(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds’ new plan to let the parents of private school students apply for state funds to cover tuition and other expenses is speeding thru the legislature. It cleared Republican-led committees in the House AND Senate Wednesday and a bill is eligible for debate in the House as early as Monday. Republican Representative John Wills of Spirit Lake says the concept has been adequately discussed.

“It’s not quickly at all,” Wills says. “…For two solid year’s we’ve been talking about it.” During that time, the governor’s less expansive plans to give state money to low income parents who want to send their kids to private school never came up for a vote in the House. House Speaker Pat Grassley has used his power to change committee rules, so the bill may be debated on the House floor soon.

Grassley says while the plan is projected to spend over 900 million dollars on the education of private school students over the next four years, the state is likely to send over 15 BILLION dollars to public K-through-12 schools during that time period. “This is the most in-depth walk through of any major piece of policy I’ve been a part of during my time in the legislature, when it gets into the weeds,” Grassley said.

House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst says those numbers come from the governor’s staff and lawmakers should at least wait for a nonpartisan agency to review the plan and come up with a cost estimate. “There are 39 new members in the Iowa House of Representatives, so any argument that we’ve been talking about this for years is moot,” Konfrst says. Konfrst says debating the bill in the third week of the legislative session is irresponsible.

“I think we’re rushing this process for no good reason,” Konfrst says. Senate President Amy Sinclair of Allerton rejects the idea things are being rushed, since Republicans in the Senate have already voted for the governor’s previous plans. “I would suggest that maybe it’s long overdue,” Sinclair said.

The Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to review the governor’s new plan at 10 a.m. today (Thursday) — and the bill would be eligible for debate in the Senate next week as well.

(Creston, Iowa) – The Union County Sheriff’s Office says there were no injuries reported after a pickup truck rolled over Wednesday, and came to rest on its top. The accident happened at around 3-p.m. Authorities say the 2020 GMC Sierra driven by 80-year-old Lowell Pettit, of Creston, was traveling north on Iris Avenue near 150th Street. When it crested the hill, the pickup went out of control due to the weather/road conditions.

Pettit was wearing his seat belt. Damage to the vehicle was estimated at $20,000, or a total loss.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council met at 4-p.m. Wednesday in their Chambers at City Hall. Their first order of business was to hold a public hearing on the status of funded activities for the City’s CDBG-CV project (Covid Community Development Block Grant project). And, while the SWIPCO representative was unable to attend the meeting to discuss the matter, they did provide City Clerk Barb Barrick with a status report.

Barrick read, “It was reported that the project was approximately 56-percent complete, and the anticipated end date for the project is May 30th, 2023. For the project to-date, $70,612 has been spent, with $58, 226 in CDBG Expense funds expanded, and $3,100 in CDBG Administrative funds expended. There is $36, 774 remaining in CDBG Funds for the expenses. Match expended so far is $14,560.” The beneficiaries of the project are the Food Pantry recipients of the Atlantic Food Pantry in the City of Atlantic. The Council acknowledged receipt of the report.

Next up was a presentation on 2022 accomplishments and the 2023 goals for the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce. Chamber Executive Director Bailey Smith said they currently have 240 members, having not lost any members in 2022. In fact they gained 12, with their memberships coming from 12 communities in Cass County, not just Atlantic, and southwest region. Smith said among the Chamber’s accomplishments, is organizing a total of 25 events throughout 2022.

She said despite the good things that are going on, “A lot of people are hyper-focused on the fact that two business have closed. I chose to hyper-focus on the 11 that opened.” The closing of Oinker’s and Aunt B’s for reasons of retirement, she said, “Just gives us the opportunity to fill their whole building with another business, which we look forward to doing.” The Chamber relaunched its “Business Investor Fund” (BIF) in 2022, which was originally launched in 2020, but with the spread of COVID, no one wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to obtain funds for a business start-up, so it was placed on the “back burner,” until now.

The BIF Smith said, is essentially a guaranteed note for $1,000 a prospective business owner with a solid business plan signs, to help secure additional financial backing as collateral. To-date, five people have signed the note for their business. Additional information is available at the Chamber. All the banks except for Wells Fargo are partnering with the Chamber on the project.

The Atlantic City Council heard from CADCO Executive Director Jennifer McEntaffer on CADCO’s 2022 accomplishments  and 2023 goals, plus they heard from Alexsis Fleener with SHIFT ATL, on the DiscoverAtlanticIowa.com project. In their final order of business, the Council approved the reappointment of Lloyd Munson to the Board of Adjustment.

(Radio Iowa)  – This year’s inductees into the Iowa Rock ‘n Roll Music Association Hall of Fame are being announced.

Association president Ralph Kluseman of Dubuque says this year’s crop of honorees is nothing short of outstanding. “We celebrated our 25th year last year and now we’re starting our 26th season and, obviously, this class of 2023 is just building on all of that success we’ve had over the years here because we’ve got so much talent in Iowa,” Kluseman says. “The biggest challenge we’ve got is trying to find a way to get everybody honored because every year, the nomination process seems to grow larger and larger.”

Since the organization was incorporated in 1997, more than 500 entities and over 1,900 individuals have been inducted in the hall or won awards. Inductees must have a minimum of 25 years of experience in the music industry. “We’ve got all these categories, between the Band category, the Border Band category, the Out-of-State Band category, the Promoter category, the list goes on,” he says, “the Individual category, Women Who Rock, DJs, Radio Stations, Support Person, then we’ve got the Lifetime Achievement Awards.”

This year’s Labor Day weekend concert series in Arnolds Park will kick off with a Rock the Roof show on Thursday, August 31st. The following night, the audience will hear from a band that’s been together nearly four decades.  “Friday night, I’m really excited because we’re going to have what Rolling Stone magazine says is the best Beatles tribute on Earth, ‘1964, The Tribute,’ is going to play that night on Friday night, September 1st,” Kluseman says, “and they are going to be inducted into the Iowa Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame this year.”

This year’s inductees include: Band: House of Large Sizes, Mercurys, The Rathbones, Renegade, and Rushmore; Promoter: John Murren, Brent Stockton; Individual: Bobby Berge, Andy Blumenthal, Christopher Jon Furman, Kevin Hanick, Ed Hart, Sam Irish Sr., Andy Krayer, Craig MacGregor, Ron Smith; Women Who Rock: Rebecca Braun, Melanie Rosales-Underbrink; Radio Station Category: KNOD, Harlan; and the Lifetime Achievement Award: Jimmy Ryan.

See the full list at iowarocknroll.com.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Atlantic Fire and Rescue and Cass EMS personnel were dispatched at 3:09-p.m. to a rollover accident west of Atlantic.  According to the report, a GMC Yukon occupied by five people rolled over. The accident occurred at Highland Road  (G-30) at Indian Creek Road. All five occupants were initially said to have been injured, but the extent of their injuries was not immediately clear. No one was trapped in the vehicle, all the occupants were outside as of 3:15-p.m.

Update 3:17-p.m. : Injuries were minor, but there was an infant involved that they wanted checked-out.

We’ll update with more information as it becomes available.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa National Guard’s adjutant general is retiring on March 1st. Major General Benjamin Corell has been in the National Guard for 37 years. “My wife has sacrificed much for my career. We’ve got seven grandkids,” Corell says. “My grandparents influenced me growing up, gave me the values that I have. I want to put some values in my grandkids that have been passed down through my family.”

Corell grew up on a farm near Strawberry Point. His wife saw an ad for the Iowa National Guard in the newspaper and Corell joined a unit based in Oelwein in 1986. In 2017, Corell assumed command of the famed “Red Bulls” in the 34th Infantry Division. Governor Reynolds appointed him to lead the Iowa National Guard in August of 2017 and she will name his replacement.

(Radio Iowa) – The Home Builders Association of Iowa is urging the legislature to pass new limits on city rules for construction and renovation of residential property. Dan Knoup, executive director of the Home Builders Association of Greater Des Moines, says building codes should govern life and safety issues, not aesthetics. The group says ordinances that forbid the use of things like vinyl siding or require a certain number of windows drive up the cost of building houses, condos and apartments. Hubbell Homes vice president Rachel Flint oversees construction of the company’s home building operations in central Iowa. She says they’re not asking to get rid of building codes.

A senate subcommittee has advanced a bill that would limit residential building codes that include design standards. Angela Caulk, a lobbyist for the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials, says the group has concerns. “We are kind of worried that some of the language having to do with the abundance of codes, with how broad that is, could produce a race to the bottom where people will are just looking to see if they can make the cheapest residential housing,” she says. Tom Cope, a lobbyist for the American Planning Association’s Iowa Chapter, says the group hopes senators make some adjustments to the bill.

“We do have members that do come from communities with older housing stock that want to be able to have the ability to maybe provide an incentive to developers by saying: ‘If you do a certain design standard you might be able to qualify for tax abatement or those types of opportunities,'” Cope said. The bill would allow cities to maintain design standards for some historic structures — and homeowners associations that have rules for roofing, siding or other design elements could stay in effect. The bill does NOT apply to retail, commercial or industrial properties.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds has announced funding to complete phase two of Iowa State University’s new Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. The governor announced that I-S-U will receive 40 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding and is proposing that an additional 20 million dollars from the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund go to the project. I-S-U President Wendy Wintersteen earlier said phase one construction would end this year — but phase two is needed to provide an additional 70-thousand square feet for laboratory testing, research and support functions — and would put them all under one roof. Governor Reynolds has earlier indicated her support — saying the Vet Lab is critical to supporting and protecting the country’s ag industry and food supply.

(Dedham, Iowa) – One person is dead and another was injured during a collision early  this (Wednesday) morning near Dedham, in Carroll County. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2016 Chevy Tahoe was traveling westbound on Highway 141 and approaching the intersection with 330th Street, at the same time a 2023 International semi was traveling eastbound past the same intersection. The SUV went left of center and collided with the semi in the eastbound lane before it struck cable barriers on the north shoulder and came to rest. The semi came to rest in the south ditch. The accident happened at around 5:50-a.m.

The driver of the SUV, 29-year-old James Stovall, from Mobile, AL, who was not wearing a seat belt, died at the scene. The driver of the semi, 34-year-old Derek Pittenger, of Owens Cross Roads, AL, was injured and transported by Carroll EMS to St. Anthony Hospital, in Carroll.

The Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Carroll County Sheriff’s Department.