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Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports Deputies conducted an arrest following a traffic stop late Tuesday night, near Villisca. Taken into custody near W. High Street and Highway 71 at around 11:25-p.m., was 54-year-old John David Stone, of Braddyville. Stone was arrested for Driving While Barred. He was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $2,000 bond.
(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has voted to establish statewide regulations for automated traffic cameras that generate tickets for speeding and running red lights. Republican Representative Phil Thompson of Boone says tickets could only be issued if a vehicle is caught going at least 10 miles an hour over the posted speed limit. “While I certainly would prefer to ban these outright,” Thompson says, “the longer we sit around and do nothing on this, the more we’re seeing these systems being abuse across our state.”
Representative Brian Best, a Republican from Glidden, says after years of wrangling, it’s clear there’s no perfect answer, but it’s time to act. “Without this amendment and this bill…I think there’s going to be a lot of unwanted and unneeded traffic cameras that are going to keep springing up,” Best said.
The bill would require revenue from traffic camera tickets to be used on law enforcement budgets. Republican Representative John Wills of Spirit Lake wants to go further and ban all traffic cameras. “We don’t have to be found guilty just because our car was there, our license plate was there,” Wills says.
If the bill becomes law, cities that want to have traffic cameras would have to get a permit from the Iowa Department of Transportation. Cities with fewer than 20-thousand residents could not have mobile cameras that change locations. The bill passed on an 85 to 12 vote and now goes to the Senate.
(Radio Iowa) – A House-passed bill that would give property owners resisting a proposed carbon pipeline a new legal option has cleared initial review in the Iowa Senate. Senator Jason Schultz, a Republican from Schleswig, is working on some adjustments to the bill, but he says it’s time for the legislature to do something. “I do believe this is the correct thing…to give people an opportunity to know the fate of their land without waiting three years,” Schultz said. “That just seems cruel and unusual.”
Under the bill, property owners along a proposed hazardous pipeline route could go to court after a permit application is filed for a ruling on whether developers would have eminent domain authority to seize land for the project. Property owners who don’t want the carbon pipeline on their land are urging senators to pass the bill. Kathy Carter of Rockford says they need relief.
“We need relief from the unending stress,” Carter said. “We need the relief of the worry of how do I afford to continue on, all in an effort to protect my own property.” Jeff Boeyink, a lobbyist for Summit Carbon Solutions, says if the bill becomes law, it would have a chilling effect on Summit’s pipeline, as well as natural gas pipeline development. “At its core, this bill has been written to frustrate infrastructure development,” Boeyink said. “There’s just no doubt about it.”
Another lobbyist for the company told senators that Summit has paid 158 million dollars to over 12-hundred Iowa landowners who’ve signed voluntary easements for the pipeline — accounting for nearly 75 percent of the pipeline route through Iowa.
(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic School Board will meet Wednesday (April 10, 2024) in the High School Media Center. Their meeting begins at 5:30-p.m., and includes action on setting the 2nd Budget Hearing as April 24th at 5:30-p.m., and the following resignations:
The Board will also act on the following Contract Recommendations and/or Letters of Assignment:
You can view the full agenda here: Public Agenda 04102024
DES MOINES – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources annual spring auction is being held online until April 24. To view the firearms for sale and to register to bid, go to https://auctionsolutionsinc.com/auctions.
Items up for auction include firearms, bows, gun cases and scopes. The items are sold “as is” with no guarantee or warranty. The list of items for sale and the terms of service is available at https://www.proxibid.com/Auction-Solutions-Inc/Iowa-State-Firearm-Auction-2024/event-catalog/259840.
Iowans who are winning bidders are required to pick up their firearms on April 27, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the northwest corner parking lot/loading dock of the Wallace State Office Building, 502 East Ninth Street, in Des Moines.
The Iowa DNR reserves the right to reject any bids and withdraw any item from the sale at any time.
(Radio Iowa) – Iowa agriculture officials are closely monitoring new developments with highly pathogenic avian influenza in the country. The U-S-D-A reported dairy cattle in Texas and Kansas tested positive for the virus last month. Earlier, avian flu was confined to domestic poultry and other bird species. Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig says other confirmed cases have been reported in Idaho, MIchigan and Ohio.
“What happens is, you’ve got cows that start to go off feed,” Naig says. “They might run a fever, their milk production drops, and that’s how folks started to realize and pick up that they had a problem. So, that certainly affects the health of dairy herds and the profitability of dairy, but, the good news is, those dairy cattle recover, just like you and I get over the flu.”
Last weekend, the Centers for Disease Control issued a health alert to inform clinicians, state health departments and the public of a case of avian influenza in a person who had contact with dairy cows presumed to be infected with the virus. Though the case was confirmed in a farm worker in Texas, Naig says the public should not be alarmed.
“There’s only ever been two confirmed cases of high path avian influenza in humans,” he says. “One was in Colorado a few years ago, related to a poultry site. And, the second one now is a dairy worker, a worker at one of these positive sites who had a lot of contact with those cattle and milk. So you can understand why that might have happened, but there is no indication that it moves from person to person.” Naig adds, the avian flu doesn’t constitute a food safety issue.
“As long as you are drinking pasteurized milk,” Naig says, “the milk that you and I buy at the grocery store, or that kids are drinking at school during a lunch hour, that is pasteurized. That kills any viruses and bacteria that are of concern, that’s where I can say this is not a food safety issue, but one that we are watching very closely, trying to anticipate how we can stay ahead of it here in the state of Iowa.”
More information regarding avian influenza is available on the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship’s website.
(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says Iowa women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder has done a phenomenal job and her pay should reflect that.
Reynolds, though, is not suggesting what Bluder’s salary should be. Fran McCaffrey’s been coach of the men’s team at Iowa for 13 seasons and his annual salary this year is about three-point-two MILLION. Bluder, in her 24th season as the Iowa women’s coach, is earning 310-thousand dollars worth of bonuses due to her team’s run in this year’s N-C-Double-A tournament. That’s on top of her one-point-four MILLION dollar salary for this season.
Governor Reynolds spoke with reporters outside her Iowa Capitol office on April 9, 2024. (RI photo)
Iowa’s governor says the Hawkeye women have changed the landscape of women’s sports, capped by a championship game that was the most-watched basketball game since 2019 — surpassing college men’s basketball and N-B-A games over the past five seasons.
While speaking with reporters earlier today (Tuesday), Reynolds praised National Player of the Year Caitlin Clark and her Hawkeye teammates.
Reynolds played six-on-six girl’s basketball for Interstate 35 and graduated from the high school in Truro in 1977. Bluder graduated from high school two years later after playing six-on-six basketball at Linn-Mar. Bluder went on to be a three-year starter for the University of Northern Iowa women’s basketball team.
(Red Oak, Iowa) – A rural Montgomery County woman, today (Tuesday), provided an update for the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors, with regard to efforts by Summit Carbon Solutions to obtain a route for a carbon capture pipeline through the County. Jan Norris from West township read the following statement to the Board:
“Summit has filed 14 new Phase II dockets routes using a different LLC name, SCS Carbon Transport.The new 30 mile Adams/Montgomery county docket number is HLP-2024-0006. A couple years ago, the county filed an objection to eminent domain on the original Summit docket. If you are still opposed to eminent domain, please file an objection to this new docket number.
“This afternoon (Tuesday), the Senate Ways & Means subcommittee will be holding a hearing on a bill that would create a declaratory order and also, importantly, help for appeal bonds. I certainly hope our senator, who appears to have land in the new corridor, will support the bill. PHMSA’s new draft regulations are now open to public comments. Anyone wanting to participate can sign up to share their concerns. On May 7, the IUB will be holding a public hearing on Restoration of Agricultural Lands During & After Pipeline Construction. I would assume our inspector Snyder & Associates will be in attendance.
“In an April 1 article about CO2 pipelines, North Dakota Dept of Mineral Resources Director, said, “We’ve got to overcome this (Not in my backyard) attitude. We are going to need everything we can get, from… any place that will send it, if we want that extra 10 billion barrels of oil,” Does that sound like sequestration to you?
“Summit will be required to hold public information meetings for the new routes. If they follow the spring schedule, that the IUB denied, we might expect our local meeting to be as early as the first week of June. But some of you might know better. I found it notable that on March 28 Bremer County filed a letter giving notice to Summit of their hazardous liquid pipeline ordinance. THEY are not backing down.
“Once again, I urge you hold discussion on the pipeline issue. All 5 members of this body should be allowed to participate, and including public input would be even better. I apologize for having to be here so often, but there are potentially 154 homes in Montgomery Co who don’t get to pass. We deserve better.”
(Elk Horn, Iowa) – The Danish Windmill,a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organizations, is continuing its “It Takes A Village” fundraiser, on Sunday April 14. All tour admissions generated on Sunday will be donated to local daycare facility, Kids in the Village. General admission is $5.00 / person ages 13 and up. Tour the windmill for a good cause. View our new exhibits and see the windmill in action.
Windmill Manager Shaun Sayres says “We’ve partnered with local businesses to ensure food options for each Sunday. This Sunday will feature Norse Horse Tavern, open 11-2 serving breakfast sandwiches and Danish hotdogs. Come enjoy a Spring day in the Danish Villages and help support a vital organization.
We will have additional fundraising days on Sunday April 21, and Sunday April 28.” Additional details are forthcoming.
DES MOINES — U.S. Representative Zach Nunn (IA-03) introduced bipartisan legislation to incentivize the adoption of siblings. The Fight for Siblings Act, which is co-led by U.S. Representative Don Davis (NC-01), will double the federal adoption tax credit for families that adopt siblings.
“Family is everything to Iowans, and I want to make sure that I’m doing everything in my power to help Iowans who are willing to open their home to disadvantaged children,” said Rep. Nunn. “When we began fostering and ultimately adopted Jayna and Aliya, we knew it was incredibly important to keep them together as sisters. Now, I’m fighting to ensure every sibling in the foster system or awaiting adoption can stay together forever.”
Nothing is more important than providing children with a safe, loving environment to grow and learn. In April 2023, Rep. Nunn and his wife adopted two sisters into their family. His firsthand experience with the shortcomings of the foster and adoption process is the foundation for his passion to help other children find their forever homes. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, there are 4,144 Iowa children in foster care and 1,004 Iowa children awaiting adoption.
“It’s important to ensure that low- and middle-income parents have the same opportunities as others when it comes to adopting children,” said Rep. Davis. “Our legislation aims to level the playing field and guarantee equal access to adoption for all families willing to provide caring and loving homes to children.”
Under federal law, foster care agencies are required to strive to find temporary placements in the same home for foster siblings. When placed together, siblings are ultimately provided with a sense of stability that positively impacts their transition and long-term well-being. “A family should not be discouraged to foster and adopt because of cost,” said Mary Beth O’Neill, President and CEO of Four Oaks. “This legislation will allow more siblings to stay together through the adoption process. This, in turn, will provide consistency and stability for not just the children and families supported by Four Oaks in Iowa, but foster and adoptive families all across the country. We are grateful for Representative Nunn’s Fight for Siblings Act. His advocacy efforts will drive positive outcomes for children throughout the nation.”
Adoption fees and related expenses are high which makes it difficult to adopt more than one child at a time. According to the HHS, independent adoptions as of June, 2023 range from $25,000 to $45,000. Adoptions from a private agency range from $30,000 to $60,000. These costs can be prohibitive to families seeking to adopt siblings, unintentionally forcing the separation of siblings.
“When most people think about adoption from foster care, they often envision heartwarming pictures of families proudly standing outside a courthouse with a sign that reads, ‘After X days in foster care, I’ve joined my forever family.’ While these moments are certainly worth celebrating, it’s important to acknowledge that adoption from foster care can also be a bittersweet experience, marked by the loss and trauma that these children have experienced,” said Traci Schermerhorn, President and CEO of Foster Squad. “The Foster SQUAD is committed to supporting foster families as they navigate the next phase of their journey, and we’re excited to get behind the Fight for Siblings Act, which aims to alleviate some of the financial burden on these families so they can focus on providing the love and care that these children need.”
The bipartisan Fight for Siblings Act would double the federal adoption tax credit for families who adopt two or more siblings within the same fiscal year.
Rep. Nunn introduced the bipartisan bill at a press conference in Ankeny on Tuesday with representatives from Four Oaks and the Foster Squad. Text of the bill can be found here.
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