(Radio Iowa) – The executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, Monte Shaw, says it appears more people are turning to ethanol-blended fuels to save money. He says just about anyone can use blends like E-15. “Ninety-five, 98 percent of the cars on the road could buy E-15. And if you have access to it — you might as well get the extra point of octane — that’s why they call it unleaded 88 — and you can get it at the lower price,” Shaw says. “And if you are like me flex-fuel vehicle, E-85 is really the way to go.”

He says E-85 vehicles will often have a yellow gas cap or sticker on the window that says they can use the 85 percent ethanol-gas mix. The E-10 mix is the one most used in cars right now. Shaw says retailers have different pricing for the ethanol blends. “At different stations, there are sometimes five and ten cents differences in what the discounts are. So, it probably pays to check out some price signs when you are diving between, work, school, home, wherever it is you go,” Shaw says.

He says you will find more options for different mixes of ethanol-blended gas in the larger cities. “We only have about 300 stations out of about 22-hundred that offer the E-85, and I think there’s about 250 stations out of the 22-hundred that offer E-15,” according to Shaw. “So we are working on that, in fact, there’s a bill in the legislature that would make sure that many, many, many more Iowans get access to that as a choice.”

Shaw says there’s a tool to help you find the stations on their website at: iowarfa.org. “You just go under fueling your vehicle, there’s a tab at the top. It has information on what blend does work in your car, and then it has the E-15 sites and the E-85sites, you can search it and everything,” he says.

Shaw says you can also check the owner’s manual of your car and it will tell you what type of fuel works in your car or truck.

(Radio Iowa) – The number of female officers in the U.S. military has quadrupled since the turn of the century. Iowa Senator Joni Ernst retired from the Iowa National Guard in 2015 at the rank of lieutenant colonel, but when she joined the military in the early 1990s, women were not allowed to serve in combat roles. “Through the Army Reserves and then later on in the Iowa Army National Guard there were very few women engaged in the military,” Ernst says.

By 2003, Ernst was the commander of a transportation unit that deployed to Kuwait and she says 12 percent of the unit’s soldiers were women. “That company that I commanded was originally an all-male unit,” Ernst says. “So when I was just coming into the armory where we were located in Red Oak, Iowa, quite literally the women didn’t even have their own locker room. Their bathroom was built into a broom closet underneath the stairs.”

Linda Upmeyer, Joni Ernst during forum.

The latest data shows about 16 percent of Iowa National Guard members are women. The senator’s daughter is enrolled at the U.S. Military Academy and Ernst says 25 percent of the West Point cadets are women. Ernst made her comments today (Monday) during an online forum hosted by the Iowa G-O-P to mark the end of women’s history month.

Officials with Cass Health in Atlantic have announced that Kacey Peterson, MS, LMHC of the Cass Health Senior Life Solutions program, has received the 2021 Therapist of the Year award.

Cass Health’s Senior Life Solution program is managed by Psychiatric Medical Care (PMC), which partners with more than 100 facilities nationwide to provide behavioral healthcare management services. Top performing employees and Senior Life Solutions programs from around the country are recognized annually based on their excellence in demonstrating the program’s values of care, compliance, and community. Award recipients demonstrate outstanding patient care, excellent comprehension and execution of compliance regulations, and strong community engagement.

Kacey Peterson, MS, LMHC

Cass Health’s Senior Life Solutions program recipient, Kacey Peterson, MS, LMHC, said “It is such an honor to be recognized by PMC in this way, and the fact this award comes on the heels of being named the 2020 One Track Program of the Year makes it all the more incredible. Senior citizens remain one of the most vulnerable and underserved populations in our country today, and I am so grateful for the support of Cass Health and the amazing team I work with for the opportunity to serve in this capacity.”

Cass Health’s Senior Life Solutions is a program designed to meet the unique needs of individuals typically 65 and older experiencing depression and/or anxiety related to life changes that are often associated with aging. Cass Health’s Senior Life Solutions program staff includes a board-certified psychiatrist, a licensed therapist, a registered nurse, and other trained professionals to ensure each patient receives the best possible care.

Families, friends, community members, physicians, self-referrals, or other health professionals can refer people to the program. For more information, education, or if you would like to discuss support, please call 712-250-8100.

(Radio Iowa) – A father and son from Iowa are back in the state after a medical mission to war-torn Ukraine. Charlie Becker, of Monticello, says he and his son Dr. Chad Becker, of Ankeny, took off a week ago with 200 pounds of medical supplies. “We came on Monday and we left on Thursday so it was a very short time because a couple of our objectives didn’t work out,” Becker says. “Our main thing is we got in with medical supplies and with food and other things — mission accomplished.”

Chad Becker works as an Emergency Room doctor in hospitals in Des Moines and Grinnell and he was in contact with a hospital official in Ukraine as to what items were most needed. Their first stop was in Poland and Charlie Becker offered praises for the Polish people for the way they’ve taken in Ukrainians fleeing the war. “They were able to absorb more than two-million people and you saw no signs of it whatsoever,” he says. “There were no people in the streets or people begging or people doing anything. They just absorbed these people and took them in like they were family.”

There is more information on how you can help those in Ukraine on Chad Becker’s Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/chad.becker.9022

(Guthrie Center, Iowa.) – Election officials in Guthrie County have released the names of candidates who have filed for the June 7th Primary Election….

Supervisor District 1

Clifford Carney – Republican

Jerome J.D. Kuster – Republican

Jack Lloyd – Republican

Jacki Sloss – Democrat

Supervisor District 2

Clinton Deardorff – Republican

Brian Johnson – Republican

Supervisor District 3

Maggie Armstrong – Republican

William Halling – Republican

Tom Flanery – Democrat

Supervisor District 4

JT Herron – Republican

Steve Smith – Republican

Michael Herbert – Democrat

Treasurer

Brenda Campbell – Republican

Recorder

Tristen Richard – Republican

Attorney

John A. Maschman – Democrat

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has voted to forbid some of the secrecy surrounding agreements between school district officials and educators who are dismissed for inappropriate conduct with students. Representative Dustin Hite, a Republican from New Sharon, says he’s disappointed in the number of confidentiality agreements in Iowa that let a teacher or coach accused of grooming or abusing students resign — and the allegations aren’t disclosed to prospective employers.  “We don’t need people that are doing this to our kids going from school to school to school,” Hite says.

If the bill becomes law, administrators who fail to report suspicions of abuse could be fined five-thousand dollars. “All too often I think we’ve seen in the paper or we’ve heard stories from our own communities of administrators failing their students, not reporting what they need to report,” Hite says, “not holding their fellow educators accountable when that’s necessary.”

The bill also requires the state Board of Educational Examiners to keep records of all complaints about licensed educators, even allegations that don’t lead to sanctions. Hite says the board told him last fall it does not keep such records, but earlier this year board officials said they do.  “Quite frankly, I can’t trust whatever they tell me, so we’re going to make sure that they’re going to keep track of those complaints,” Hite says. “(The allegations) are not public, but if they have a bunch of complaints with the same allegations, we’re telling them that they have to go back and look because sometimes when there’s smoke, there’s fire.”

Hite and other lawmakers say the vast majority of Iowa teachers are good people and the few who are not give the profession a bad name. Representative Mary Mascher, a Democrat from Iowa City, is a retired teacher. “We need to get the bad actors out of the profession, whether they are an administrator or a teacher,” Mascher says, “and this is a step in the right direction.”

Republican Representative Garrett Gobble, a teacher in Ankeny, says this is probably one of the most consequential education-related bills of the year. “This makes sure that no amount of back alley dealing will allow those who would abuse children and betray trust to continue doing so,” Gobble said. “I stand with the good teachers and I won’t waste a single breath defending the bad.”

The bill, which passed the House unanimously, would also make every adult in a school a mandatory reporter of suspected abuse.

Police in Red Oak, Monday, said 30-year-old Jamie Gene Neville, of Red Oak, was arrested a little before 11-a.m. today (Monday), for (Felony) Domestic Abuse/3rd or subsequent offense. Neville was being held in the Montgomery County Jail without bond.

And, 31-year-old Jessica Lynn Hardman, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 10:40-a.m. Monday, on an active Douglas County, NE., warrant for Possession of Methamphetamine with the Intent to Deliver. She was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held pending extradition to Douglas County, NE.

(Harlan, Iowa) – Shelby County Auditor and Elections Commissioner Mark Maxwell, Monday, released the list of candidates who have filed for the June 7th Primary Election in Shelby County.

Treasurer

(Republicans)

Shauna Laver

Carolyn Blum

No Democrats filed papers

Supervisor At Large

(Republicans)

Mike Kolbe

Bryce Schaben

No Democrats filed papers

County Attorney

(Democrat) – Marcus Gross

No Republicans Filed Papers

County Recorder

(Republican) – Geralyn Greer

No Democrats filed papers

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Officials with The Dollar General Literacy Foundation, Wednesday afternoon, will present $10,000 to officials with the Atlantic Middle School. The funds will be used to help replace books that were lost during a fire at the Middle School last Summer, and the resulting water damage throughout most of the school. The funds are made possible through the organization’s Beyond Words grant program. The funds will be presented at the Atlantic High School, beginning at 1-p.m., Wednesday, and prior to a tour of District facilities.

Denine Torr, Dollar General’s vice president of corporate social responsibility and philanthropy and executive director of the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, says “In the spirit of Serving Others, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation is proud to help rebuild Atlantic Middle School’s library collection after the school was impacted by a fire last year. This donation will support the library’s restoration by providing new books and helping students to become inspired and engaged in learning.”

About the Dollar General Literacy Foundation:

The Dollar General Literacy Foundation is proud to support initiatives that help others improve their lives through literacy and education. Since 1993, the Foundation has awarded more than $203 million in grants to nonprofit organizations, helping more than 14.8 million individuals take their first steps toward literacy, a general education diploma or English proficiency. Each year, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation provides financial support to schools, nonprofit organizations and libraries within a 15-mile radius of Dollar General stores and distribution centers. To learn more about the Dollar General Literacy Foundation or apply for a literacy grant, visit www.dgliteracy.org.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports three arrests. Two arrests took place early this (Monday) morning: 35-year-old Daniel John Vornbrock, of Glenwood, was arrest at around 1:20-a.m., for Driving While Barred ($2,000 bond), and 34-year-old Myles Dustin Longcor, of Henderson, was arrested at around 3:40-a.m., for Driving Under Suspension. (Bond $300).

Sunday afternoon, Mills County Deputies arrested 50-year-old Robert Stacy Hillard, of Lewiston, NE., on a warrant for Violation of Probation. He was arrested at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office and held on a $1,000 bond.