(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Attorney General’s office is launching a series of consumer protection presentations today (Thursday) that will visit a dozen Iowa cities over the next month. Al Perales, an investigator in the A-G’s office, says he’ll be prepared to hear consumer complaints after he outlines some of the most popular scams, like when you get a message from a supposed Facebook friend. “They tell you that they’ve been approved for a grant and you’ve been approved, too,” Perales says. “The scam is so good because you believe that it’s coming from someone that you trust, someone that you know, and of course they didn’t get a grant. They tell you that you’ve been approved and start the process of trying to scam you.”

In another popular scam, Perales says you might get a text, email or robocall from someone claiming to be with Amazon, confirming you’ve been sent a high-dollar item. “It’s telling me that it’s been shipped to Arizona and it even gives you the address,” Perales says. “And of course, I have a customer service number: ‘If this is not you, or if there’s a problem, call this number.’ When you call that number, it feels like Amazon. It sounds like Amazon. They’re very kind. They want to take care of the problem, but it’s nothing but a scheme to defraud you of your money.”

Elderly Iowans are sometimes targeted in a late-night phone call from someone claiming to be a grandchild who needs bail money, but Perales says Iowans in their teens, 20s and 30s are falling victim to con artists, too. “The younger generation is getting hit on Facebook or on Twitter,” Perales says. “The scammer will put something up, whether it’s a job opportunity or something for sale, and there’ll be a link to get more information. You press on that link and guess what? You open yourself up to get scammed.”

Perales will start the tour today in Independence. Other cities on the list include: Eldora, Monticello, Dyersville, Lake View, Grinnell, Creston, Sioux City, Council Bluffs, Davenport, Atlantic and Tama. For a full schedule, visit:
https://www.iowaattorneygeneral.gov/newsroom/consumer-davenport-atlantic-tama-eldora-monticello-dyersville-lake-view-grinnell-creston-sioux-co?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

(Radio Iowa) – The last bill to clear the legislature this year gives Iowa’s insurance commissioner authority to collect more data about companies called pharmacy benefit managers. Critics say P-B-Ms are driving small-town pharmacies out of business, while the industry says P-B-Ms are helping to control prescription drug costs. Pharmacy Benefit Managers are companies hired to administer prescription drug benefits provided by large employers, insurance companies and Medicare Part D.

Two months ago, the Iowa House unanimously voted for a series of safeguards for pharmacies and consumers. This week Iowa Senate voted to scale some of that back. For instance, Republican Senator Mike Klimesh, of Spillville, says the bill no longer ensures any Iowa pharmacy can apply to be part of networks that serve customers with prescription drug insurance. “What’s left in the bill, the bulk of the bill is a regulatory framework giving the insurance commissioner more latitude for rulemaking, to start to gather additional information,” Klimesh said, “so it helps us in our policy crafting process in years to come.”

Representative Brian Best, a Republican from Carroll, says more must be done to exposure the secretive conduct of P-B-Ms. “This is a situation where if we don’t do more than this, we are going to lose our pharmacies in small towns,” Best says. “Small town pharmacies are part of rural Iowa. In some blocks, it’s about all there is left sometimes and if we lose that, we’re losing everything.” Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver says a nationwide policy would be better, but congress has been unable to act, so lawmakers in states like Iowa are trying to come up with solutions.

“You have the pharmacists on one hand. You have PhARMA on another, you have the PBMs, you have insurance companies, you have the employers and so to try to find a balance is what we’re trying to do, which is control drug prices, is very difficult,” Whitver says. “I think the bill we passed in the end will allow us to continue to work on that issue.”

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, pharmacy benefit managers process about 75 percent of all prescriptions filled in the United States. All but four states have passed laws that regulate P-B-Ms in some fashion.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s Attorney General has reached a settlement in A lawsuit with a company in an “Iowa One Call” violation that resulted in death. The Marion County suit alleges M-C-S Communications failed on six occasions to call first when digging to install fiber optic cable in Pella in 2020. A company crew hit an electrical line with a jackhammer, resulting in the electrocution of two employees and the injury of a third in August of 2020.

Other excavations damaged natural gas pipelines and a telecommunications line. M-C-S admitted to the violations and agreed to pay a 10-thousand dollar civil penalty in addition to injunctive relief prohibiting future violations.

(Updated 5/26) (Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic Community School District’s Board of Education, Wednesday evening, discussed the upcoming Trojan Summer Experience, an elementary / middle school academic and enrichment program. But before they did so, Superintendent Steve Barber spoke on Tuesday’s tragic events in Uvalde, Texas.

In discussion with regard to the Trojan Summer Experience, which focuses on nutrition, academics and enrichment. Mr. Barber said last November, Administrators went to the Building Leadership Team (BLT), said 20-percent of the District’s ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funds (approx. $400,000) needs to be spent over two-years, on lost learning opportunities in summer situation-type activities, after school.

He said they then explained their plan to the School Improvement Advisory Committee (SIAC).

ACSD Communications Specialist Mallory Robinson, he said, has worked to put the program together. The program runs four weeks, from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30, four days per week throughout the summer. The Board, Wednesday, approved a list of four Certified Teachers, 23 Paraeducators and at least one bus driver, to take care of 200 students who are currently enrolled in the program.

Mallory Robinson said in speaking with interested teachers, it was clear there they didn’t want to make the summer experience a “standard classroom feel.” It will incorporate hands-on learning.

She says they sent out information to parents, and the response was so great that there were 68 registrations within 24-hours.

The program will serve current students in grades K-through 7 and incoming grades 1-through 8 that are enrolled. Their day will begin at Schuler Elementary School for breakfast. The older students will stay there, while the younger group will walk up to the Washington School, after breakfast and return to Schuler for lunch.

In other business, the Atlantic School Board approved the resignation of Middle School Teacher/Librarian, Deb Burton, and contract recommendations for: newly certified coach Bodie Johnson, as 9th Grade Baseball Coach; Jill Dodson, Kindergarten Teacher; Mary Jensen, HS Business Education Teacher, and the aforementioned Trojan Summer Experience personnel.

They also approved the purchase of a 12 +1 student, handicap-accessible school bus, from the Adair-Casey/Guthrie Center Community School District, in the amount of $74,000. The bus will be accepted and paid for after June 1, 2022, so as to not impact the certified budget. As a reminder: Today is last day of school for Atlantic students. An End-of-Year reception/employee recognition will be held May 27th at 8:30-a.m., with refreshments at 8-a.m.   Superintendent Barber said they will honor seven employees who are retiring, and who have a combined 178-years of teaching experience.

The School Board concluded their meeting, Wednesday, with a closed session for Mr. Barber’s annual evaluation.

(Radio Iowa) – There were more “substance misuse” deaths across the country during 2020 than in any other single year, according to a report from a nonprofit, nonpartisan group, though Iowa’s numbers were slightly less grim. Rhea Farberman, policy research director at Trust for America’s Health, says Iowa’s overall figures were slightly below the national average.

“Your deaths in Iowa were unfortunately up for 2020,” Farberman says. “That’s not unexpected. The deaths were up nationally as well. Iowa had 1,457 state residents die due to alcohol, drugs or suicide in 2020. That’s up 18% for the state, close to the national increase which was 20%.” Deaths associated with alcohol, drugs and suicide took the lives of more than 186-thousand Americans in 2020, what the report says is a 20-percent one-year increase in the combined death rate.

Farberman says most of Iowa’s results were under national figures, but there were still tragic increases. She adds, “behind each of these statistics is a grieving family.” “Your alcohol deaths are up by 30%, your drug deaths are up by 22%,” Farberman says. “Suicide deaths were the one bright spot in the data. They were down 8% in the state for the year.” The stresses brought on by the rise of COVID-19 are being blamed for some of the records numbers, but she says that’s not the only reason for the increase in deaths.

“Certainly the pandemic added to these trends and exacerbated these trends, but it’s important to remember that we’ve had large increases in the number of these what we call deaths of despair, deaths due to alcohol, drugs and suicide for over a decade,” Farberman says. “So we had a serious problem before the pandemic and the pandemic certainly made it much worse.” The pandemic brought anxiety, stress, grief and financial hardship to many, and it also led to a disruption in substance misuse recovery programs.

“It’s important to remember that we had a problem before COVID,” Farberman says. “Just the end of the pandemic alone is not going to solve this problem. We do have some preliminary data for 2021 that indicates the drug overdose deaths are continuing to rise.” The first year the report was issued, 2018, there were more than 55-thousand deaths nationwide attributed to drugs, alcohol and suicide. For 2020, that figure more than tripled to nearly 187-thousand.

See the full report at: https://www.tfah.org/report-details/pain-in-the-nation-2022/

(Radio Iowa) – G-O-P backers say a new plan unveiled on the final day of the 2022 legislative session gives parents who’re unhappy with their local public school the option of immediately transferring their child to any other public school in the state. “I think it shows that the legislature stands with parents and students.” That’s House Speaker Pat Grassley, a Republican from New Hartford. Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver of Ankeny says this plan was drafted after the governor’s proposal for state scholarships for private school expenses faltered in the House.

“Obviously with the other school choice pieces not passing this year, we thought that was a logical step to continue to allow parents to have as much choice as possible while staying within the public school system,” Whitver says. Grassley says the open enrollment proposal isn’t targeted at any specific district, but was inspired by frustrated parents. Governor Reynolds met earlier this month with parents of Linn-Mar students who’re upset about the district’s policy for transgender students. The Linn-Mar policy was approved after the March 1st open enrollment application deadline for transfers to another public school district.

“We think that parents need to have that opportunity that if they want to send their child to another educational institution, that they should have that,” Grassley says. Under current law, open enrollment requests must involve transferring a student from the public school district where they live to a school in an adjacent district and applications are due March 1st. However, Emily Piper of the Iowa Association of School Boards says parents have been able to get their child immediately transferred to a school in a neighboring district under certain circumstances.

“For instance, bullying and harassment, a divorce or custody changes…failure to help the student achieve,” Piper says. “Those things are fairly black and white as far as what the exemptions are from the current March 1.” That March 1st deadline for most student transfer requests gave schools time to adjust staffing levels, since the yearly allotment of state spending for a student shifts to their new district under open enrollment rules. Piper says schools are prepared to make mid-year calculations on budgeting for students who are transferring immediately, though, since mid-year transfers have been happening under special circumstances.

The plan that cleared the legislature in its closing hours does not change some parts of the open enrollment process, so districts will be able to decline a transfer request if they don’t have classroom space or staff to serve a student who requires special education services. “The home district still has to approve the request. They did not change that,” Piper says. “The receiving district still has to accept the student and they did not change that.” The proposal is included in a wide-ranging bill Republicans in the House and Senate approved late Tuesday night.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Police in Glenwood report 45-year-old Michael Butcher, of Council Bluffs, was arrested today (Wednesday). Butcher was taken into custody for OWI/1st offense. Bond wa set at $1,000.

(Radio Iowa) – Blood donated by Iowans is being rushed to Texas today (Wednesday) following Tuesday’s mass shooting at an elementary school that left at least 19 children and two adults dead. Another 15 children and four adults were wounded. Danielle West, spokeswoman for the Des Moines-based LifeServe Blood Center, says Iowa is answering Texas’ call for help, even though blood is very scarce here. “We don’t have a ton of inventory on hand,” West says. “We’re not where we want to be but we do have units set aside right now. We’re sending 10 O-negative and 10 O-positive but we also have more set aside throughout the week, so every day, we’re checking in with Texas to see if they need more.”

LifeServe is part of the Blood Emergency Readiness Corps, a coalition of more than 35 blood centers across the U-S that have committed to collecting extra blood units on a rotating, on-call schedule. The 20 units of Iowa blood being sent to South Texas Blood & Tissue won’t mean any Iowans are denied an important surgery, but it does ratchet up the urgency. “We absolutely need donors. O-negative and O-positive are always lower than we want them to be, especially when we’re sending more outside of this area,” West says. “This is a way that our community can step up and help our community blood supply but also the Texas area that probably will need more blood products throughout the week.” An appeal is going out to all Iowans who are left wondering, “What can I do,” following the Texas shootings, as they -can- make a difference.

“I would just encourage people to go to our website, LifeServeBloodCenter.org,” West says, “or give us a call at 800-287-4903 to find a blood drive or donor center near them and get scheduled as soon as they can.” LifeServe is the sole supplier of blood products to 129 hospitals across Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota.

(Greenfield,Iowa) – The Adair County Board of Supervisors today (Wednesday) approved the use of $16,000 from the County’s share of the ARPA allotment (American Rescue Plan Act for Covid recovery), for the Adair County Neighborhood Center, in Greenfield. The Center is owned by MATURA. They will provide the necessary matching funds, the sum of which would serve to make the building’s restroom ADA compliant, and feature new flooring, and heating and cooling system. The agreement stipulates if MATURA sells the building, money from the County would be paid-back within five-years. It also says bids for their improvement projects must not exceed $32,000, with proof of receipts. The Neighborhood Center provides assistance to families who are facing a crisis situation with food and/or shelter.

The Board also approved a wage increase for Timber Woosley in the Adair County Auditor’s Office. The Board and Auditor Mandy Berg all agreed Timber is a great asset, and as such approved an increase in her salary from 73-percent, to 74-percent, of Berg’ salary. The increase is accounted for in Berg’s office budget.

They heard from Adair/Guthrie County Environmental Health Coordinator Jotham Arber. He provided the Board with an Environmental Health report update.

Anyone who wants to install a septic system on their property in Adair County, he said, should get the required perc test done now.

He said the cost of the perc test is reimbursed if you apply for the grant. Arber said there are currently 19 perc tests scheduled for Adair County. Septic systems, he said, generally have a 30-to-35 year lifespan, so if yours is that old or older, you should consider getting it replaced, before it causes sewage issues. Jotham Arber said also, the Environmental Health Department is recommending Adair County residents perform a Radon test in their home. Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that can cause lung cancer. Arber left five free tests off at the Adair County Courthouse and will continue to provide five free each month. They can also be purchased at most hardware stores for as little as $10-dollars.

For more information, call Jotham Arber at 641-747-3972. In other business, Adair County County Engineer Nick Kauffman recommended and the Board approved, a 5-cent longevity raise for Secondary Roads employee Alex Bauer. The Supervisors then acted on awarding a Resolution for the N5 Richland Bridge Project to the low bidder, Murphy Heavy Contracting out of Anita, in the amount of $847,841. There were two other bidders for the project. All were in the ballpark of the Engineer’s estimate of $820,000.

Kauffman then updated the Board on his department’s activities.

Audubon, Iowa (May 25, 2022) – Trees Forever, Audubon County Conservation Board, Audubon County Roadsides, Audubon County Economic Development and partners are offering the Stewards of the Beautiful Land Series to individuals in Audubon and surrounding counties. Stewards of the Beautiful Land is a four-session course, meeting monthly, geared for the outdoor enthusiast who wants to learn more about prairie plants, trees and forests, and the environments they thrive in, and how to advocate for native landscapes.

“We have been offering this innovative series to other counties throughout Iowa the last three years and now it is being offered in Audubon. We have identified several great locations for field days which will be the perfect outdoor classroom to learn about prairie plant identification, establishment, and management as well as tree care and more,” says Trees Forever Program Manager Brad Riphagen. 

The course is structured with monthly webinars featuring guest presenters which lay the groundwork and knowledge base for where to find native plants on the landscape, the various landforms of Iowa, invasive species identification and management, pollinator habitat enhancement and protection and more. Each month will also feature an in-person meeting to learn from one another, walk through the woods or prairie identifying native plants and trees, and hands-on skills like how to properly plant and care for natives. In-person meetings are from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm at various locations throughout the county.

According to Sara Slater with Audubon County Economic Development, “we are excited to host this series of field days around Audubon and learning about the natural landscape with Brad and other participants. We even have a pollinator planting planned for this fall near Albert the Bull so the course has something for everyone.”

For more information contact Brad Riphagen at briphagen@treesforever.org or via phone at 515-370-1291. Registration is live on the Trees Forever events calendar found at this link https://treesforever.org/event/stewards-of-the-beautiful-land-session-1/