(Radio Iowa) – Researchers at Iowa State University say they’re making progress toward finding ways so people don’t get “cybersick” when using virtual reality headsets. Jonathan Kelly, an I-S-U professor of psychology and human computer interaction, says cybersickness can be temporarily debilitating — and a big turnoff toward using the technology.  “It commonly includes nausea, sweating, dizziness, headache and eyestrain,” Kelly says. Earlier studies showed that more than half of first-time virtual reality headset users experienced cybersickness within ten minutes. The new I-S-U research is finding the more a person uses V-R, the less woozy they become.

“Exposure to virtual reality seems to gradually reduce this experience of cybersickness,” Kelly says. “This is similar to other forms of motion sickness, car sickness, sea sickness, where for most people, if they experienced that sickness initially, it will eventually reduce over repeated exposures.” Studies involving about 150 I-S-U undergrads found that most experienced little to no cybersickness after three V-R sessions of 20 minutes each. Kelly says there are tools that can be used to minimize cybersickness. “They generally degrade the visual information in the virtual world, but by doing so, they reduce the experience of cybersickness,” Kelly says. “So we’re interested in whether adaptation under those circumstances will also serve the purpose of adapting them to cyber sickness so we can later open up the visual world to them more fully.”

ISU student Taylor Doty using VR. (ISU-photo)

V-R isn’t just for playing video games. It’s being used in all sorts of professions from military training to health care. Since so many people get sick during their first attempts, Kelly says it makes sense to ease users into V-R.  “You could imagine that someday there would be kind of a training protocol,” Kelly says. “That would gently adapt virtual reality users so that they can be immune to cyber sickness and other applications that they might explore later on.”

As internet connections improve and prices on V-R gear come down, Kelly predicts most people will at least be exposed to virtual reality either through entertainment or their jobs.

(Radio Iowa) – Democrat Tom Miller, the nation’s longest serving attorney general, says if he’s elected to an 11th term, he’ll continue to pursue cases against companies that scam Iowans.  “I just feel very lucky to be attorney general because we get to use the law to serve the interests of ordinary Iowans,” Miller says. Miller says consumer protection efforts in the office extend to farmers and the current investigation of sky high fertilizer prices. “Most of all, we’re communicating the message: ‘Somebody is watching,'” Miller says. “We’re working with the Department of Ag, with (U.S. Agriculture Secretary) Tom Vilsack and with the farm groups.”

Miller made his comments on the Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair. Brenna Bird, the Republican running against Miller this year, spoke at the same venue earlier this week. Bird vows that as attorney general, she would go to federal court to challenge Biden Administration policies. “It looks like our attorney general is Biden’s attorney general,” Bird says. “…He joined a lot of lawsuits against the Trump Administration. Remember that?” Miller says Bird would pursue a partisan agenda as attorney general. “Her passion is for this extreme anti-regulation, extreme economics,” Miller says.

Bird also accuses Miller of failing to actively engage with local law enforcement. “I meet all the time with sheriffs that have never met him, not once, not even shook his hand,” Bird says, “so you know that will certainly change when I’m attorney general.” In response, Miller says he and his staff each year work on up to 13-hundred of the toughest criminal prosecutions in state court. “We’ve developed a great relationship with law enforcement. We work a lot with them on these cases — Department of Public Safety, but local law enforcement as well,” Miller says. “It’s a relationship of respect, trust and common good. We really see the need to protect Iowans.”

Miller was first elected attorney general in 1978. He did not seek re-election in 1990 when he ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic Party’s nomination for governor. Miller was re-elected attorney general in 1994 and is currently serving his 10th term.

(Radio Iowa) -Iowa’s unemployment rate went down again in July — hitting 2.5%. “It hasn’t been this low since May of 2019 — so well before the pandemic,” Iowa Workforce Development Director Beth Townsend says. She says. July extends the string of months where unemployment has dropped. “It’s the seven-month consecutive month where we’ve seen a declining unemployment rate,” she says. “We won’t know where that ranks nationally until Friday when those numbers come out.”

She says more people are returning to work than had previously left the workforce, and employers creating more jobs. “The unemployed number fell by 600 — but we have 1,800 new people in the workforce from June to July, and we’re up almost 59,000 more Iowans are working, 58,600, to be specific from this time last year,” according to Townsend. “So that’s a really positive sign to have that large of an increase over time of people returning to work.”

The workforce participation rate held at 67.8% in July. Townsend says they still like to see it up around 69.5%, but the number hasn’t been dropping as it did during the pandemic. “We still added 1,400 people to the labor force in July. So it just shows that people are continuing, if they’re not employed, they’re continuing to look for work, they want to work. So that’s a good sign where we aren’t seeing people fall out of the labor force,” she says.

Townsend credits their re-employment case management system for helping those who lose their jobs to get back in the workforce. “We’re reaching out to people the first week they file unemployment, helping them, you know, have a plan to search for that next job, update their resumes, go to interview classes, getting them connected with employers that are hiring in their area of expertise or interest, ” she says.

There are more than 85,000 jobs still available in the state. Some critics say the jobs don’t pay enough for people to live on. Townsend disagrees. “Well, not in today’s economy. I mean, if you look around most intimate most employers have a starting wage of $15 an hour to be competitive, and that’s…in restaurants and hospitality,” Townsend says. “In advanced manufacturing, you’re seeing starting rates between, you know, closer to $20 an hour.”

Townsend says nobody’s working for minimum wage these days. She says historically less than one to two percent of those in the workforce work at the minimum rate — and it is to be a rate for individuals at the entry-level position.

(Radio Iowa) – The Camanche City Council has turned down the settlement Canadian Pacific Railroad is offering to address far more train traffic in the area. Canadian Pacific Railway is acquiring Kansas City Southern, a merger that’s expected to eventually triple train traffic through parts of eastern and southern Iowa. Davenport’s City Council has voted to accept a 10-million dollar settlement. The Bettendorf and Muscatine City Councils have both agreed to three million dollar settlements. Canadian Pacific offered Camanche 200-thousand dollars, for closing two of the seven railroad crossings in Camanche.

The mayor of Camanche has told media outlets in the Quad Cities area that is not acceptable and, if a train carrying crude oil from Canada derailed, the only escape route for 12-hundred Camanche residents would be the Mississippi River.  Federal officials are still reviewing the proposed merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern. If approved, the company would be the only single-line railroad linking Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.

(Radio Iowa) – Ottumwa police say a man shot his wife with a crossbow while she slept early Wednesday morning. The victim was identified as 68-year-old Lillian Dennison who was sleeping on a couch when she was allegedly attacked shortly after 1:00 AM. The victim was transported to the hospital and treated for minor injuries. Lieutenant Jason Bell says at approximately 10:00 the same morning, 68-year-old George Dennison was taken into custody after being found in a wooded area near the home.

George Dennison has been charged with attempted murder and domestic abuse assault. He is being held in the Wapello County Jail on a 50-thousand dollar bond.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – When the Atlantic City Council met Wednesday evening (Aug. 17), they acted on passing the first reading of an amended ordinance, by means of adding a section regulating “Panhandling.” Councilman Pat McCurdy asked Police Chief Devin Hogue if the Ordinance (#1021) was really “necessary,” to which he replied,”yes,” because of the volume of Interstate traffic that tends to bring persons low on funds, to the City begging for money.

Councilman H. Lee Sisco recounted an incident of alleged aggressive panhandling that occurred a few days ago at around 7-a.m., in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

If, upon three readings the Ordinance is approved as written, panhandlers could be cited and fined $50. In other business, Atlantic Mayor Grace Garrett reminded property owners of the need to control the weed population. The Mayor and others spent time last weekend removing or trimming weeds that were along the curbs of 7th Street.

The Mayor said property owners will be notified if their properties are not in compliance with the Code of Ordinances, with regard to weed/grass overgrowth along the curbs and properties.

On another note, the Mayor and Council were pleased by attendance last weekend, during AtlanticFest. Councilperson Elaine Otte said the were more than 200 vehicles registered for the car show. All those hungry people in the downtown area for AtlanticFest, kept the food truck vendors very busy.

Otte said one of the new food vendors say “they’ve never been as busy at another event,” as they were during AtlanticFest. Councilman Halder suggested making space for another food truck in the car show area, since most of the participants really don’t want to leave their vehicles while they get something to eat. Any such issues that cropped-up this year, will likely be resolved in-time for AtlanticFest 2023.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Sheriff’s officials in Mills County say no injuries were reported following a single-vehicle accident early this (Thursday) morning. Authorities say 18-year-old Jacob Hobbie, of Sidney, was driving a 2018 Dodge RAM pickup southbound on I-29 near mile marker 29, when the left rear tire blew out. The incident, which happened a little after 12-a.m., caused Hobbie to lose control of the vehicle. The pickup struck a guardrail on the east side of the road. A dollar amount of the damage is not available.

The Sheriff’s Office said also, A.M. Cohron & Son, Inc., reported an incident of Theft at around 6:50-a.m. today (Thursday). The theft took place in the area of Highway 34 and 295th Street, in Mills County. A description of the item(s) that were taken, and the dollar value, was not released.

(Audubon, Iowa) – The Audubon School Board held their regular monthly meeting Wednesday evening. Superintendent Eric Trager told the Board “It’s a busy week for us.”

Trager said during the meeting, the Audubon School Board approved a DMACC Student Teacher Observation Contract, Student Handbooks, a 28-E agreement with the North Central Consortium, Building Project change orders, and, a Mediation Settlement with the General Contractor for the Building Project.

The settlement was for part of the Delta (the difference between the original and final bid).

In the end, Eric Trager said, “We will finish the project on-time and on-budget.” He said there never was any explanation of why the contractor failed to perform as agreed to.

The bottom line is, there is zero financial impact to the District Patrons. Mr. Trager said, with regard to personnel, for all intents and purposes, they are fully-staffed for the upcoming school year.

(Radio Iowa) – Despite widespread rainfall earlier this week, drought conditions are worsening across Iowa, according to the new map out today (Thursday) from the U-S Drought Monitor. Field agronomist Rebecca Vittetoe, with the Iowa State University Extension, says the new red spots on the map are particularly troubling. “It just got updated again this morning based off of rainfall as of Tuesday morning of this week,” Vittetoe says, “so, not necessarily major changes on the Drought Monitor but parts of western Iowa, there’s a few more areas that are in the D-3 or that extreme drought compared to last week.”

Extreme drought is now shown in five western counties: Cherokee, Monona, Plymouth, Sioux and Woodbury, while statewide, 67 counties are now in some form of drought, up from 64 counties last week. Vittetoe is based in southeast Iowa’s Washington County, which is listed as both abnormally dry and in moderate drought, and she’s encouraged by crop conditions as harvest season nears. “It’s amazing what the plant breeders have been able to do to help crops better withstand drought,” Vittetoe says. “I look at some fields that have had less than five inches of rainfall this growing season and I’m impressed with how well they look, considering the little rainfall that we have had.”

She says Iowa’s two biggest crops are suffering fairly equally in the drought. “On the corn side, that pollination and grain fill is a really critical period when we don’t want to be having a lot of drought stress. We want to have plenty of moisture, cooler temperatures, to really help with pollination and with grain fill,” Vittetoe says. “On the soybean side, if we’re hot and dry in July, when that corn’s pollinating, I’m not as concerned then as when we get into August and we’re trying to work on putting on pods, filling pods.”

Vittetoe will be hosting a statewide virtual meeting next on the drought from the fall harvest perspective. For details, visit: https://www.aep.iastate.edu/drought/view

(Creston, Iowa) – Two men were arrested on separate charges Wednesday night, in Creston. According to the Police Department, 35-year-old Brandon Whitfield, of Creston, was arrested at around 9:15-p.m. at his residence, on a Union County warrant for Domestic Abuse Assault. Whitfield was transported to the Union County Jail where he was waiting to be seen by Magistrate.

And, at around 10:15-p.m., Wednesday, 43-year-old Jason Ford, of Creston, was arrested at a Creston apartment complex, and charged with the Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Ford was cited at the scene and released on a summons to appear in court.