(Radio Iowa) – Hundreds gathered in person and online for the first subcommittee hearing on the governor’s latest “school choice” plan.

Governor Reynolds is proposing state-funded Educational Savings Accounts for low income parents who enroll their children in a private school over the next two years, but in the third year the parents of every Iowa private school student would be eligible for thousands of dollars in state money to cover private school expenses. Arlene McClintock says private school was out of reach when she was growing up and being bullied at school. She’s leading a group called Hispanics Aligned for Choice in Education Reform.

“One of the things that parents want to be able to provide for their kids is a safe learning environment,” she said. “That’s something that I wish that I had had growing up and it’s something that I want to provide for my children.”

The governor’s office estimates when fully implemented, the parents of about 40,000 private school students would be getting at least $341 million in state money annually to cover tuition and other private school expenses. Justin Hollinrake told the senate subcommittee sending that much state money to support private schools like likely weaken schools where his relatives live in rural Iowa.

“Ten years from now, is public school even going to be an option?” he asked. “Will schools even be open? Will private school be the only option?”

The newly-formed House Education Reform Committee will hold a public hearing on the bill on Tuesday at 5 p.m.

(Reporting by Grant Gerlock, Iowa Public Radio)

(Hamburg, Iowa, January 11, 2023) – Golden Hills RC&D, Friends of Waubonsie State Park, and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources have announced the opening of the latest round of an innovative artist in residence program at Waubonsie State Park. This is the fourth season that the park will host artists for the program, which was the first of its kind in the state. Artists will receive living and studio space in the park, with time to focus on their work and seek inspiration from the southern Loess Hills.

This program is modeled after similar artist residencies at national parks and state parks outside of Iowa, and was the first of its kind at an Iowa state park. Following Waubonsie State Park’s Artist in Residence program’s successful inaugural year, the Iowa DNR launched their “20 Artists, 20 Parks”, a similar program with faculty and graduate students from the Iowa State University. This year, the Waubonsie State Park Artist in Residence program will award up to two residencies, ranging from 2 to 4 weeks long during the month of March. Artists may work in a variety of media.

The program was designed to allow artists a respite from their typical distractions so that they could intensively focus on their work in the quiet seclusion of Waubonsie State Park, while finding inspiration in the beauty of their natural surroundings. In exchange for the facility use during the residency, artists are required to deliver at least one public program and to donate one piece of art to the park at the conclusion of their stay.

Applications are being accepted now through February 3rd. Artists will be selected through a competitive application process and notified by February 10th. The program is open to artists of multiple disciplines and from any location. For more details about the timeline and how to apply, visit www.goldenhillsrcd.org/artist-in-residence.

Waubonsie State Park is a 2,000-acre preserve in the scenic and unique Loess Hills landform. The park offers many miles of hiking, equestrian, and bike trails through woodlands, prairies, and oak savanna. Waubonsie is located on the Loess Hills National Scenic Byway™ near Hamburg, IA, about an hour’s drive from Omaha and Lincoln, NE; two hours from Kansas City, and two and a half hours from Des Moines.

Golden Hills RC&D is a non-profit whose mission is to collaboratively develop and lead community, conservation, and cultural initiatives to improve our quality of life in rural western Iowa. Golden Hills supports southwest Iowa in the program areas of Land Stewardship, Outdoor Recreation and Tourism, Water Resources, Local Foods, Arts & Culture, and Community Partnerships.

(Radio Iowa) – The wife of a Woodbury County Supervisor has been arrested and charged with more than 50 counts of voter fraud. Jeremy Taylor of Sioux City lost a Republican primary for Iowa’s fourth district congressional seat in June of 2020. In November of 2020, Taylor won back a seat on the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors. He’d resigned from the board in early 2020 after the county auditor ruled Taylor did not live at the address listed on his voter registration.

Now, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice, 49-year-old Kim Taylor of Sioux City is accused of submitting or having others submit dozens of voter registration and absentee ballot request forms in the 2020 Republican Primary and 2020 General Election. She’s also accused of submitting absentee ballots that contained false information in both of the elections when her husband’s name was on the ballot.

Court documents indicate Kim Taylor signed forms without voters permission and told others that they could sign on behalf of relatives. She’s charged with 23 counts of fraudulent voting and 26 counts of providing false information when voting or registering to vote. She’s also charged with three counts of voter registration fraud.

In the spring of 2020, Taylor lost to Randy Feenstra in the G-O-P Primary for Iowa’s 4th district congressional seat.

(Radio Iowa) – Northern Iowa is a long way from the sea, but the so-called seawall in downtown Clear Lake is being placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service. The seawall was built in 1936 as a Works Progress Administration project and received its first major renovation last year. Mayor Nelson Crabb says town leaders and the Clear Lake Historical Society are happy to see the iconic gathering place win national recognition.

“People will go down there and sit and stare out at the lake, but they have to go to the seawall to do that,” Crabb says. “Pictures are taken there, graduation pictures, wedding pictures, you name it, they all occur right at that what we call a seawall.” The seawall was also placed on the state’s list of historical places last June. The mayor commends the meticulous work by T-N-T Tuckpointing & Building Restoration of Stockton, Iowa, which finished the project under budget and ahead of schedule.

Clear Lake seawall (Via City of Clear Lake Facebook page)

“Actually finding field granite that came from this area and then going into the actual mortar of years ago, testing that somehow, and using mortar that was almost identical, if not identical, to that which was used back in 1936,” he says. “It really is quite an authentic restoration.” The seawall replaced the former White Pier, which was destroyed by a tornado in 1931.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa National Guard Adjutant General Benjamin Corell says it’s increasingly difficult to recruit new soldiers and airmen — and less than 30 percent of young Americans meet the physical and medical requirements for membership. “We open the door and want lots of young men and women from Iowa to join our ranks, but not everybody wants to serve,” Corell says. “There are other opportunities…There’s a lot of competition out there for young men and women of Iowa to do things that are less physically demanding and less requirements driven.” In a typical year, Corell says about 700 recruits apply for an Iowa National Guard Service Scholarship, but this past year that’s increased to 900 — and he says reducing the amount of each scholarship would hurt recruiting efforts.

“We’re able to recruit young people not only because we have recruiters, but because we have young people who joined the organization and had the opportunity to have their college education paid for,” Corell says. “If come back and say: ‘Well, we can’t fund you at 100% because we’ve expended the money that we have within budget,’ I don’t think they’re going to go tell their friends and their neighbors: ‘Hey, you should join the Iowa National Guard. They said they were going to fund me at 100% and I only got 60%.”

Iowa National Guard Adjutant General Benjamin Corell

The governor’s budget calls for a one-and-a-half million dollar increase for Iowa National Guard Service Scholarships — for a total of over six MILLION dollars in scholarship money for recruits. “It’s critical for us to keep that program going, keep it funded,” Corell says. “It’s important for Iowa, it’s important for our communities to get these people with a college education and then we’ve got to balance their requirements in the Iowa National Guard with their ability to go to school.” Corell cites recent studies indicating 2022 was the worst year for military recruiting since 1973 as the military began the transition to an all-volunteer force. Corell estimates the latest batch of new Iowa National Guard recruits is about 60 percent of his target. He has about 98 percent of the soldiers the Pentagon has authorized for the Iowa Army National Guard and 97 percent of the airmen for the Iowa Air National Guard.

“It’s not a crisis today,” Corell says. “My role is to ensure we have the people, they’re trained and their ready to respond and to do that, we’ve got to reach out. We’ve got to get more men and women from Iowa who say: ‘Tell me more about this Iowa Guard.'” Corell spoke with reporters after he delivered the annual “Condition of the Guard” address to legislators.