(Radio Iowa) – A study finds the average rate of family premiums for health insurance offered by private employers in Iowa has risen significantly. The report from the State Health Access Data Assistance Center at the University of Minnesota found the average premium rate for Iowa families jumped about nine percent from 2020 to 2021, while the national average is only three percent. Robert Hest, a research fellow at the center, says Iowa’s relatively small population may be a factor.

Hest says, “It’s also kind of a statistical thing where, because there’s a smaller sample size in Iowa, that those estimates just tend to be less stable over time than you would see in a state with a larger population and a larger sample size.” Iowa has nearly three-point-two million residents, ranking it the 31st most populous state in the U-S. 

“Because there’s a smaller population, it doesn’t take as many employers, large employers to make changes to the types of plans they’re offering, or to the cost of those plans to really swing these statistics,” he says. The report found about 87-percent, or one-point-two million Iowans, who work in the private sector were offered employer-sponsored insurance last year.

(by Natalie Krebs, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) – Winnebago Industries reports record revenue for its just-completed fiscal year. The outdoor lifestyle products manufacturer with Iowa factories in Forest City, Lake Mills, Charles City and Waverly reports revenues of five-billion dollars for Fiscal Year 2022, rising almost 37-percent from three-point-six billion in Fiscal ’21. C-E-O Michael Happe  says that was driven by the recently-acquired Barletta boats, pricing actions, and strong consumer demand for the company’s products.

“Over the past seven fiscal years, we have been laser focused on enhancing and strengthening our enterprise portfolio,” Happe says. “The success that those initiatives has created a more diversified, resilient, competitive, and profitable Winnebago Industries. This was never more evident than in Fiscal Year 2022 when our company achieved record revenue, profitability, and overall outdoor market share.”

The outdoor lifestyle product market boomed beginning with the start of the pandemic as more people turned to the outdoors, and Happe says the company continues to benefit from that increased demand for the Winnebago, Grand Design and Newmar recreational vehicle brands as well as Chris-Craft and Barletta boats.  “It is no secret that demand for outdoor products exploded in the last two years, and that new consumer trends have emerged which will impact our industries forever,” he says. “Thanks to the relentless focus, commitment and heart of our world-class team here, we’ve delivered on unprecedented levels of demand for our premium products as new and existing consumers embrace the outdoor lifestyle.”

Happe says the results for the fourth quarter and the fiscal year overall show the company’s flexibility and ability to deliver in a volatile economic climate.  “Winnebago Industries’ fourth quarter results were a strong finish to an outstanding year in which we delivered record revenue and profitability,” Happe says. “We recorded fourth quarter net revenues of $1.2 billion, which represent a 14% increase over the same period last year.”

Winnebago Industries’ net income for the fourth quarter was $82.6 million, and for the year, the company reported a profit of $390.6 million.

(Radio Iowa) – Staff in the Iowa Department of Natural Resources have drafted tougher rules for manure storage at any new livestock confinements or cattle feedlots in parts of northeast Iowa. The regulations would apply in areas where the bedrock is closer to the surface and it can be porous. Under current rules for these areas, manure from livestock operations must be stored in concrete structures. If the changes are adopted, the distance from the concrete bottom of any NEW manure pit and the bedrock would have to triple from at least five feet to 15 feet.

Attorney Eldon McAfee represents the Iowa Pork Producers and the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association. He says the changes could end expansion of livestock operations in northeast Iowa. “We could have producers who can’t build livestock operations with concrete manure storage on their farms,” McAfee says, “and that is very important to that area.” More than a dozen environmental groups say the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Michael Schmidt is a staff attorney with the Iowa Environmental Council.

“We are calling on DNR to do a better job regulating all of this manure to reduce the nitrogen, phosphorus and bacteria that enters our drinking water sources, our groundwater, our lakes, rivers and streams,” he says. It will be a few months before any proposed rules — whatever they may be — could be presented to the legislative committee that approves or blocks all state regulations.

The D-N-R is accepting informal comments on the proposed changes until late Friday afternoon. After that, there’s a formal public comment period and a possible rewrite of the proposed rules. The Iowa Environmental Protection Commission has to vote on any changes. Finally, a committee in the legislature that reviews all state regulations will either approve or block any proposed changes.

(Radio Iowa) – As some of her fellow Republicans call for deep cuts or an end to U-S aid for Ukraine, Iowa Senator Joni Ernst suggests that would be a dangerous step. “Do we want to live in a world where countries are free and can maintain their own sovereignty and their own borders or do we want to live in a world where Putin and President Xi and other authoritarians can just roll over whatever country they want without repercussions?” Ernst asks.

The Republican poised to be House Speaker if the G-O-P gains control of congress next year says the G-O-P will no longer give the Biden Administration a blank check for the war in Ukraine — and will insist on a plan for ending the conflict. While Ernst agrees unlimited spending on the war effort is unwise, she says the U.S. needs to keep supporting Ukraine. “But make sure that there’s absolute transparency with how we’re doing that,” Ernst says. “…People want to know how the dollars are being spent. They want to know what is being delivered to Ukraine.”

However, Ernst says that doesn’t mean congress should specify exactly what weapons and military equipment is shipped there. “Everything is so fluid on the ground,” Ernst says, “and we need to be able to provide them with what they need when they need it.” The U-S Defense Department is coordinating all the military aid the United States and its allies are providing Ukraine in its fight against Putin’s military.

“I think as long as they are willing to do that and stop this horrible, horrible man who also wants to do the U.S. harm, I think then we allow the Ukrainians to do that,” Ernst says.

In 2014, Ernst became the first female combat veteran elected to the U.S. Senate. In late 2015, she retired from the Iowa National Guard as a lieutenant colonel. She is now part of Senate G-O-P leadership as the vice chairman of the Senate Republican Conference.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council, Wednesday evening, bid farewell to the City’s Parks and Recreation Department Director. Bryant Rasmussen tendered his resignation earlier this month. Friday is his last day. He been with the Parks and Rec Department since Nov., 2018. Rasmussen has accepted a position with the USDA’s Soil and Water Conservation District, in Mills County.

Bryant Rasmussen

Mayor Grace Garrett said “Bryant’s accomplishments over the past over the past four-years are too numerous to mention in detail,” but she went on to mention a few. She called one of his greatest accomplishments the spearheading of the Bull Creek Restoration Project, which had been in discussion for decades because the financial resources could not meet the regulatory requirements. The Mayor said “Bryant’s vision and expertise in earth science resulted in the project finally getting done. And I must say, it looks great,” she said. Garrett said Bryant will “be greatly missed.” She recognized him for “his contributions in making our parks and recreation opportunities a point of pride for the community.”

In other business, the Council:

• Passed (6-0, with Councilman Pat McCurdy abstaining) a Resolution “Releasing the remainder of the Insurance Proceeds due to property located at 611 Locust Street, to the property owners.” The step was necessitated by the insurance carrier so that retainage of funds intended for the demolition and removal of burned and severely damaged structures, can be released by the City to the property owner. The rental home at 611 Locust was destroyed by a fire on May 10, 2022.
• The Council passed – by a vote of six-to-one – a Resolution authorizing and approving a loan agreement and providing for the issuance of $500,000 in taxable general obligation land acquisition bonds and the levy of taxes. This is with regard to the purchase of land for housing development in the City. Councilman H. Lee Sisco was the loan “Nay” vote.
• They passed (7-0) the first reading of an Ordinance amending the City Code, by changing the zoning classification of certain real property from R-3 (High Density Single Family Residential) to C-1 (Highway Commercial District), and changing the zoning map to reflect the change. They then proceeded to waive the second reading and pass the ordinance on the third and final reading.
• And, the Council passed (7-0) the first reading of an Ordinance that calls for Vacating that portion of Country Oaks Right-of-Way, between 2703 Country Oaks and 2605 Country Oaks.

City Administrator John Lund was unable to attend the Council meeting Wednesday evening, but Mayor Garrett spoke on his behalf. She mentioned Lund wanted the Council to know that the City of Atlantic Animal Shelter was given a State Inspection score of A++. Garrett said “I think we can be very proud of our City Animal Shelter.” She congratulated Shelter Director Kris Erickson for her work in making the score as high as it was.

The Mayor said citizens of the community, that with the changing of seasons, comes a reminder of the Snow Ordinance, the proper places to park your vehicles during appreciable accumulation of snow, and, that residents must clear snow and ice from your entire sidewalk within 24-hours of the cessation of snow/ice fall.  If you are unsure of what your responsibilities are, please call the Atlantic City Hall.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowans in almost every county can now get instant messages about threatening weather, missing persons, and other emergency situations unfolding nearby. Tracey Bearden, the 9-1-1 coordinator for the Polk County Emergency Management Agency, says Iowa’s most populous county is upgrading from Code Red to the new Alert Iowa system starting today (Wednesday).

“We are going to be using it for weather alerts, for warnings to include severe thunderstorm warnings, tornado warnings, flood warnings, blizzard warnings, flash flood warnings, and extremely high wind warnings,” Bearden says. “Citizens can go to our website and an opt in for that.” Iowans can pick how they’d like to be notified, whether it’s by voice on a landline phone, by text to a cell phone, or by email. Bearden says it’s important to stay connected, especially if there’s a missing child or adult, dangerous storms, search-and-rescue, or an active crime scene. 

“We’ve had in the past where citizens have called and wondered why they didn’t receive information,” Bearden says. “One case was, they had to shelter in place because of an armed suspect inside a home and they didn’t know what was going on.” There’s no charge for the service and if you don’t opt-in, she says you could miss important safety information.

“So if you go to the Iowa Emergency Management Homeland Security website, you can see which counties have opted in and which have not,” Bearden says, “but the majority, I think there’s only four to six that have not opted into the Alert Iowa system. So that’s a good thing. You need to opt in for each individual county.”

The alerts will tell users what’s happening, what local officials are doing to protect the community, and what users need to do to remain safe. Bearden says a follow-up alert will be sent to inform users when the emergency is over.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office recently responded to three separate accidents that left four people hurt. Two of the accidents happened last Saturday.

Authorities say that at approximately 8:09 p.m., Saturday, 32-year-old Logun Hughes, of Red Oak, who did not possess a valid driver’s license, was driving a 2009 Pontiac southbound on 370^th Street at an unknown speed in Mills County, when the vehicle entered the east ditch. After traveling approximately 227 feet in the ditch, the Pontiac struck a field entrance, causing the vehicle to go airborne for approximately 60 feet. Once the vehicle landed back on the ground, it struck a tree, which caused the vehicle to roll over on its side and catch fire with Hughes trapped in the vehicle.  First responders were able to get Hughes out of the burning vehicle and into a safe location. He was suffered critical, life-threatening injuries and was transported by Lifenet to the UNMC  in Omaha. Authorities say based on an investigation, alcohol is believed to be a factor in the accident.

And, at around 11:54 p.m., Saturday, 29-year-old Dalton Kaufman, of Glenwood, was driving a 1998 Honda northbound on 221^st Street when he came across a deer in the roadway, causing him to take evasive action and swerve to miss the deer. After Kaufman swerved, he lost control and the vehicle entered the east ditch where it rolled and struck a tree. The vehicle came to rest on its wheels. Kaufman was transported to Jennie Edmundson Hospital by Silver city Rescue.

On Tuesday, Oct. 18th, Sheriff’s Deputies in Mills County responded to a collision that occurred at around 5:40 p.m. at 310th Street and Noyes Avenue. Authorities say 64-year-old Rosemary Gordon, of Sidney, was driving a 2017 Toyota southbound on 310^th Avenue and approaching a T-intersection. 58-year-old Gary Cowan, of Malvern, was driving a 2010 Ford, and had stopped at the stop sign on Noyes.

Cowan then pulled onto 310^th Avenue in front of Gordon’s vehicle. Gordon was unable to stop in time and struck the Ford in the driver’s door. Gordon was transported to the UNMC by Malvern Rescue. Cowan was transported to UNMC by Lifenet.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Sheriff’s Officials in Mills County report five arrests occurred from Oct. 13th through the 19th.

• At around 9-a.m. today (Wednesday), Deputies arrested 56-year-old Christopher Allen Vanderloo, of Council Bluffs at the Pottawattamie County Jail. He was wanted on a Mills County warrant for Criminal Mischief 2^nd and Burglary 3^rd. Vanderloo’s bond was set at $10,000.
• There were two arrests on Oct. 16th:
  • 43-year-old Kim Jack Douglas Trost, of Omaha, Nebraska, was arrested for Driving While Barred. Bond was set at $2,000. and
  • 35-year-old Rogelio Luna, of Council Bluffs, was arrested for OWI/1st Offense. Bond was set at $1,000.
• On the 14th, Deputies in Mills County arrested 37-year-old Anna Kristine Kite, of Council Bluffs at the Pott. County Jail. She was wanted on a warrant for Failure to Appear on an original charge of OWI. Bond was set at $1,000.
• And, 36-year-old Ruben Rodriguez, of Aurora, Colorado, was arrested October 14^th for OWI/1st Offense. Bond was set at $1,000.

Des Moines, Iowa – State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald recently awarded a $10,000 College Savings Iowa contribution to the Smith family of Council Bluffs. Two-year-old Oliver was randomly drawn as the winner of the 2022 September College Savings Month Giveaway. “College Savings Iowa is all about helping families save for higher education,” said Fitzgerald. “Through giveaways such as these, we emphasize the importance of investing in our youth and their future. College Savings Iowa is a great way to help you do that.”

College Savings Iowa joined other 529 plans in September to celebrate College Savings Month, which is a national campaign designed to inform family and friends about the importance of saving for higher education. As part of the College Savings Month festivities, College Savings Iowa hosted a giveaway in which one participant was eligible to win a $10,000 College Savings Iowa.

The Smith family received their College Savings Iowa contribution during a check presentation with Treasurer Fitzgerald on Wednesday, October 19 at Iowa Western Community College. Nick, the winning participant, was accompanied by his wife, Sloane, and two their sons, Oliver and Tate. “As educators, my wife and I will always stress the importance of education to our children,” said Nick. “We are extremely grateful for this gift that will help open more opportunities for Oliver’s future. We appreciate how easy the College Savings Iowa 529 plan has been to set up and contribute to so we can help relieve some of the financial burden higher education can pose for our children, nieces and nephews.”

College Savings Iowa is a tax-advantaged way for families to save for education-related expenses. Earnings in an account grow deferred from state and federal taxes, and qualified withdrawals are tax free. If a participant is an Iowa taxpayer, they can also deduct up to $3,522 per beneficiary account from their 2022 state income taxes.

Read Program Description at CollegeSavingsIowa.com for details about the Plan. Connect with the Plan on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on current events and upcoming giveaways.

(Audubon, Iowa) – The Audubon School District’s Board of Education held their regular monthly meeting Monday evening, during which there was a public hearing with regard to Expending funds from the District Flexibility Account. Superintendent Eric Trager explains…

The Board passed a Resolution to expend the funds for any General Fund purpose. In this case, the Board decided to upgrade the District’s school bus fleet with those funds.

Mr. Trager said also, the Certified Enrollment numbers they submit to the State, show a decline.

He said the Board voted to continue with the District’s participation in the Instructional Support Program, as most other districts in the state have also done.

There will be a public hearing during the Board’s regular November meeting, and then act on a Resolution to put an ISL in-place. The Levy, he says, generates about $320-to $330,000 per year, and can be used for any General Fund purpose. It’s paid through a combination of Property AND Income Tax payers. Mr. Trager says that’s to make sure everyone pays their fair share, not just the property owners.