(Radio Iowa) – Four children are dead after a house fire in Mason City on Wednesday morning. The Mason City Fire Department says they were called shortly after 5:00 AM to 509 North Washington for the report of a fully involved house fire. Two people, 55-year-old John Mcluer and 11-year-old Ravan Mcluer, were able to escape the house before firefighters arrived. They were taken to the hospital to be treated for burn-related injuries with their conditions not being known at this time. An immediate search of the structure by firefighters found four victims who were later transported to the hospital where they were pronounced dead.

The victims are three-year-old Phenix Mcluer, six-year-old Drako Mcluer, 10-year-old Odin Mcluer, and 12-year-old John Mcluer. Their cause of death is under investigation by the medical examiner’s office. Two firefighters also suffered minor injuries from battling the fire. The fire is currently under investigation by Mason City Fire and Police Department personnel as well as the State Fire Marshal’s Office.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Joni Ernst has moved up one rung on the Senate G-O-P leadership ladder, to the number four position.  “I am very excited to be moving forward now with this new team,” Ernst said. Ernst’s colleagues have elected her chair of the Republican Policy Committee, after what have been described as tense meetings of Senate Republicans this week. Ernst is promising to foster collaboration.

“We heard a lot about that over the past several days,” Ernst said, “so we want to make sure that all of our voices are heard and their ideas are presented fairly.” Senate Republicans reelected Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell as their minority leader. However, after disappointing G-O-P results last week, McConnell faced opposition for the first time since 2007. Ernst will be developing the G-O-P’s message for 2024.

“As we move, of course, into the next election cycle, I know the American people will hear our message,” Ernst said, “and it will resonate with them.” Ernst remains the top-ranking woman among G-O-P leadership. She’s been vice chair of the Senate Republican Conference for the past four years.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s U.S. Senators have split their votes on legislation that would protect marriage rights for same-sex and interracial couples. The bill would grant federal recognition of same-sex and interracial marriages. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley voted against allowing the Senate to consider the bill. Grassley says he opposes the bill on religious liberty grounds, but also believes it’s unnecessary. Senator Joni Ernst was among a dozen Republicans who voted to let the bill advance. It’s likely the U.S. Senate will approve the bill in the next two weeks.

The U.S. House passed a similar bill after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that opinions on same-sex marriage and the right to contraception were based on the same legal grounds as Roe v Wade — the 1973 abortion decision the court overturned this summer.

(Radio Iowa) – The state’s community colleges saw an increase in enrollment this year for the first time since 2010. The Department of Education’s, Jeremy Varner, says that’s somewhat of a surprise given the state’s low unemployment.”Community college enrollment is in part counter-cyclical. So we’re pleased to see enrollment growth this fall, particularly given the tight labor market, right, normally, we would expect to see some declines. So Iowa is bucking this historical trend,” Varner says.

He says the growth is split among the 15 schools.”So enrollment is up point-six percent to just over 82-thousand students. This growth is not evenly distributed amongst our institutions, seven of our community colleges are up, eight are down this fall. But we are seeing more institutions seeing growth,” he says. Varner says told the Board of Education this is a preliminary report on the fall and it shows the move away from full-time students continues.

“Students are continuing to shift from full-time to part-time. This is a trend that’s been going in our data since at least some time in the mid-1970s. So for a very long time,” Varner says. “Part of that is driven by growth and concurrent enrollment. But this fall, we’re also seeing growth in traditional student enrollment, those students that are in that 18 to 24 range.” He says they are seeing fewer students who are beyond the 18 to 24 range.

“We do have a decline in non-traditional student enrollment this fall, which is expected in a tight economy, but traditional students and concurrent enrollment students are up,” Varner says. “One trend that we are watching that we’re a little nervous about is that immediate enrollment is still down. That’s basically the students who just graduated from high school in May and are showing up in the fall. That number is still down a bit.”

Varner says the highest enrollment comes in one particular area. “Enrollment in career tech programs is up three-point-two percent. That’s more than other program areas. So students are really looking at those career programs that are going to get them skills, they’re going to help them in the economy,” he says. “That’s more nursing students, business students, these kinds of things are thinking there is that has to be in part driven by growth in our career academies and regional centers.”

Varner says they saw in online enrollment by four percent this fall after having huge surges in online enrollment during the pandemic. He says the number of high school students who enroll in community college classes is up by more than 44 percent with high school students in that concurrent enrollment making up 45 percent of the students and nearly 29 percent of community college credit hours. Varner says he will have more details on the makeup of the community college students in January.

Iowa Lakes Community College had the largest enrollment increase at eight-point-five percent, followed by Southeastern at six-point-seven percent. Northwest Iowa and Des Moines Area Community College each saw a five-point-four percent increase. Northeast Iowa was up three-point-four percent, Southwestern was up two-point-five percent. Iowa Central was up one percent. Hawkeye Community College lost the most enrollment, dropping by nearly six percent.

Western Iowa Tech dropped by five-point-five percent. Eastern Iowa was down four-point-two percent, Iowa Valley dropped one-point-eight percent, Kirkwood was down one-point-five percent, Iowa Western dropped one percent, Indian Hills dropped seven-tenths of a percent, and North Iowa Area dropped one-tenth of one percent.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council met Wednesday evening (11/16/22) and acted on approving several items on their agenda. The first was an Order to award a contract for the CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) Downtown Facade Improvement project to the lowest responsible bidder, which was Cornerstone Construction. Their bid was $454,044. The project covers Lloyd and Meredith properties that include 200-204 Chestnut Street. The owners were awarded a $400,000 grant in April, but the City is required to act as the grant recipient and the property owners as the subrecipient. The Council also approved a (Temporary) Easement Agreement for the 200-204 Chestnut CDBG project.

In other business, the Atlantic City Council passed a Resolution setting the date for a Public Hearing on the sale of real estate in Atlantic. More specifically, this applies to 301 Maple Street, which was once a dilapidated house that was acquired by the City and demolished. The City requested and received bids for the property, which were reviewed by the Personnel & Finance Committee. They in-turn recommended the lot be sold to Jamie Joyce, owner of JJ Design, LLC, in the amount of $10,000. He intends to erect a building to expand his business, with the purpose of warehousing, sign assembly, graphic application on vehicles, and business vehicle housing.

Having approved the aforementioned Resolution, the Council then proceeded to pass a Resolution approving the preliminary plat for the Prairie Hills Subdivision to the City of Atlantic. The Planning & Zoning Commission had already approved the plat and recommended it be approved as well, by the Council. City Administrator John Lund explained the preliminary plat is “Mostly just recording where a lot of the infrastructure and other details like the creating of parcels, will be done for the final plat.”

The Council heard an Annual report from Atlantic Public Library Director Michelle Andersen (We’ll have more on her report Thursday), and the passed the third and final reading of an Ordinance that calls for vacating a portion of a Country Oak Right-of-Way (ROW), between 2703 Country Oaks and 2605 County Oaks. And, the passed the second reading of an Ordinance amending the City’s Code of Ordinances with regard to changing the method of Storm Water utility billing from twice a year to once per year, beginning sometime next year.

They passed also, the second reading of an Amended Ordinance with regard to Zoning Regulations and removing the front yard setback for the Heavy Industrial District, and the second reading of an Amended Ordinance pertaining to Zoning Regulations that apply to removing the street yard setbacks prohibiting six-foot fences. The Atlantic City Council approved also, and Order to set the date of a Public Hearing regarding a platted Palm Street ROW as Dec. 7, 2022. Councilman Pat McCurdy quipped “It’ll be interesting, that’s all I’ll say.”

The property owners abutting an unbuilt City ROW on Palm Street, earlier this month sent the P&Za request for a hearing by the Council on the matter. The Council may determine if they wish the Planning & Zoning Commission to review the issue, or leave the ROW in its current form.  In his report to the Council John Lund discussed Property Tax, Street Finance and Department Head reports, and an upcoming Budget Session to focus on the financial matters that are ahead, with regard to legislative action that expected to come down the pike.

(Radio Iowa) – The speaker of the Iowa House is creating a new Education Reform Committee. A news release from House Speaker Pat Grassley’s office indicates Grassley will be chairman of the committee and it will deal with bills containing significant reforms to Iowa’s educational system. In each of the last two legislative sessions, Governor Kim Reynolds proposed more state spending for private schools, but both plans failed to win enough support in the Iowa House.

Reynolds campaigned against some fellow Republicans who’d opposed her 2022 plan. It would have provided 10-thousand state scholarships for students enrolling in private schools. This fall, Reynolds has talked about a far more expansive plan that would apply to all parents who want their child to attend a private school. The Republican majority in the 2023 legislative session has expanded to 64 seats in the Iowa House, but it’s not yet clear if at least 51 House Republicans support a so-called school choice plan.

Speaker Grassley says ensuring a quality education for Iowa students is a priority of Iowa House Republicans — and Grassley says the new committee will consider a broad set of education reforms. This past year G-O-P lawmakers considered but did not enact new pathways for teacher certification. Another stalled bill would have let schools find out if teachers or coaches applying for jobs had resigned from another district after being accused of inappropriate contact with students.

(Griswold, Iowa) – A collision in Cass County between a pickup truck and a Polaris Utility Terrain Vehicle (UTV), Tuesday, resulted in one person being transported to the hospital. The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports at around 10:35-a.m., deputies and area first responders were called out to the area of Highway 48 and Whitney Street, in Griswold, for a motor vehicle accident with injuries.

Responding units found that a Polaris Ranger being operated by James Reynolds, of Griswold, was traveling East on Whitney Street and pulled out in front of a Ford Ranger pickup being operated by Raymond Buckley, of Griswold, who was traveling South on Highway 48.

The pickup struck the rear driver’s side area of the Polaris Ranger. Authorities say Reynolds was injured and transported to a local area hospital for medical care. The UTV sustained approximately $7,000 damage, and the pickup sustained an estimated $4,000 damage.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Sheriff’s Office has issued a report on several arrests that occurred between November 4th and the 15th.

On November 15th, deputies arrested 30-year-old Cerriece Cusick, of Loveland, CO, for OWI 1st Offense. Cusick was transported to the Cass County Jail where she was booked and held.

On November 12th, Cass County Sheriff’s deputies arrested 25-year-old Andrew Malloy, of Audubon, for OWI 2nd Offense. Malloy was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and held pending his later release on his own recognizance.

On the 11th, 46-year-old Chance Hans, of Atlantic, was for Domestic Abuse Assault Causing Bodily Injury. Hans was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and held.

There were two separate arrests on November 5th in Cass County: 65-year-old Zoe Ruhl, of Griswold, was arrested for OWI 1st Offense. And, 28-year-old Benser Mark, of Atlantic, was arrested for OWI 1st Offense and Reckless Driving. Both were transported to the Cass County Jail and later released on their own recognizance.

And, on November 4th,  Cass County Sheriff’s deputies arrested 51-year-old Stanley Rossell, of Lewis, on warrants for Failure to Appear, Felon in Control of a Firearm and Possession of a Controlled Substance. Rossell was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and held.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court heard oral arguments today (Wednesday) as the state seeks to remove the governor and her former spokesperson from a lawsuit by the former spokesperson for the Iowa Department of Public Health. Polly Carver-Kimm says she was forced to resign after fulfilling public information requests to reporters during the pandemic that the governor thought reflected poorly on her administration. The attorney for the state, Samuel Langholz, argued the governor should not be part of the lawsuit. “The claims fail as a matter of law against the governor and the governor’s communications director because they did not employ Miss Carver-Kimm, and they didn’t have the legal authority to discharge her and the claim shouldn’t extend out to indirect influence over a discharge decision of another.”

A justice asked Langholz if that would still be the case if there were direct evidence that the governor ordered the firing. “Even under those set of facts with the governor explicitly directing her director to fire an employee, she still is not the one who engaged in that. The director could say, ‘No.’ The director might be removed if the governor was displeased with that,” Langholz says. On two other points, Langholz argued the state should have immunity under a new law that was passed after the firing, and that Carver-Kimm should not be covered by the whistleblower act. Carver-Kimm’s attorney, Thomas Duff, says the case should not be covered by the new law.

“In this case — the date of termination, which was July of 2020 — so once her cause of action accrued, her rights vested, and taking away that right, by retroactively applying a statute, according to the Thorpe case, is a violation of both federal and state due process,” Duff says. Justices questioned Duff about why whistleblower protection should apply to the case. “Because the employee is the person who is the gatekeeper and is going to respond, and that is the person who if there is pressure being put on him by their supervisors to not disclose what should be lawfully disclosed or to delay the disclosure of information that has a harm, not only to the person that is the gatekeeper, but a harm to the to the public at large,” he says.

Duff says Carver-Kimm’s duties all the way up to the pandemic were to answer inquiries from the media, and she was forced to resign once the governor thought that information was putting her in a bad light. Polly-Carver Kimm is the wife of Todd Kimm, who is an employee of Radio Iowa.