(Radio Iowa) – Vice President Kamala Harris visited Des Moines Thursday to talk with Democratic lawmakers and abortion rights advocates.  “People around our country are concerned, afraid, confused, desperate, in many ways feeling very alone in terms of what are their options and what are their rights,” Harris said. The vice president’s visit came a day after a federal judge heard arguments in a case that could end nationwide access to abortion pills.

Harris said the Biden Administration is taking the case very seriously and she hinted appeals could reach the U.S. Supreme Court if the Texas judge moves to ban abortion pills. “We are prepared to do whatever we may and can if the court rules in a way that we believe is in the best interest of the public health of America,” Harris said.

Medication abortions now account for more than half of all abortions in the U.S. “Politicians are asking a court of law to undo a decision by the FDA that was made on the basis of peer review of the work of medical health professionals 20 years ago that deemed a particular medication — mifepristone — to be safe,” she said. Harris suggests if a judge is able to ban this medication, that would open the door to legal challenges for other F-D-A approved drugs.

“We should all understand that these attacks go beyond reproductive health,” Harris said. Abortion is legal in Iowa up to the 20th week of a pregnancy. Governor Kim Reynolds, though, has cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last summer that overturned the 1973 decision that legalized abortion — asking the Iowa Supreme Court to let a 2018 law go into effect. That law, which Reynolds signed, would ban abortions after the 6th week of pregnancy. Harris says for that and other reasons, Iowa is on the front lines of the fight over abortion.

“What we know in Iowa is that there is an attorney general who has joined attorneys general around the country who are asking the court to overturn an FDA approved medication — mifepristone,” Harris said. “There are attorneys general around the country, including here, who are attempting to tell pharmacies to not dispense abortion medication.” Walgreens announced recently it would not dispense or mail abortion pills in Iowa and many other states.

Iowa Republican Party chairman Jeff Kaufmann says it’s too bad Harris spent her time talking about everything other than the issues that are actually at the top of Iowans’ minds –the disastrous economy and runaway inflation.

Harris arrived in Iowa late Thursday morning and the discussion about abortion rights was held at Grand View University. Harris then watched the second half of her alma mater’s NCAA men’s basketball game. After Howard University’s loss to Kansas, Harris met the team in the locker room and told the Bison players their never-give-up attitude had been an inspiration and they had made Howard alums around the world proud.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill that’s on its way to the governor would require that students in Iowa K-through-12 schools use bathrooms and locker rooms designated for the gender on their birth certificate. After a sometimes contentious debate, 57 House Republicans voted for the measure. Five Republicans and all Democrats present voted against the policy. Representative Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison, says he’s heard from countless parents who’ve expressed support for the measure.

“I had four daughters,” Holt said, “and I think a lot of folks would be very, very, very much concerned about their daughters having to change clothes in a locker room with a male.” House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst, of Windsor Heights, says the policy is unnecessary. “All of us, including transgender students, care about the safety and privacy in restrooms and locker rooms,” Konfrst said. “…It is already illegal for anyone to enter these facilities to harm or harass someone or intentionally invade someone’s privacy.”

Other Democrats like Representative Austin Baeth of Des Moines say the bill is an attack on an already marginalized group of kids.  “These are sweet, innocent kids, folks, who just need to go pee,” Baeth said. “Let’s stay the hell out of it.” Holt says nothing in the bill would prevent students from peeing, as it calls for schools to make other restrooms available to transgender students.

“The folks supporting this bill did not move the goal posts. It was understood until recently that biology is what determined the use of restrooms,” Holt said. “…This bill really tries to address the concerns on both sides of this issue.” The bill passed the Senate on March 7th with the support of 33 Republicans. All Democrats in the Senate opposed it.

(Radio Iowa) – A mobile education simulator is now in Sioux City to provide training to emergency responders in the western third of Iowa.  Iowa College of Nursing senior advisor, Jacinda Bunch, says the “Simulation in Motion” truck will be based a the Sioux City Fire Rescue Training Center. “The truck is equipped with clinical simulation equipment. So we have a simulated emergency room bay in the front of the truck that looks like an emergency room. We have all the equipment and supplies needed to take care of a patient there,” she says. “We have a computer operation station for our educators. And then the back of the truck is set up to look like the back of an ambulance. So again, all of the equipment supplies that you would expect to see in the back of an ambulance.”

“We have an adult male, we have an adult female that can give birth, we have a young child who’s probably about seven to eight years old, and then we have a newborn up to about nine months old,” she says. Bunch says the human simulators allow them to set up all kinds of training exercises. “We create medical or trauma scenarios based on the educational needs and desires of the community that we’re serving we allow the providers to come in and to care for those patients doing hands on skills hands on clinical assessments practice or critical thinking,” Bunch says.

The truck will travel across western Iowa training E-M-T’s and return to Sioux City for training there as well. The truck is part of a University of Iowa program and is one of three covering the state.

(Radio Iowa) – Officials in a northwest Iowa city are considering whether to join other local governments in sending the Iowa Utilities Board a letter objecting to development of carbon capture pipelines. Estherville’s City Council has held a work session to gather information about the Navigator and Summit pipelines that would pass through Emmet County. Estherville Fire Chief Travis Sheridan says if there’s a pipeline rupture, his department would likely need a new mobile vehicle that’s equipped with air packs. “An electric vehicle that we can drive, go in and save people, and get them out,” he says. Sheridan is also Emmet County’s Emergency Management Director Craig Schoenfeld, a spokesman for developers of the Navigator pipeline, says the company will provide equipment and training.

“It is not to be encumbered by the City of Estherville in your general budget or whatever you allot for your fire department,” Schoenfeld says. “Those needs are incumbent upon us to provide, whether that’s personal apparatus, if we need to come up with other types of trucks, other types of personnel…those types of things are on our nickel.” Kylie Lang, the Iowa project manager for Summit Carbon Solutions, says carbon pipelines are not new technology and the companies are preparing for potential leaks.

“(Carbon dioxide) is an asphyxiant. We take that very seriously. That means it displaces oxygen, making it challenging to breathe in high concentrations, but it is not combustible and it is not flammable,” she says, “so in terms of safety and comparison to other pipelines, a lot of different leaders in the industry have come out and said CO2 is safer.” The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association has sent an alert to its members today (Thursday), saying a bill pending in the Iowa House is a major threat to the ethanol industry.

The bill establishes new rules that ethanol backers say would derail the proposed carbon pipelines.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – A food truck that drew a large crowd on March 4th, will be back in Atlantic, this Saturday. Officials with the Chick-fil-A food truck operation reports their mobile restaurant will be at A-Plus Designs (56988 635th St.) this Saturday, from 11-a.m. until 3-p.m. For more information, see the chick-fil-A Iowa Food Truck Facebook page. Speaking during the Atlantic City Council, Wednesday evening. City Clerk Barb Barrick said the company called City Hall just before they closed Wednesday, and said they had a couple of schedule changes, which will allow them to come to town.

The Council was excited to hear the news. Barrick said the company was easy to work with the last time, and Councilman Halder expressed his hope they might locate hear permanently.

Mayor Garrett was impressed with how long the line was. She said she waited about 50-to 55-minutes before she could order and get her food. Garrett went back after the food truck closed and spoke with the operators, March 4th.

Councilman Pat McCurdy said he hopes everyone turns out at Weitzel’s revamped 80’s-themed restaurant when they hold their official re-branded, re-opening.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowans may be more grouchy than usual this week, as they’re not getting enough sleep due to the time change, but there’s also a greater health risk from springing forward an hour. Dr. Denise Sorrentino, a cardiologist with the Iowa Heart Center in Ames, says it’s only 60 minutes, but that can be enough to cause serious trouble. “We see the big rise in atrial fibrillation rates, heart attack, stroke, and even motor vehicle accidents,” she says, “often related to inadequate sleep and just bad decision making while driving the vehicle for that first seven to ten days.” Some of us adjust to the shift in time more quickly than others. Sorrentino says our bodies get used to going to bed and getting up at a certain time, and it’s a jolt to our system to move it.

“That 60 minutes can change what we call the circadian rhythm, which is the rhythm at which our blood pressure and heart rate change in the early morning hours to help wake us up,” Sorrentino says. “And people can have difficulties with sleep, blood pressure can become elevated and a lot of people can also feel very groggy, have poor decision making and jetlag.” One thing that can help us to adjust is to start adjusting our bedtime for a week or so before the time change, though that doesn’t do us any good right now.

“Usually, it’s a week for adults to adjust,” she says, “and to really make an effort to be out in sunlight, if available, while the day is ongoing to help that body’s circadian rhythm adjust for this hour change.” The best remedy at this juncture is to simply try and get more rest, and if your schedule permits, a power nap here and there.