(Radio Iowa) – Graduates with an associate’s degree from an accounting program at one of Iowa’s 15 community colleges are now eligible to apply for some of the jobs in the state auditor’s office. State Auditor Rob Sand says Iowa has a shortage of people with four-year accounting degrees. “There are a ton of people out there who have a lot of intelligence and a lot of common sense who choose to get a two year degree instead of a four year degree. We shouldn’t discriminate against them,” Sand says. “We should welcome them into the office just like we would anywhere else.”

W.D. Isley, vice president of academic affairs at Des Moines Area Community College, says there are 365 students in DMACC’s accounting program and, once they graduate, they’ll be in high demand. “The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is projecting strong job growth for accountants and auditors,” Isley says. “In fact, over the next decade, the bureau is projecting nearly 82,000 (employees) will be needed in the accounting and auditing field.” Will Bond, the chair of DMACC’s accounting department, says accounting practices for state and local governments were added to the curriculum a few years ago.

“So today, the graduates coming out will have that governmental accounting which will help position them for auditing jobs, such as this one,” he says. Mariah Mullins is president of DMACC’s Accounting Club and she’s already employed full-time as a property manager. “I’ve learned to, for lack of a better phrase, ‘speak money,'” Mullins says. “As long as equity and revenue and even things as simply as inventory are part of everyday life, an accountant has a job. The deeper I get into my education with accounting, the more opportunities I develop for myself.”

After one more semester, Mullins will finish her associate’s degree and she plans to apply for a job in the auditor’s office. “Yeah,” Mullins said, laughing along with a crowd gathered in the auditor’s office. “I don’t see why not.” The number of people working in accounting jobs in the United States has declined 17 percent since 2019. Sand says that means hiring and retaining staff difficult in the public and private sectors.

“What we see when we don’t have enough people in accounting is reports that are getting done more slowly and people who are doing the work who are carrying a bigger workload, who are more stressed,” Sand says. “That makes it harder for them to stay in the industry.” According to the American Institute of C-P-As, the number of students graduating with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting peaked in 2012 and, by 2018, had already dropped by seven percent.

(Radio Iowa) – The U.S. Supreme Court has heard more tha two hours of legal arguments over a California law that would impact Iowa farmers raise pigs. A California law approved in 2018 would require that bacon, ham and other pork products sold in that state come from operations that provide at least 24 square feet of space for every pregnant sow. The American Farm Bureau and the National Pork Producers Council sued to block the law. The groups say nearly all sows are kept in pens that do not comply with California’s standard.

Justice Neil Gorsuch asked whether it’s the job of the courts to balance the concerns of Iowa’s farmers against the moral concerns of Californians. Justice Samuel Alito suggested California was bullying other states because of its large population. The Biden Administration’s representative before the court told the justices California’s law is an unreasonable restriction on interstate commerce because it regulates animals that are not in California.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest today (Tuesday), of an Atlantic woman. 35-year-old Jenny Clark was arrested on warrants for Intent to Manufacture / Deliver a Controlled Substance and Involuntary Manslaughter.

Clark was transported to the Cass County Jail where she was booked and held. Sheriff Darby McLaren said any further information will come from the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation, and that he could not comment further on the case.

All criminal charges are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in the court of law.

(Radio Iowa) – Tyson CEO Donnie King was in Dakota Dunes this afternoon to address employees at that facility after the company announced they are closing the Dunes corporate headquarters in the next few months.

Workers must decide if they will move to Springdale, Arkansas to work at the company’s main headquarters or leave Tyson. Sioux City Mayor Bob Scott and chamber president Chris McGowan say they were not given access to speak with King about the decision.

Scott said at the end of Monday night’s Sioux City council meeting the move is tough for the Siouxland area.”It’s going to have a terrible impact. To lose 580 employees in this area is really tough to swallow,” he says.

Scott hopes the tri-state governors will try to intervene in Tyson’s decision. “I would like to think that we have three governors whose communities are going to be terribly, adversely affected by this — that they would get together, and go see the people at Tyson, write letters, do whatever,” Scott said. “But take the lead on this, because they are not going to listen to local communities, and it’s terribly important that we don’t lose those jobs.”

A Tyson statement says that details of what King told the employees at a 1:30 p.m. meeting would not be released. News media were not allowed access to the Tyson CEO during his visit.

(Radio Iowa) – The Des Moines Register reports a hearing over state tax credits granted to an ethanol company will not be open to the public.

South Dakota-based Poet Biorefining operates a dozen plants in Iowa. In March of 2021, the Iowa Department of Revenue notified Poet it did not qualify for the state’s research activities tax credit and must repay the State of Iowa for any credits it has received. According to The Des Moines Register, Poet’s attorneys are arguing the financial documents they will present at the hearing are confidential and state officials are operating under the assumption it’s up to Poet to determine whether the public should see or hear about those materials.

Iowa Freedom of Information Council executive director Randy Evans says that decision is troubling.

“The taxpayers who have a lot at stake in this case are really cut out of knowing even the basics of what is involved,” Evans says. “There are ways to protect the trade secrets or proprietary information of Poet without sticking the taxpayers in the dark on it.”

The hearing over this tax issue is scheduled for next Monday. A spokesperson for Poet was not immediately available for comment. Several other ethanol companies have been notified they’re in a similar spot and appealing the state’s notice to repay research activities credits they’ve received.

Poet operates plans in Arthur, Ashton, Coon Rapids, Corning, Emmetsburg, Fairbank, Gowrie, Hanlontown, Iowa Falls, Jewell, Menlo and Shell Rock.

(Radio Iowa) – A small town near one of the Iowa Great Lakes has to set up new oversight of its drinking water supply.

For the past eight decades, the City of Orleans has been buying its drinking water from the City of Spirit Lake. Orleans City Attorney Don Hemphill says the Department of Natural Resources wants someone to be responsible for the quality of the water that comes out of the town’s taps –and Spirit Lake has notified Orleans it does not want to assume responsibility for the water distribution system in Orleans.

“And that responsibility involves testing and monitoring and operations,” Hemphill says, “so that brings us to where we have got to make a significant change.” Hemphill says the Orleans City Council has two basic options. “One is to accept bulk water from Spirit Lake and establish their own distribution system and the other is to turn the system to Iowa Lakes Regional Water, which is willing to operate it,” he says. “Either way is going to involve significantly increased costs.”

The Orleans City Council has asked an engineering firm to analyze the two alternatives and determine which is cheaper in the long run. Orleans, which is near the southern shore of Big Spirit Lake, has about 520 permanent residents according to the 2020 Census, but its population swells during the summertime when the Iowa Great Lakes region becomes a vacation spot.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Oct. 11, 2022 – Today, the Iowa Transportation Commission approved $2,748,949 for eight State Recreational Trails Program projects. The State Recreational Trails Program was created in 1988 with the purpose of developing and maintaining recreational trails and trail-related facilities for both motorized and non-motorized trail users. This funding is available to cities, counties, state agencies, local governments, and nonprofit organizations through an annual application-based program.

The projects and approved funding amounts are listed below.

• Carlisle Connection Trail (Des Moines)                                            $ 400,000
• Eldora Trail Expansion (Eldora)                                                        $ 397,000
• Gear Avenue Trail Extension Phase II (West Burlington)                 $ 345,357
• Glenwood Trail (Glenwood)                                                        $ 200,000
• Great Western Connector Trail (Manning)                                $ 200,242
• Heart of Iowa Nature Trail from 610th Avenue to 620th Avenue
  (Story County Conservation Board)                                                  $ 225,000
• Raccoon River Valley Trail to High Trestle Trail Connector
  Phase V (Dallas County Conservation Board)                                  $ 400,000
• West Union to Echo Valley State Park (West Union)                        $ 581,350

(Radio Iowa) – State highway travel numbers continue to reflect some economic issues. The D-O-T’s Stuart Anderson reported to the state Transportation Commission Monday. “August we’re continuing to see that trend that we saw going back to the April time frame of traffic below 2019 levels –which we really felt was directly correlated to the higher fuel prices,” Anderson says. He says gas prices dropped some, but recently have inched back up. “September data is actually showing an increase for the first time since very early this year compared to 2019 levels so maybe we are seeing some changes in travel patterns,” he says. Anderson says the September increase was small.

“Our September total traffic counts in Iowa are about half a percent above the same month in 2019,” Sanderson says. “Of course, it does continue to show that rural versus municipal trend — where rural is up about two percent, and municipal is down about two percent.” He says they will have to wait for October numbers to determine if the increase in travel has continued.

(Radio Iowa) – Chuck Grassley says if he’s re-elected and Republicans hold majority control of the U.S. Senate for the next six years, he may become chairman of the committee that oversees the entire federal budget. “I’m going to finish out my two years of the six years I can be chairman of the Judiciary Committee if we’re in the majority,” Grasley says, “and then the next committee I can be chairman of would be the Budget Committee.” Grassley is a long-term member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, but Grassley says he’s not positioned to be a chairman of that panel.

“I think the chances of that are nil,” Grassley says. “…My seniority has been emphasized on the other three committees: Budget, Finance and Judiciary.” Grassley says the Ag Committee’s work on the 2023 Farm Bill is well-underway and prospects for the legislature are good, whichever party holds a majority of seats in the senate next year. “I think we’ll get it passed,” Grassley says. “It tends to be one that’s very bipartisan.” Democrat Mike Franken, a retired Navy admiral, is challenging Grassley’s bid for an eighth term in the U.S. Senate. Franken would seek a seat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee if he’s elected.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisor Board Chair Steve Baier has informally issued the Oath of Office to Kathy Somers, who was appointed to serve as the Cass County Auditor, until at least the November 8^th General Election. The action was taken during the Board’s meeting this (Tuesday) morning, at the Cass County Courthouse. Somers is running unopposed. She succeeds Sara Harris, who resigned in September, but whose resignation wasn’t accepted until just this month.

The Supervisors also adopted Cass County Ordinance Number 2 “General Relief Assistance Program,” following a public hearing – during which there were no comments. In other business, the Board tabled until Oct. 18, 2022, action on the Sale of the County-owned Farm, because there was not enough time to publish the notice. They approved the Cass County Weed Commissioner’s Annual report. Board Chair Steve Baier mentioned “County-wide, we’re getting a better handle on the wild cucumbers.

The Board approved the Cass County Employee handbook, and where their meeting agenda’s would be posted for public viewing. The Board voted to increase a Treasurer’s Office employee wage from $18 dollars to $19, instead of $20, as Treasurer Tracey J. Marshall requested. And, County Engineer Trent Wolken reported on bridge projects, including the concrete box culvert on Boston Road, east of Olive Street (South of I-80). That project is finished and the road is open.

Cass County Bridge project

Bridge #182 on Chesnut St

Boston Rd.

Boston Road Concrete Box Culvert

He said also, the bridge on W. 6^th Street in Atlantic closed Monday, and is expected to remain closed for about 10 weeks so substructure repairs may be conducted. And, Wolken said his department has a truck driver position open at the Anita shed, which was published last week. The closing date is October 25^th. He says they have already received applications for the position.