down a little bit over the last year about two-thousand jobs, which probably is related to supply chain and inflation and more indicative of what’s going on federally, nationally.”

Townsend says leisure and hospitality jobs are up almost 45-hundred jobs over the course of the year, and the service industries had the biggest increase in jobs this past month “Gained 13-hundred jobs. So we’re seeing some good indications that our economy is is resilient and riding the storm out of what’s going on nationally from an economic standpoint,” Townsend says.

The construction industry did lose 16-hundred jobs in February — which Townsend says is probably related to bad weather. She says they expect to see the industry gain back jobs as the weather improves and more projects get underway outside.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Griswold District 18 Republican Representative Thomas Moore, Thursday, issued a summary of bills that passed this week, and other matters discussed in the Iowa House.

Moore says 24-bills passed the House, with 21 passing with bipartisan support. Topping his list of bills that passed, was Teacher Empowerment (HF604), which passed Wednesday afternoon.

It includes teacher whistleblower protection, and lays out a 3 strike system for student discipline. First offense, meet with school counselor and one day of in-school suspension. Second offense, meet with school counselor and 5 days of in-school suspension. Third offense, remove student from that class and if in high school, not receive credit for that class.

In summary, Moore says, the bill includes authorizing the ombudsman to investigate complaints received by individuals who hold a license, certificate, authorization, or statement of recognition issued by the board of educational examiners, modifying the responsibilities of school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, and charter schools, and authorizing teachers employed by school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, or charter schools to remove disruptive students from the classroom.

Another bill that passed dealt with Eminent Domain. HF565 relates to the CO2 Pipeline utility construction project requirements, and including effective date and applicability provisions.

“It is my belief ,” Moore said, “that the pipelines will still go forward even with the increased regulations.. The bill requires a liquefied carbon dioxide pipeline company to get voluntary easements for 90% of the affected route miles before being granted the right to use eminent domain. It says the IUB (Iowa Utilities Board) shall not grant a liquefied carbon dioxide pipeline company the right of eminent domain unless 90% of the affected route miles have been achieved through voluntary easement. The company shall submit regular reports on its progress in acquiring voluntary easements as determined by the board.

Other bills that passed through the House the past few days include (But are not limited to):

·     HF253, which allows charter school students to participate in activities in their resident district if their charter school doesn’t offer an extracurricular activity. Charter school students will be counted as 1/10 of a pupil in the school district.

·     HF349 that makes changes to the probation code section. It allows a person on probation to earn credit for working, education, and staying in compliance with probation requirements.

·     HF595 increases penalties for fentanyl related crimes and for those who manufacture or possess controlled substances around a minor. It enhances the sentence for a person who causes the death of another through controlled substance use and doesn’t seek medical help. It also expands who can provide and possess opioid antagonists.

Representative Moore can be reached at tom.moore@legis.iowa.gov and (712) 789-9954.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Glenwood Police Department reports 39-year-old Robert McAtee, of Glenwood, was arrested Wednesday. He was taken into custody for Aggravated Assault. McAtee’s  bond was set at $2,000 (cash or surety).

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa will -not- take part in the Center for Disease Control’s 2023 Youth Risk Behavior survey, which asks kids about their drug use, sexual behavior, mental health and other behaviors. Instead, the state will focus on its own Iowa Youth Survey to monitor at-risk behavior. Child advocates are concerned. Anne Discher, executive director of Common Good Iowa, says the Iowa Youth Survey doesn’t ask questions about students’ gender identity, unlike the C-D-C’s survey.

“It’s really the only one that allows us to see the specific needs of trans kids,” Discher says. “So we’re doing away with the opportunity to really have fine grade data around health and mental health that includes trans kids.” Discher says it’s important to ask questions about gender identity, given the recent passage of several controversial pieces of legislation by state lawmakers that affect transgender children.

“What it looks like to me is, we are going to make life harder for trans kids,” Discher says, “and then conveniently, we’re not going to gather any data that would prove that it actually the things we do make their lives worse.” Not all states participate in the C-D-C’s survey. Colorado, Florida and Idaho say they are also opting out of it, starting this year.

(reporting by Natalie Krebs, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) – Republicans in the Iowa Senate have approved most of the elements in the governor’s wide-ranging education bill. The legislation would require educators to tell parents if a child asks to be known by a different name or gender at school and it would prohibit teachers from leading discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through sixth grade classrooms. Senator Ken Rozenboom, a Republican from Oskaloosa, says those topics are totally unnecessary for elementary students. “Parents and guardians that wish to have that conversation with their child can do so,” Rozenboom said, “…but to have that in the public school most of us, many of us believe is inappropriate.”

The Senate bill also calls for removing books from school libraries that describe or depict sex acts. Democrats in the Senate voted against the legislation. Senator Molly Donahue, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, is a teacher. “This country is supposed to be a country of freedom — freedom of speech, freedom of ideas,” Donahue says. “But those freedoms end when politicians begin censoring certain ideas because they find them uncomfortable.”

House Republicans have approved elements of the governor’s education package as separate bills. Republican legislative leaders now have to decide whether to approve the policies separately or together in one large bill.

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department reports a woman from Ringgold County was arrested Wednesday afternoon for Failure to Appear. 25-year-old Casandra Dawn Allen, of Tingley, was taken into custody at a residence in the 500 block of N. Division Street a little after 3-p.m., and transported to the Union County Jail. She was subsequently released per an Order from a Judge.