(Radio Iowa) – The value of incumbency was the opening topic as Republican Senator Chuck Grassley and his Democratic opponent, Mike Franken, debated on television last (Thursday) night. Grassley, who is seeking an eighth six-year term, will have the most seniority in the Senate if he’s re-elected and he described it as a position of influence. “I will be number one in the United States Senate,” Grassley said. “…My opponent will be number 100.” Franken is a retired Navy admiral who has never held elected office.

“I will be like that young draft pick,” Franken said. “…I’ve got the vivaciousness and the intellect, the ideas.” The two candidates disagreed on a variety of topics. Franken favors making the 1973 Roe v Wade decision that had legalized abortion for nearly 50 years a federal law. “This is a private time where a tough decision has to be made, where a lawyer being in the room is not part of the equation,” Franken said, “nor is an intrusive government.”

Grassley said the U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v Wade has left abortion policymaking to elected STATE officials and he’d vote no on a Republican Senator’s bill that would ban abortions NATIONWIDE after the 15th week of a pregnancy.  “I think everybody knows that throughout my life I’ve been pro-life, pro-mother, pro-family,” Grassley said. “I think the Supreme Court decision was the right decision.” If elected, Franken would vote to repeal Trump-era tax cuts.

“The ones for the middle class or the upper middle class, they expired in 2021.” Franken said. “They’re slowing going out of vogue, although the big ones for the Uber wealthy, they’re still in place.” Grassley said repealing those tax cuts would lead to lead to the biggest tax increase in the history of the country. “And look at what happened as a result of the 2017 tax bill,” Grassley said. “Before the pandemic, we had the best economy we’d had in 50 years. We had the lowest unemployment we’d had in 50 years.”

Near the end of the debate, Franken responded to a former campaign aide’s allegation that he had kissed her without her consent. Franken, who said he has zero tolerance for sexual misdeeds, seemed to suggest the Grassley campaign had a role in making the allegation public.  “It is just a ploy because he’s got a problem, because it’s know that he’s got some anti-women activity in his career,” Franken said. Grassley responded: “My colleague, you’re in no position to lecture me about women. You’re in not position to do that.”

The candidates agreed the U.S. should be supporting Ukraine’s effort to repel Russia from its territory. Franken said if Russia’s president orders a nuclear strike, the U.S. should send in unarmed soldiers who are specially trained to respond to radiation victims. Grassley said deployed American soldiers should be armed so they can defend themselves.

Last (Thursday) night’s debate, which aired on Iowa P-B-S, is the only joint appearance the candidates will make before the November election.

(Radio Iowa) – Due to factors ranging from retirement to COVID burnout, some studies show Iowa hospitals will be short hundreds of nurses in the coming few years, and the University of Iowa is stepping up its effort to train more of the vital medical professionals. Dr. Sandy Daack-Hirsch, executive associate dean of the U-I College of Nursing, says the first class of students will start in January in the new “Master of Science in Nursing — Entry into Practice” program.

“This is for people who have a degree in some other major, other than nursing, maybe out working, may have just finished college but have decided, ‘Hey, you know, I think I might want to be a nurse,'” Daack-Hirsch says. “This gives people an option to get a nursing degree at the masters level, but entry into practice is at the RN licensure.” The 15-month program has fewer than 20 students in the first class, but the U-I plans to ramp up quickly in the coming years to 48 students in per class. The U-I has also long offered a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, or B-S-N. 

“We graduate 80 students in December and then we graduate 80 students again in the spring from our BSN program. That’s the program that we offer to incoming freshmen,” Daack-Hirsch says. “This is 48 more students in addition to that, so that’s a pretty big jump for us.” Decades ago, a majority of nurses in the U-S were women, but that’s been steadily changing.

“We’re not at 50-50, but we have a growing number of men in nursing,” Daack-Hirsch says. “I would say that we see a nice increase every year.” About half of the Iowa City institution’s B-S-N program graduates stay in Iowa to practice and she’s hopeful the master program will attract even more people who will remain in-state to put their valued skills to use.

https://nursing.uiowa.edu/academics/msn-entry-practice

(Radio Iowa) – Residents of Ames will be able to get electronics, small appliances, computers, bicycles, clothing, or other items that need some work, fixed for free this weekend.

Mike Van Vertloo organized the Ames Repair Café where some 25 volunteers will lend their repair skills to the effort.
“We can teach them how to repair or improve the function of those items,” he says. Van Vertloo says the goal is to cut down on the amount of waste that goes to the landfill by keeping the items working.

“Unfortunately, a lot of times financially that makes the most sense. You know, the newer thing is made more cheaply, or made in a part of the world where labor is super cheap. And it is often cheaper to replace something, and then that is to fix it,” Van Vertloo says. He had the idea for doing this and then came across some others in the community who were also looking to get it started.

(City of Ames graphic)

Van Vertloo says it’s something that is happening globally. “People around the world have events like this, but this is the first one in Iowa, that I found, I haven’t been able to find anything in Iowa, ” he says. Van Vertloo says some of the fixes may not take long.

“A lot of repairs can be deceptively simple. Once you know kind of what to do,” he says. “And you know, sometimes it comes down to having the right specialized tool. And we are looking at ways to sort of combat that where somebody doesn’t have the right tool, so maybe they’ll go to Lowe’s or Home Depot and pick up a tool for 20 dollars and use it exactly once.” He says they hope to eventually branch out from the repair Cafe idea and maybe create a tool library that lets people borrow the tool they need to make their own repairs.

Van Vertloo says the Repair Cafe will be first-come, first-serve. He says they had a booth at a recent event in Ames and there appears to be a lot of interest. “I suspect, we will have a good turnout, I think it might even get to the point where we end up turning people away, because we don’t have the capacity to do everything within the six hours that we’ve got,” he says. Van Vertloo says they may eventually make this a regular ongoing event.

The Repair Cafe for Ames residents runs from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Saturday (Oct 8) at the Ames Public Library.

(Radio Iowa) – Tyson foods has announced plans to move all of its corporate employees from Dakota Dunes, South Dakota, Chicago and Downers Grove, Illinois to its world headquarters in Springdale, Arkansas. That could impact as many as 550 Tyson employees in the Sioux City area. Those employees have been given until November 15th to decide on moving to Springdale or leave the company. The president of the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce, Chris McGowan had this response to the announcement.

“I want to state emphatically that the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce will do everything in our power to minimize the adverse impact on our Siouxland Community. We will work tirelessly with those employees who have been affected and want to find employment, so that they in their families can remain in our community,” McGowan says. He says the area will rally around the Tyson employees.

“This is one of those times where we see Siouxland come together. It is in the most challenging of circumstances throughout our history that we’ve come together as a community — and I will expect that that will be the case in this instance as well,” he says. A Tyson statement says the company will expand their world headquarters, which will include indoor and outdoor spaces designed to foster collaboration, connection and creativity. Tyson’s statement says team members will begin the phased relocation in early 2023.

(Radio Iowa) – Nestle Purina has completed a 156-million dollar expansion of its plant in Clinton. Nearly 600 people are employed at the Purina plant in Clinton. That includes most of the 96 jobs tied to the plant’s expansion.

Purina has been making pet food in Clinton since 1969. According to the company’s website 190 different pet products have been produced at the plant over the past five decades and it’s the only site where Purina’s prescription pet food is made.

(Radio Iowa) – The Des Moines woman who has accused U.S. Senate candidate Mike Franken of kissing her without her permission has commented publicly for the first time. In April, Kimberley Strope-Boggus told a police officer she met with Franken in March, shortly after she’d been fired from the campaign, and the two discussed a new campaign role for her before the kiss. Strope-Boggus is quoted in a Politico story about Franken, saying “it happened” — a direct response to Franken’s statement that the kiss “never happened.”

Strope-Boggus said she’s been treated like a disposable pawn by both political parties since a conservative website published her police report last month. Franken campaign manager Julie Stauch says if anyone has made Strope-Boggus a pawn, it’s the Grassley campaign. According to Stauch, the revelation of the police report was done in collaboration by Franken’s former campaign manager and Grassley and his staff.

A spokeswoman for Senator Grassley’s campaign points to two unnamed women cited in Politico’s story who also accused Franken of making women uncomfortable. Michaela Sundermann, Grassley’s communications director, said that raises very serious questions about Franken. Franken’s campaign manager says it’s all an effort to undermine Franken’s campaign because he’s on track to beat Grassley.

Grassley and Franken are scheduled to debate tonight (Thursday) at seven on Iowa P-B-S — their only scheduled debate of the campaign.

ATLANTIC, IOWA – Officials with Cass Health, today (Thursday) announced the addition of Kellie Enderson, ARNP, to the team of providers at Atlantic Medical Center, RHC. Enderson is board-certified by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners to care for patients of all ages. She will offer appointments in both the Atlantic and Griswold Medical Centers, and she will also occasionally provide care in AMC Rapid Care. To make an appointment, please call 712-243-2850.

Originally from Huxley, Iowa, Enderson and her husband moved a year ago to a small hobby farm in Guthrie County. “I attended Grandview University for my bachelor’s degree in nursing, and then I completed by master’s degree in nursing from Chamberlain University. I have worked in the medical field for more than 29 years, with experience in cardiology, neurology, hospice, and chronic health conditions as a health coach,” said Enderson.

Kellie Enderson

“I enjoy building a working relationship with my patients and providing education. I practice using a holistic approach with my patients, using both pharmaceuticals and nonpharmaceutical approaches, and asking questions to get a better understanding of each person, their health, and their day-to-day lifestyles,” said Enderson.

(Radio Iowa) – The Board of Supervisors in Shelby County will consider an ordinance that would establish some restrictions for where carbon pipelines could be routed. Steve Kenkel is Chairman of the Shelby County Board of Supervisors.

The proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline would run through Earling and Westphalia in Shelby County. The proposed zoning ordinance would prevent hazardous liquid pipelines from being built within two miles of city limits. Shelby County Public Health director Lori Hoch says it would be up to local emergency crews to respond to pipeline ruptures or failures.

The ordinance would require any liquid pipeline to be half a mile from hospitals, schools, churches and nursing homes. A spokesman for Summit Carbon Solutions says the proposed Shelby County ordinance is inconsistent with Iowa law, as the legislature has granted the Iowa Utilities Board authority over the permits, siting and regulation of pipelines that convey hazardous liquids. Summit’s spokesman says the company has voluntary easements from 900 Iowa property owners for about 53 percent of the land along its proposed route.

The Supervisors in Shelby County, Tuesday, passed a resolution fixing the dates for three public hearings on a proposal to amend various sections of the Shelby County Zoning Ordinance for the purpose of regulating and restricting the use of land for the transport of hazardous liquid through a hazardous liquid pipeline. The hearings will be held in the Therkildsen Center in Harlan at 10:00 A.M. on October 18th and October 25th, and at Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Harlan at 10:00 A.M. on November 1st.

(Reporting by Kendall Crawford, Iowa Public Radio)

DES MOINES – Governor Kim Reynolds and the Iowa Economic Development Authority announced today (Thursday), that a total of more than $450,000 in grants have been awarded through six Empower Rural Iowa Grant Programs. The grant awards will support rural initiatives spanning from child care and housing to workforce attraction and leadership development in more than 20 counties.  For example, the IGNITE Pathways program in Woodbine will leverage Rural Innovation funding towards creation of an automotive maintenance and care training program to address the lack of local options in this field. The need was identified through the research and analysis by a local high school program that focuses on developing innovative solutions to real, rural problems.  And, the City of Manning is receiving $10,000 for the Manning Betterment Foundation, from the Fiscal Year 23 Rural Child Care Market Study Grants.

In another example, Iowa Central Community College will use Rural Scale-Up funding to bring the successful career academies model to the western part of their region through the development of a new regional center in Storm Lake. This opportunity will enhance the learning capabilities, provide equitable access to high-quality career technical education programming, and help close opportunity gaps that exist in the region.

In its inaugural year, the Rural Enrichment grant is funding eleven projects across the state, including “OkoboTree”, a visual art tree preservation project; a live music venue in an alley off Polk City’s main square; and downtown lighting project in Osceola.  Governor Reynolds says she “Signed the Empower Rural Iowa Act in 2019 to ensure that the rural communities that are the heart of who we are as a state have the resources needed to connect, invest and grow. Since then, Empower Rural Iowa grants have provided support for dozens of now thriving businesses, communities and entrepreneurs in our rural communities.”

More information about the Empower Rural Iowa Grant programs is available at  iowaeda.com/empower-rural-iowa

(Clarinda, Iowa) – The Page County Sheriff’s Office has released a cumulative report on arrests and incidents, covering the Sept. 24th through the 26th. Sheriff Lyle Palmer says the following individuals were arrested:

• Brian Kent Hullman was arrested Sept. 24th and charged with OWI/1st offense. He was taken into custody following an accident on westbound Highway 2, near C Avenue. His bond was set at $1,000 cash or surety
• Harry McGregor MaCveen was arrested on the 26th, for possession of drug paraphernalia, and OWI/1st offense.
• Ashley Louise McClarnon was arrested Sept. 27th, on a Fremont County Iowa Warrant. McClarnon was transported and released to Fremont County Deputy.
• On Sept. 28th, Timothy Dethlef Asmus was arrested for driving while barred.
• Alex Jeremy Hansen was arrested Oct. 3rd, for Violation of probation.
• On Oct. 5th, David Duane James was arrested for domestic abuse assault and serious trespass. James was arrested the previous day (Oct. 4th) as well, for violation of a no contact order (phone calls) and violation of a no contact order (text messages).